Five Tips For Choosing The Perfect Hedge For Your Yard

So you've decided to plant hedges. They do serve many important purposes. Hedges can mark your property boundaries, provide a windscreen and also give you more privacy in your yard. They are also a nice alternative to fencing if you prefer a more natural look for your garden.

Once you've made the decision to go with hedges, you need to choose the right one for your yard. When selecting the perfect hedge for your yard, there are important things like purpose, size and climate to keep in mind. Here are five tips for choosing just the right hedge for your garden space.

1. Figure out Your Purpose

The first thing you need to decide is what purpose your hedges are going to serve. Are they for privacy? Are they to keep pesky creatures out of your yard? Are they to act as a windscreen? Or are they merely to outline your property boundaries? Your purpose might be a mix of these things or all of these things. You need to take the time to consider why you're planting hedges. The purpose is important because it will determine the types of plant you can use for your hedges. Certain plants are effective for all of these purposes so to purchase and plant the right hedge, you need to know what you need or want from your hedges.

2. Assess Your Climate

Your location and climate will also have an impact on what kinds of plants you can use for hedges. Your garden center should be able to advise you on what sort of plants will do best in your climate. You can also research different planting options online. You'll be amazed at how much information you can find on shrubs and plants if you spend a bit of time browsing the Internet.

3. Consider the Look of Your Garden

You will need to choose the right kind of hedge depending on the look you are going for in your garden. If you are hoping to mold your hedges into different elegant architectural shapes, then you will need to choose a hedge plant that will allow you that shaping flexibility. On the other hand, if you want something simple and not so ornate, you can choose a dense plant that responds well to clipping, but which does not suit the complex shapes of architectural hedges.

4. Think outside the Box

In the past, there were only a few plants that could be used for hedging. You can create your own informal hedges with a mix of plants that are not commonly used in hedge planting. You can also mix the formal, clipped hedges with older, more flowing looks.

5. Be Realistic

While you may have the best intentions when planting a new hedge, you need to be realistic about the amount of time and energy you can devote to this new addition to your garden. Hedges have many benefits, but they do require care and maintenance. Unlike fences, you will be to stay on top of caring for and trimming your hedges. If you don't have the time to maintain your hedges properly, you might want to look at other fencing options.

If you do really want hedges, but don't have a lot of time to devote to your garden's upkeep, then choose a variety that requires minimal care and exertion. Trimming can be the most time consuming part of hedge care so if you know your time is limited, choose a hedging option that only requires a clean line trimming and not an architectural hedge.

When you do go to choose your hedge plants, choose small plants because they will grow and establish themselves more quickly than more developed and expensive plants. This will also mean a denser and more compact hedge than the open hedges that are often the result of starting with larger plants.

All of this might seem like a lot of prep work for choosing a hedge, but doing this research and considering all of these factors before you plant your hedges will save you a lot of time in the long run. Knowing things like your needs or purpose, your time limitations, your climate and the look you are going for in your garden, will really help narrow down your hedge choices.