Buckinghamshire Landscape Gardeners
  • Home
  • Landscaping
    • Decking
    • Driveways
    • Garden Patios
    • Garden drainage
    • Fencing
    • Turfing
    • Planting
  • Design
    • Landscaping Ideas
  • Resources
    • Garden products
    • Privacy Policy
  • News
  • Contact
    • landscaping apprenticeship jobs buckinghamshire
    • landscaping labourer jobs buckinghamshire
  • Home
  • Landscaping
    • Decking
    • Driveways
    • Garden Patios
    • Garden drainage
    • Fencing
    • Turfing
    • Planting
  • Design
    • Landscaping Ideas
  • Resources
    • Garden products
    • Privacy Policy
  • News
  • Contact
    • landscaping apprenticeship jobs buckinghamshire
    • landscaping labourer jobs buckinghamshire

10 Hedging plants for cottage gardens

3/26/2023

0 Comments

 
Hedging plants for cottage gardens
This article contains affiliate links


Hedges have long been utilised in cottage gardens to provide both physical and visual boundaries. Well clipped hedges can be planted to create enclosure and provide privacy.

Hedges have also been used to create a fine textured backdrop to deep flower borders. Such backdrops allow for plants colours, textures and forms to stand out.

Cottage garden hedges have also been pruned into various shapes. Formal shaping and topiary is typical of the traditional, English, cottage, garden, style.

​Consequently, here, I will list and summarise 10 effective hedging plants for cottage gardens. 

1. Yew

​
Also known as 'English Yew' this coniferous tree has very thin, glossy, dark green, leaves. This tree is extremely long lived with some recorded specimens living for a thousand years.

​Yew is also slow growing meaning it can take time to form a full hedge. However its fine foliage makes it one of the best backdrop hedges for cottage garden borders. 
​
Yew hedge

2. Beech


​Beech is a large, deciduous, tree native to Europe, North America and Asia. This tree is extremely hardy and capable of being pruned into robust hedges.

Beech makes great hedges for cottage gardens as they have very attractive, glossy, leaves. In winter leaves turn a golden brown but remain attached to the stems for winter.

​This provides warmth and interest at a dull and boring time of the year.  
​
Beech hedge

3. Box


Also known by its Latin name 'Buxus sempervirens' this evergreen shrub is a favourite hedging plant.

It’s very small leaves and dense growing habit makes it perfect for tightly clipped hedges and topiary. It is very common for this plant to be clipped into formal shapes such as cones and spheres.

​In cottage gardens it is regularly planted as a low hedge around pathways and borders. 
​
Box hedge

4. Box Leaved Honeysuckle

​
Box leaved honeysuckle is an evergreen shrub originally native to China. This hardy shrub is fast growing and easy to clip making it a great hedging plant for cottage gardens.

Box leaved honey suckle is easy to prune into a variety of shapes making it a very versatile hedge. 
​
Box leaved honeysuckle hedge

5. Privet

​
Privet is one of the most common and resilient shrub species used for hedging stock. This shrub is extremely tolerant of most soils and is very cold hardy.

As a semi evergreen it can lose its leaves in particularly cold winters or on exposed sites.

​Privet is well known for forming dense hedges relatively quickly which is perfect if you need quick privacy. 
​
Privet hedge

6. Ceanothus

​
Also very well known as the Californian Lilac, this evergreen shrub has small, dark, green leaves. Originally from North America, Ceanothis is fully cold hardy and drought tolerant.

​If cut regularly, it can form a very, fine, textured hedge, perfect for formal hedges. This hedging shrub also has the added benefit of having attractive, purple flowers. 
​
Ceanothus

7. Sarcococca


​Native to Japan and Korea, Sarcococca is an evergreen shrub with glossy dark green foliage. During late winter and early spring it produces attractive and fragrant white flowers.

​Its compact nature and dense growing habit makes it an effective cottage garden hedging plant. Also known as the Sweet Box it is drought tolerant and cold hardy. 
​
Sarcococca hedge

8. Photinia red robin

​
Photinia red robin is a very popular evergreen shrub and well known for its unusual foliage. Emerging foliage has a bright red colour, a big contrast from the mature green foliage.

This actually makes the new growth look like flowers! Such a characteristic makes Photinia a very beautiful hedge plant for cottage gardens.

​The more it is clipped the more red foliage will occur!
​
Photinia red robin

9. Bay


Bay is a well known evergreen shrub mainly for its aromatic leaves which are used in cooking.

However, Bay can also be used as an effective hedging plant in cottage gardens. This evergreen shrub has dark green, glossy foliage that can easily be clipped into boxes and other shapes.

As Bay comes from a Mediterranean climate position it in a sunny position in well drained soil.  
​
Bay hedge

10. Japanese Barberry 

​
​Also known by its Latin name, (Berberis thunbergii) is an ornamental shrub, with lobed, red, foliage.

Although Berberis is deciduous, it has a dense growing habit which makes it very suitable for hedging.
During late summer this shrub is covered in small red barberries providing winter interest.

​Berberis is very hardy and tolerant of most soils as long as they are well drained. They also prefer a slightly acidic soil.  
​
Berberis thunbergii
Thank you for reading our article on cottage garden hedges. If you would like help building a cottage garden why not contact us. 

​Below we have included some other cottage garden articles you may find useful. 
Contact us
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture


'As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases'
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    The
    ​Author 

    Paul Nicolaides 
    BA (Hons) Dip

    Paul Nicolaides has over 30 years of recreational gardening and 20 years of professional landscaping experience. He has worked for landscape contractors including design and build practices across London and the South East. In 2006 he qualified with a BA Hons degree and post graduate diploma in Landscape Architecture. In 2009 he founded Ecospaces an ecological landscaping practice which aims to improve social cohesion and reduce climate change through landscaping. In 2016 he founded Buckinghamshire Landscape Gardeners which designs and builds gardens across Buckinghamshire and the South East. This blog aims to provide easy problem solving information to its audience and encourage others to take up the joy of landscaping and gardening. 

Hyde Heath, Amersham, Buckinghamshire

What Our Clients Are Saying

​Paul laid a very curvy brick mow strip all around our lawn and also added a circular patio and added some new grassed areas. He paid so much attention to each brick laid to make sure the end results was perfect. Despite the wet and muddy work everything was made good and looked amazing once finished. His enthusiasm and knowledge for the garden and plants was infectious. He even fixed a couple of broken paving slabs that he saw down our side alley without being asked It is refreshing to see someone take so much pride and care in their work and we would definitely book him again for any other garden project.

Contact Us

Subscribe to Newsletter
Photos used under Creative Commons from Maggie Hoffman, Aaron Volkening, Darlene Roelofsen, David Paul Ohmer, denis.zabin, Permaculture Association, Bill Selak, The fixed factor, The Garden Smallholder, Tauralbus, nan palmero, Lee Cannon, Monkeystyle3000, Darlene Roelofsen, nicolas.boullosa, Bryn Pinzgauer, cattan2011, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Matthew Paul Argall, tdlucas5000, Acabashi, Ronald (Ron) Douglas Frazier, Gilles Gonthier, Martin Hesketh, Owen P, steve p2008, Bennilover, *_*, blumenbiene, Julianna, Daryll90ca, Wendell Smith, Acabashi, Decorative Concrete Kingdom, Permaculture Association, MizGingerSnaps, Tjflex2, wuestenigel, travel oriented, Aaron Volkening, shixart1985, SupportPDX, pete. #hwcp, MostlyDross, Local Food Initiative, Ronald Douglas Frazier, Oregon State University, perfectgrassltd, aarongunnar, Acabashi, Actual Brian Crawford, jeans_Photos, alh1, Darlene Roelofsen, Rromani from Romania, docoverachiever, tawalker, markfountain52, Maria Eklind, treegrow, deckerme, Kevan, richardghawley, Ivan Radic, Mark Wordy, garryknight, Matt Lavin, greger.ravik, Capt' Gorgeous, LWT Gunnersbury Triangle, Wonderlane, Rudi1976, stonescape, Dinesh Valke, troutcolor, Acabashi, Juhele_CZ, Darlene Roelofsen, pikkuanna, tdlucas5000, Jocey K, Acabashi, focusonmore.com, BethinAZ, zoetnet, kurt.stocker, Monkeystyle3000, ell brown, Bryn Pinzgauer, Mark Wordy, infomatique, Linda N., Armcon Precast, Tinkers Moon, AnnSophieQ, mikecogh, Bob Klannukarn, Aiko, Thomas & Juliette+Isaac, ChrisHamby, Alessandro_Corsoni, Stiller Beobachter, GLVF, denisbin, MizGingerSnaps, garryknight, goforchris, Dick Thompson Sandian, alljengi, Paul Comstock, Kelowna09, Decorative Concrete Kingdom, Kanesue, BlossomPDX, Wonderlane, alh1, PAUL (Van de Velde) -Fotografie, Paul and Jill, Gilles Gonthier, katunchik, thinkactlove, gidlark, jugreen_de, Ivan Radic, tompagenet, corsi photo, www.to-tuscany.com, Mark Wordy, UC Davis Arboretum & Public Garden, Aaron Volkening, Mark AC Photos, Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors, arripay, denisbin, alans1948, wallygrom, Frank.Vassen, alh1, Scottb211, LenkinDesign, wallygrom, Mike Bonitz, Aaron Volkening, juliamaudlin, dwblakey, Jocelyn777 Love Europe, mikecogh, jeans_Photos, Corey Leopold, Jeremy Levine Design, Kaibab National Forest Photography, Ciarán Mooney, onnola, 35mmMan, longlabcomms, nc.hort, Jamiecat *, pom'., Puddin Tain, Acabashi, tompagenet, Loz Flowers, Alan Stanton, Darlene Roelofsen, denisbin, Darlene Roelofsen, zakzak7, Center for Neighborhood Technology, wht_wolf9653, LenkinDesign, HerryLawford, FoodCraftLab