Home > Hedging Plants
The young trees and shrubs on these pages are suitable for country & garden hedges or screening as well as forestry planting. Bareroot hedging plants are only delivered in winter. Pot-grown stock is more expensive & is delivered year round.
The hedging plants, sapling trees and young shrubs in these sections are delivered when they are 1- 6 feet / 30cm - 200cm tall.
Many of the young trees listed in this section are also for sale as larger, more mature "standard" trees. Standards aren't suitable for hedges, but if you want a row of trees for screening purposes, they will give you a head start.
What is a hedging plant?
Hedging plants are simply young trees or shrubs. You make them into a hedge by planting them in a row and trimming them every year. If you let them grow freely, they will become normal trees or bushes. For example, a beech hedge plant is just a young beech tree: if you clip it, it will become a neat formal hedge and if you plant it in a wood and leave it alone, it will grow into a large, majestic tree. You will sometimes see old hedgerows in the countryside that have been neglected for so long that the plants in them have grown into full sized trees, usually with beautifully twisted trunks at the base.
How are hedge plants measured?
All sapling trees and shrubs are measured by their height in centimetres above ground level: the length of the roots or the pot is not included. For example, a 60/80 hedge plant is between 60cms and 80cms tall, measured from the ground to the tip of its tallest stem.
Which size plant should I buy?
As a general rule, young plants will establish well with less attention than bigger plants. If you are planting trees and shrubs for a hedge or for a woodland project where it will be difficult to give the plants regular attention, buy the smallest sizes.
If you are planting trees or hedges in your garden on a small scale, where watering, feeding, mulching and weeding around them will be easy, then it makes sense to buy taller, more mature plants and get a head start.
What is the difference between pot-grown and bareroot hedging plants?
Bareroot plants are cheapest and easier to handle when you are planting them. They are only delivered in winter (Nov-March). Most of the plants in the hedging sections above are only sold bareroot.
Pot-grown trees and shrubs are delivered year round and they are more expensive. Popular varieties such as Yew, Privet, Beech, Laurel and Box are available bareroot in winter and pot-grown during the rest of the year. A few types of plant are only sold bareroot.
What is the cheapest way to buy hedging?
Our cheapest hedge plants for sale are our packs of 50 or 250 native hedging mixes, including discounted packs of 50 Hornbeam, Beech and Hawthorn. Otherwise, you can save money by ordering the smallest available size of the plants you want.
How do I plant a hedge?
Our 5 minute videos on planting country hedges and formal hedges should answer most questions.
How many hedge plants do I need?
Almost all hedging is spaced at 3 plants per metre, with 33cms between each plant. There are a few exceptions, which will all be noted on the plant's page.
If you are planting a cattle-proof, double row country hedge, you will need 5 plants per metre.
While you should not plant closer than the recommended spacing, you can plant further apart if you wish. It will take longer for the plants to grow together into a dense hedge, but in most cases the final effect will be much the same. However if the hedge isn't thorny then a wide spacing could allow an intruder to force their way between the plants.
Looking after a new hedge:
The most important things a new hedge needs are: water in dry weather, protection from weeds and a trim every winter. Your hedge plants will die if the soil gets too dry or if weeds are allowed to grow around them. If you are planting a garden hedge, it usually isn't a problem to water it regularly and weed around it. However, if the hedge is not going to get such personal attention, we strongly recommend that you use mulch fabric at planting time.
Which hedge is best for wildlife?
To be honest, all hedges have some wildlife value, but the best are generally the native hedging species.
What can I do with an old, neglected hedge?
Most types of garden hedge can be cut back very hard and they will regrow vigorously, as long as the plants aren't diseased or surrounded by weeds. In general, deciduous plants and broadleaf evergreen hedges can be cut back. With the exception of Yew, coniferous evergreen hedges cannot be hard pruned or cut back because they don't regrow from old wood.
Overgrown native country hedges can be "laid", which quickly restores them without the need to cut them all the way down. There are several styles of hedge laying, but the basic principle is that a section of each plant's trunk is cut away at the base, without cutting all the way through. Each plant is then pulled down so that its vertical trunk ends up at an angle of 45 degrees or even lower. In the following year, the hedge will regrow from the base and become very dense again.
Pot-Grown Hedging and winter delivery:
During the bareroot planting season in winter (November to late March), both bareroot and pot-grown plants are ready for delivery.
Outside of the winter season (April to early November), only pot-grown plants can be delivered but you can still place your order for bareroot plants to reserve them.
