Oregon Grape Hedge Plants

Mahonia Aquifolium Bushes

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Mahonia aquifolium, Oregon Grape, is a winter flowering evergreen plant that can be used as an informal, thicket-type of hedge, although it isn't suitable for neatly clipped, formal hedging.
It will grow in any well drained soil and it tolerates shade.
It can be grown as a screening shrub up to about 3 metres high.

Mahonia's weakness is strong wind, which damages the beautiful foliage. It should be planted in sheltered locations, and grows well in the shade under deciduous trees.

Oregon Grape plants are delivered bareroot, during winter (Nov-March), and pot grown year round.
All of our young trees and shrubs are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

View our selection of coastal hedging plants or see our full range of hedging.

• Evergreen, suckering shrub.
• Yellow flowers in late winter.
• Purple berries.
• Any well drained soil. Shade-tolerant.
• Used as informal low screening.
• Requires shelter from wind or else leaves get tattered.
• Max Height 3 metres.
• RHS Plants for Pollinators
• Bareroot Delivery: Nov-Mar
• Pot Grown Delivery: Year Round

Spacing a Mahonia aquifolium hedge/screen:

Mahonia makes an attractive, solid row of screening plants with a rough, wild look to them.
Plant it at 2 plants per metre, with 50cm between each plant.
For a really bushy hedge, we suggest interplanting Mahonia with Berberis darwinii.

General description of Oregon Grape plants:

Mahonia is a useful evergreen for bringing colour to your garden. It has profuse yellow flowers in late winter and spring that mature into blue-black berries. Both the flowers and fruit are edible, although the berries contain lots of seeds and not very much flesh, so they aren't going to be anyone's favourite.
The spiky, glossy green leaves resemble the best rose leaves when young, developing spiky edges as they mature. They are evergreen, but change colour to deep red in autumn.

Mahonia is a suckering shrub, producing new stems from ground level and, over time, producing a small thicket.

History and Trivia

This North American shrub was introduced to Britain in the 1890's and can now be found growing wild in many areas.

You can harvest the flowers and infuse them with water to make a refreshing drink, and the ripe berries can be used to make jam or cooked with some sugar.