Woodie’s Picks: Evergreen Shrubs For Compact Hedging & Borders
While spring is a time that many look forward to for growing fleeting explosions of vibrant flowers, it can also be a great time to incorporate year-round interest and structure into your landscape. One of the best, most efficient ways to do this is through planting dense hedges to border your landscape!
This week for Woodie’s Picks, we are shedding light on the benefits of evergreen hedges and showcasing four of our favorite plants for creating sophisticated, sleek hedges and yard borders.
Benefits of Evergreen Hedging
Year-Round Beauty
The most apparent benefit to evergreen hedges is the year-round beauty they bring to an outdoor space. Watch as your property's curb appeal glows up before your eyes when you incorporate a lush wall of evergreen foliage! Hedges specifically work to provide structure, add bright color, and provide an aesthetic border to your home.
Flood Mitigation
A lesser-known benefit of hedges is their ability to reduce the impact of flooding around your home! Hedges lower a flood’s impact through the reduction of soil density. The roots work to draw water into the soil and create a flow toward the hedgerow instead of wreaking havoc on your home. Shrubs also increase evaporation losses, which can reduce peak water flow.
Enforcing Peace
A last, sometimes overlooked benefit of planting an evergreen hedge is the peace it brings to your home. Hedges can act as practical noise barriers, absorbing and deflecting sound waves and creating a privacy wall to block out views of pesky neighbors and passersby.
Best Hedging Shrubs For Year-Round Beauty
Skip Cherry Laurel
Our number one pick for privacy hedging is the lustrous and elegant Schip Cherry Laurel, better known as ‘Skip Cherry Laurel.’ Growing to mature heights nearing 15 feet and widths as broad as 7 feet, these fast-growing evergreens are perfect for the purpose of hedging.
Skips grow best in USDA hardiness zones 6-9 in full sun to partial shade and a well-drained soil medium. Their fast growth, paired with their ability to withstand frequent pruning, gives gardeners the flexibility to shape the plants however they see fit! Skip Cherry Laurels are easy to grow, require little maintenance, and are also resistant to pests and deer.
Hicks Yew
Another lesser-known but great option for evergreen hedging is the Hicks Yew shrub. Hicks Yew (Taxusxmedia′Hicksii) was bread specifically for the purpose of hedging. Growing in a columnar shape with ascending branches, the Hicks Yew sports deep green needles that are clustered in a perfectly rectangular shape that is perfect for creating narrow hedges. These dense evergreens can grow up to 20 feet tall and spread up to 8 feet wide.
Key benefits of the Hicks Yew shrub, outside of its uniform shape and columnar form, include an impressive adaptability to a range of conditions, a low-maintenance care regimen, and a tolerance to both drought and cold.
Red Tip Photinia
If plain green is a little too mainstream for you, you might consider going with the vibrant and eccentric Red Tip Photinia! New growth on these unique shrubs is a vibrant and eye-catching firetruck red that matures into a dark green hue. Growing one to three feet yearly, these hardy evergreen shrubs will fill out a space in no time!
Red Tip Photinia grows best in a rich, well-drained, loamy soil. Planting Red Tip Photonia with proper spacing for air circulation is crucial to ensuring healthy growth and vibrant foliage. Photinia thrives year after year, providing you with a stable and resilient landscape feature to enjoy in every season.
Winter Gem Boxwood
An excellent option for a more formal hedge in the landscape is the Winter Gem Boxwood. The Winter Gem is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its delicate, rounded leaves bring a clean and sophisticated look to any outdoor space.
People rave about the Winter Gem Boxwood because it is low-maintenance, compact, and grows to a manageable height and width (three to four feet tall and wide). With its year-round beauty, hardiness, and ease of care, Winter Gem Boxwood is a reliable, elegant addition to any landscape, providing timeless greenery and structure.
Shop Hedging Plants & More Online
Evergreen hedges bring immense beauty and many benefits to a landscape—plant one to offer year-round beauty and practicality on your property. Shop online today for all of your hedging necessities and enjoy shipment directly to your doorstep!