SolveYourProblem
Hedges Article Series
I
Want To Create
The Perfect Hedge
Should
You Include Hedges in Your Landscaping?
There are more than four reasons for including
hedges in your landscaping design, but I’m going to touch on
just four. Privacy, beauty, mark boundaries, and windbreakers. No matter why you are putting in hedges be prepared for high
maintenance. Hedges do need to be taken care of to look good
and provide the beauty and role you want. If you are choosing
a hedge for a more formal look, then be prepared to put some
time into its maintenance. A flowering hedge usually needs
to be pruned perhaps once a year and allowed to grow in their
natural shape.
Privacy
is one good reason to have a hedge on your property. If you live in an urban area, hedges can be an alternative
to a privacy fence. It can be made intruder proof by just selecting
the right plants. It can be kept at whatever height you prefer.
Some hedges can grow as tall as ten feet or more, and can be
trimmed down to whatever best suits your needs. Hedges are
dense and that makes it hard for intruders or animals to get
through it. Some hedges have thorns to further discourage anyone
from trying to get through. Some good plants to use for a security
hedge are Holly and Hawthorne. The Hawthorne has white blooms
followed by bright red berries that normally will last through
the winter. They both have many vicious thorns that provide
a good barrier against unwanted intruders. These two types
of hedges will grow to at least 12 feet.
Beauty
is another reason to plant hedges. Hedges can be planted
that will give color all year. From beautiful flowering shrubs
in the springtime, to beautiful autumn colors, red, bronze,
and orange in the fall. Flowering hedges can be chosen so flowers
will bloom at different times of the spring and summer, and
in winter, they may have colorful berries. Informal flowering
hedges can be made a part of a mixed border and they don’t
have to be of uniform shape. They can be planted for their
blooms and aromas and need low maintenance. Formal clipped
hedges can make a dramatically different impact on your landscape.
Not only can they be shaped, but they also give dimension to
an otherwise normal landscape. Formal or informal hedges can
also make beautiful backgrounds for other plants, provide walking
paths and can help prevent soil erosion. You may want to use
both and place them in strategic areas of your lawn. Small
hedges lining walkways and driveways are popular as well as
the formal hedge clipped in a straight line. Formal hedges
can also be used to divide large lawn spaces into smaller enclosed
garden rooms, quiet little nooks to put up your feet with a
good book.
Hedges
are often used to mark boundaries between properties. They are used successfully both in the country and in the city.
Many country estates have well-kept hedges to mark boundary
lines. They are more attractive than a wire fence, longer lasting
than a wooden one and can be trimmed to the height you need
for privacy. Popular use of hedges for boundaries in the urban
areas is a line of hedges between one driveway and another
property. In the city, it gives you a boundary line that can
be counted on for a good number of years. Remember when planting
hedges for boundaries; don’t encroach on your neighbors land.
Hedge plants grow outward as well as up, so give them plenty
of room on your neighbor’s side. Using hedges rather than wooden
or chain link fences are more pleasing to the eye and can be
just as effective in marking boundaries, as well as increasing
the beauty of your lawn.
Hedges
used as windbreakers are especially popular and practical
for those living in rural areas. These hedges are normally
trees. Several different trees that are good for windbreaks
are; Beech trees, hemlock, evergreen and fir trees. They all
provide good windbreaks if you are in a part of the country
that is flat with nothing to break the wind and snow from assaulting
your home. These trees can also be used as barriers against
traffic noise and debris. The interesting fact about trees
as windbreaks is the destructive force of wind against a solid
wall or fence can allow the wind to jump right over it with
the same amount of strength. Hedges will cushion the force
of the wind and lessen its strength.
