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Low Evergreen Hedges

A low Evergreen Hedge is more than a Barrier – it’s also a Great Design Element!

A hedge is a row of dense vegetation that you usually plant for a specific reason. The reasons for growing hedges include creating a boundary between properties, an enclosure for privacy, or to screen off different parts of a garden.

Large formal hedges are generally used in classical and formal garden styles. These hedges consist of only one plant type, are neatly prunes and add a very strong element in the overall garden design.

Large, informal hedges generally consist of different mixed plantings and even small trees. You would use informal hedges if you want to create a more relaxed barrier.You can use them for security purposes, to attract wildlife, to curb suburban noise or as a background scene for other plantings.

But, if you create a low hedge, a whole new world of designing possibilities opens up.

Edging Perennial and Shrub Beds with a low Hedge

Even the most beautiful and artfully combined border of  flowering shrubs, perennials and graceful grasses needs to be finished off with a neat border to tie the whole look together. You can use pretty groundcovers, masses of annuals, or even hard landscaping like cobble edging in the foreground, but a lush, neatly clipped formal miniature hedge will supply a neutral but strong framework to show off the other plants, lending a professional touch.

Another advantage of using a low hedge to ‘formalise’ planting beds, whether square or with relaxed and informal curves, is that your lawn edges tend to stay in the same place and don’t widen every time they are neatened.

Creating a Strong Floor Pattern with Low Hedges

You can use low hedges to create a fairly formal layout that includes gravel or paved pathways. This will give you a look similar to the old Elizabethan knot gardens. The beds that are formed between low hedges can then be filled with other massed plantings of a limited plant choice.

Such a simple design plan is perfect for any size garden, or a gardener who is perhaps fond of a minimalist plant choice and layout. When you use a low hedge as a design tool, you are not bound by only one shape – think of triangles, squares, circles and narrow rectangular beds, which can all be bordered on all sides by low hedging.

Directing Foot Traffic with a low hedge

Even the most informal pathway leading from one section of the garden to another can be enhanced with low hedges on either side. The beautiful Lavandula x intermedia var. ‘Margaret Roberts’, which has a neat rounded growth habit, comes to mind for a fragrant walkway to a front door or leading to the herb and vegetable garden. In very formal garden design, most pathways would be bordered by low hedging. They would be neat and always good looking, no matter what time of year.

Boxing the Roses in with a low hedge

Roses, although the queens of all flowering plants, can sometimes be barelegged at their bases, and even when covered with healthy foliage are not the most attractive of plants when not sporting a full seasonal flower flush. Low hedges surrounding beds of roses – especially with the same flower colour – create a dramatic effect.

Using a pattern of low hedges with pathways between them also makes it easier to design a cutting rose garden with more of an edge. Standard roses, other standards and large topiary plants planted together will also look much better if surrounded by a low, neatly clipped evergreen frame at ground level.

Accentuating Garden Art or Focal Points

A low evergreen hedge around a raised pond or classic element such as a classical urn or old-fashioned birdbath or fountain supplies a classy finishing touch. You can even surround a gracious specimen tree in the lawn with a low evergreen hedge to highlight it.

READ MORE: If you’re interested in tall evergreen hedges, check out our article.

More Low Hedge Ideas

  • Soften the lines of a dry-packed stonewall with a dark green low hedge at its base.
  • Plant a low hedge on top of a low wall as an extra barrier.
  • Low hedges can be used to define the borders of terraces against a gentle slope.
  • They can be planted at the top of cement-block retaining walls.
  • A low hedge doesn’t have to be a solid row of plants bordering something else. You can create green art by using shorter lengths of hedging spaced behind each other, creating a type of domino effect against a gently sloped lawn – a wild idea, but certainly worth trying!
  • You can build a labyrinth, maze or even a simple spiral garden by using low growing hedge plants.

Top Low Evergreen Hedge Choices

The following plants are not necessarily dwarf plants by nature, but they don’t seem to mind being drastically bladed into a compact height and shape. Most of them are tolerant of full sun and light shade as well – always a handy bonus, as a little hedge might have to thrive in differing sun patterns during the day.

Botanical name: Buxus microphylla ‘Faulkner’

Common name: Box or Boxwood

This very compact plant is probably the most popular hedge and topiary plant on the globe! It has small, glossy, light green oval leaves with a tinge of bronze in winter. This is not a fast grower, but it is extremely hardy against cold and frost with medium to quite low water requirements when established. It will grow in full sun to light shade. Mature size is about 1m x 90cm.

Botanical name: Westringia fruticosa

Common name: Australian Rosemary

A compact plant with very small, greyish-green leaves that are white-felted underneath. It produces small white or blue flowers, depending on the form. This is a fast grower that is also hardy to cold, with medium to low water requirements. It is ideal for dry and windy coastal gardens. Plant it in full sun only. Mature size is about 1.5 x 1.5m.

Botanical name: Duranta ‘Sheena’s Gold’

Common name: Duranta

This Duranta has a dense and compact growth habit and is much loved for its yellow to lime green leaves. It is a fast grower but will not tolerate extreme cold and frost. It performs well in subtropical and windy, coastal areas. A great advantage is that it will grow in full sun to light shade. ‘Sheena’s Gold’ can grow as large as 2m x 1.5m but can be pruned into a low hedge with great success.

Botanical name: Searsia crenata

Common name: Dune Crow-Berry

Previously known as Rhus crenata. This is a dense and compact indigenous plant with bright green, small leaves. This is my favourite of all hedging plants because it is a fast grower that with frequent pruning will quickly form a dense, low hedge. It is tender to heavy frost, but very wind resistant and very water-wise.

Don’t be fooled by the mature size of this plant, which can easily reach 3m x 3m. You can tame into a smaller size. Another advantage of Searsia crenata is that if you have been lax with pruning and have let it to grow out of shape, you will be forgiven for drastic measures by fast regrowth that will quickly cover bald spots. This plant grows equally well in full sun to light shade.

Botanical name: Escallonia ‘Pink Princess’

Common name: Escallonia

A very neat shrub with glossy leaves and masses of light pink flowers that appear on and off during the year. This means that you can sometimes allow it to grow out a bit in order to flower for you. It is, like all other Escallonia garden hybrids (which are equally great hedging plants), cold and frost hardy and a fast grower, with medium to low water requirements. Mature size is about 1m x 80cm.

Botanical name: Carissa macrocarpa ‘Green Carpet’

Common name: Dwarf Natal Plum

Very dark green leathery foliage and spiny stems. This indigenous variety is normally used as a ground cover as it only grows about 30cm high with a spread of about 60cm, but it works extremely well as a neat though informal little hedge.

You can prune Carissa macrocarpa into a formal shape, but you might forfeit the star-shaped, white and fragrant flowers and edible berries that follow them. Plant in full sun to light shade. It is not hardy to extreme cold and frost, but very adaptable to windy and dry gardens.

Botanical name: Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Tuscan Blue’

Common name: Rosemary ‘Tuscan Blue’

This upright-growing Rosemary is a perfect choice as a low hedge plant for a sunny vegetable or herb garden. The foliage is needle-like and fragrant, and the plant is cold and frost hardy with low water requirements. Mature height is about 80cm x 1m.

READ MORE: Take a look at other edible plants that make great hedges.

Botanical name: Portulacaria afra

Common name: Pork Bush or Spekboom

Spekboom is not really known as a hedge plant, but this is one of the best indigenous plants to put to this use as it does not mind being pruned frequently. It is extremely drought resistant and fast growing. A Pork Bush hedge can be
planted by simply sticking unrooted pieces in well-draining, moist, sandy soil. Once established, it will basically look after itself as far as irrigation is concerned.

Botanical name: Abelia ‘Lemon & Lime’

Common name: Abelia

All Abelias are perfect hedge plants, but this compact newcomer with its lime foliage that turns into a rich golden yellow with a reddish tint in winter is sure to be a winner with its glowing shades. It is happy in full sun or semi-shade, fairly fast-growing and frost hardy.

Botanical name: Einadia hastata (Rhagodia Hastata)

Common name: Salt Bush

In the parched Western Cape this plant has reached iconic status as it bravely graces very dry gardens where it’s widely used as filler plant and for hedging. The beautiful silvery-grey foliage can sometimes turn a rusty shade of red. It has white stems that always attract the eye, especially if a little rain has fallen and new growth is produced. This is a fast grower and a hardy coastal plant that you can prune into virtually any formal shape. Mature size is about 0.5m x 2m. Mature size is about 1.5m x 2m.

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The Gardener