• A single row with 3 plants per metre, 33cm apart along the row, is standard for a garden hedge.
  • Most garden hedges are single row.
  • The main alternative for garden hedges is 2 plants per metre, 50cm apart, in a double row, giving 4 plants per metre in total. This is ideal for beech, hornbeam, and any hedges that will be over 4 metres tall.
• Livestock-proof country hedges are double row, with 6 plants per metre in total if they need to qualify for a Countryside Stewardship grant (otherwise it could be fewer).

Hedgerow Planting Density

Garden Boundary Hedges Are Single Row, 3 Plants Per Metre

The most common spacing between hedge plants around a garden is 3 per metre, 33 centimetres apart, along a single row.
This secure planting distance is ideal for practically all hedge plants, especially evergreens, making an intruder-proof barrier.

Hedges Within A Garden Can be Looser

• Hedges are flexible architectural features within your garden to create outdoor “rooms”.
• Interior hedges should be planted at 2 per metre, 50 centimetres apart, along a single row.
  • Rows of bulky shrubs like Mahonia that form a rough hedge can be wider, 80-100cm apart
  • Pleached trees are “hedges on stilts”, planted further apart.
• This loose hedge planting distance is ideal for maintaining a hedge that blocks sight.

Boxwood Needs Tighter Spacing

Boxwood, Buxus sempervirens, is a slow growing evergreen that is clipped tightly, usually as a low, decorative hedge.
We deliver box hedge plants in cost-effective, small sizes under 40cm, which you should plant at 5 per metre, 20cm apart, to get a dense little hedge quickly.

Narrow & Deciduous, or Just Tall, Garden Hedges Benefit from a Loose Double Row

Beech and Hornbeam hedges are special, because they hold their Autumn leaves through Winter.
They are both fine to plant in a normal single row at 3 plants per metre, especially when the hedge will be allowed to grow reasonably wide, at least 150cm at the base.

However, both plants look better in Winter as a staggered double row with 50cm between plantsalong each row, giving 4 plants per metre in total.

This spacing is also ideal for hedges that will be grown tall, over four metres.

Native Country Hedges Are Double Row, 6 Plants Per Metre

• The classic livestock proof country hedge is a staggered double row, so it needs 6 plants per metre.
• This spacing is required for the Countryside Stewardship BN11: Planting New Hedges grant.

Spacing a Single Row Hedge at 3 Plants per Metre

• The most common spacing for a garden hedge is at 33cm: that’s 3 plants per metre in a single row.
• When mature, a human will not be able to squeeze through it.
• Country hedges that need to be stockproof (i.e. to block horses and cows) and/or qualify for a Countryside Stewardship Grant should be planted at 6 plants per metre in a double row.

In the bird’s eye diagram below of a two-metre hedge, the grid represents the minimum possible footprint of the hedge: the mature width will be down to how you clip it, and 33cm would be very narrow for most hedges, but it will do for this example, where we are concerned with the spacing along the length.

Correct Single Row Hedge Spacing at 3 per Metre

The black dots represent a hedge plant, and the red line marks the end of the first metre.

Note is that you (typically) do not put your first & last hedge plant on the 0cm and 100cm mark of each metre that you want covered by your hedge.
Instead, you put your first plant about 16.5cm (at least) into the first metre, and the third plant will be 16.5cm from the end, and they will grow out to fill the whole metre footprint.

The diagram below shows what it looks when 3 plants per metre is done incorrectly, with plants on the 0cm and 100cm marks, which leaves you no choice but to space them 50cm apart.

Also, to complete the next metre, you would only need two plants.

Incorrect Single Row Hedge Spacing at 3 per Metre

The diagram below shows 3 plants per metre done incorrectly, with plants on the 0cm and 100cm marks, so you have to space them 50cm apart.

Also, to complete the next metre, you would only need two plants.

There is nothing wrong with spacing hedge plants at 50cm: this is a common spacing for ornamental hedges that serve no security purpose, and thorny hedge plants would still certainly knit together into a secure hedge.

The same principle applies to a 50cm spacing as a 33cm spacing: you don’t put the first and last plant on the 0cm and 100cm marks, but on the 25cm and 75cm marks.

Single Row Hedge Spacing at 2 per Metre