Best hedging plants for...
Crataegus monogyna
Hawthorn is smothered in tiny white flowers and zingy green new foliage in late spring, while autumn brings deep red berries and golden leaves. It forms a dense network of thorny branches and will grow pretty much anywhere.
Ilex aquifolium
If you’re willing to sacrifice the berries, holly makes a great clipped formal hedge. But leave it to grow more loosely and that colourful fruit – usually red – will brighten up the winter garden and feed the birds.
Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’
Plant this compact lavender for a lowgrowing hedge. The fragrant, grey-green narrow leaves and deep purple flowers, packed with aromatic oils, will fill any garden with summer scent. Evergreen foliage provides year-round structure.
Rosa rugosa
A repeat-flowering wild rose with magenta-pink blooms, contrasting golden stamens and a delicious fragrance. Attractive, deciduous, midgreen foliage, with fat, cherry tomatolike hips in autumn. Happy in poor soil.
Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’
Try this evergreen shrub for a hedge with a flash of spring colour. The young leaves unfurl to a brilliant glossy red in spring and early summer. It forms a loose-structured hedge, and needs well-drained soil and full sun.