Guide to Garden Hedging.

An evergreen hedge in your garden provides smart boundaries to areas and perimeters though will require maintenance throughout the year to encourage and keep it's shape. With good pruning schedules you can hope to keep hedges under control with not too much effort.

Top Tips in looking after evergreen hedges:

• Most evergreen formal hedges requiring trimming two to three times a year, (conifer hedges such as the leylandii will require more regular pruning as they are faster growers.
• If neglected they can soon grow too tall or spread out of their allotted space and this will make for more difficult pruning to take place.
• Water and mulch your hadges after trimming / pruning.
• Keep flowering hedges in good shape by occasionally cutting off older branches and taking off excess growth to keep them within bounds.

The most popular kind of hedge for urban gardens is beech or the hornbeam for wet areas. Evergreen hedges are good for all year round 'screen' for your property such as the Cypress or the Western Hemlock. The ideal setting for planting these hedges is approx 4 per metre for a single row hedge or 6 plants per metre in a double staggered row for thicker requirements.

For rustic hedge the Hawthorn is the preferred choice.