Low hedges are used to create a softer visual barrier between properties while blending in with multiple landscape schemes. These low hedges can mark the boundary of your property without losing much space or reducing light the way traditional hedging can.
There are many situations that call for a low hedge. It could be a formal edging to a border or path, a way to divide up a small garden into separate areas without cramping the space, a structural backdrop to other planting or simply a way to separate your drive from your neighbor’s.
What Are Low Hedge Benefits?
Low hedging can be used to define garden borders, pathways and boundaries. Small hedges are easy to maintain and add structure to garden designs. A popular use for short hedging is to plant a flowering, low hedge in front of a taller, evergreen hedge. Not only does this add seasonal interest it also allows the border hedge to stand out against the lush green canvas for a dramatic display.
The beauty of a low hedge is that it creates a divide whilst still maintaining an open and spacious feel. They can give a sculptural feel better than the tall, naturalistic hedging we are used to. They can also be used as a feature within other plantings or as a feature against walls or fencing.
Berberis are versatile ornamental shrubs, adding colourful foliage, flowers and berries to borders, rock gardens and containers. Evergreen or deciduous and ranging from very large to dwarf shrubs, these easy to grow, spiny plants have a place in almost every garden.
Berberis thunbergii come in a range of sizes, have bright spring flowers and great autumn fruits and foliage on offer. They're a good choice for low hedging or as border plants.
Brachyglottis Senecio ‘Sunshine’ will bring a burst of colour to any outside space. With large, yellow, daisy-like flowers and evergreen foliage, Senecio ‘Sunshine’ is a lovely, informal shrub. The grey-green leaves and young stems are covered in a soft fuzzy texture of white growth.
Cotoneasters make useful garden shrubs, ground cover plants and small trees, with most of them growing well in sun and partial shade. They bear a long season of interest thanks to their prolific summer flowers followed by deep red berries, which remain on the plant from autumn through winter. Many species have beautiful autumn foliage.
Box is a bushy habit with masses of small, densely packed deep green leaves makes box ideal for trimming into precise shapes and offsetting complex planting schemes.
Dutch box is a dwarf variety of English box. It has the same small glossy green leaves although slightly rounder. Like English box, ensure that it doesn’t dry out and feed with plenty of organic materials during spring and autumn.
Dwarf honeysuckle features dark green leaves that can be trimmed and look as good as box. In extremely cold frosts the leaves will change to a purple colour. Don’t worry this is perfectly normal the plants are at no risk of dying.
Nandina nana is a super versatile little shrub. The beauty of these plants is their ever changing foliage colour. In summer they are a lime-yellow, but in winter they are a bright red.
A low-growing Euonymus such as ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’ is another great alternative to box without the risk of disease. ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’ is the variety of choice for edging small formal beds.
Golden diosma has brilliant soft golden foliage, hence the name. It produces dainty pink flowers. Often grown as a small bush shrub for pops of foliage colour. It responds really well to pruning. A low golden hedge looks great!.
What Plants To Grow For A Low Hedge?
Whilst the size of almost any hedge can be limited by how often and how hard you trim it, there are certain plants that lend themselves particularly well to low hedges without wearing out the hedge trimmer. The ideal candidate is a compact, small-leafed evergreen shrub that is not too fast-growing.
Creating an atmosphere in the garden is a doddle with these bright and often fragrant hedge plants. The bright purple flowers of Lavender and the light, green foliage of Rosemary, not only look fantastic when displayed as a low hedge but emit pleasant aromas that linger in the air as you walk by. Our range of Lavender are favored amongst pollinating bees and wonderful butterflies as they adore the gorgeous flowers that sit on long green stems.
Garden designers want their borders to bring impact to their creation and the use of unique foliage and flowers are the best way to do so. The variegated foliage of Hebe ‘Red Edge’, as you can guess from the name, boasts leaves with dark shades of green, surrounded by a soft red outline. Its contrasting colors are a great way to create a focal point within a garden design.
Choose low flowering hedges for attractive colors capable of grabbing and drawing direct attention. Brachyglottis Senecio ‘Sunshine’ features dazzling, bright yellow flowers which illuminate from a background of dark, green foliage. Tolerant of all kinds of growing sites, Senecio Sunshine is ideal for gardeners who want to plant an attractive garden border, where growing conditions are problematic. Take a look at these and many other plants below!
Compact hebes such as ‘Red Edge’ make a great low hedge that requires virtually no maintenance. Year-round interest is provided by the small, pointed greyish-green leaves attractively edged with red. The display is enhanced in summer by conical clusters of pale lilac flowers, which are attractive to bees and butterflies.
Thriving almost anywhere, including in deep shade, Hypericum calycinum is an ideal choice for difficult spots. This versatile shrub becomes festooned with large yellow flowers in summer and autumn, which are followed by decorative red berries.
Ilex crenata is great for a low formal hedge, producing small, glossy dark green leaves with a gently scalloped edge. White flowers in May are followed by glossy black berries. Compact habit and slow growth rate means it won’t need trimming very often.
Korean Box has small leaves with the color changing from a lime green to almost yellow depending on the seasons. It can be grown in more shaded areas of the garden.
A row of lavender makes an attractive, drought-tolerant, fragrant divide that will attract bees and butterflies. Little maintenance is required other than a light shearing back after flowering to retain a compact shape and prevent legginess. Producing a haze of blue-purple flowers above attractive greyish evergreen foliage, lavenders are a great low hedging choice for dry areas.
Lonicera pileata is a tough, drought-tolerant evergreen will quickly fill out to form a dense, compact hedge, which can be easily kept to a desired shape and size by trimming in summer or autumn. The display is enhanced by creamy flowers in spring and purple berries in autumn.
Photinia can be grown as a dense shrub. Being evergreen its perfect for creating privacy in your garden as an all year round hedge screen. Photinia will thrive in full sun or partial shade and is suited to all soil types provided moist soils are well drained.
For a more informal hedge, Pittosporum tenuifolium is a great option for mild areas. Boasting attractive deep glossy purple foliage, it forms a dense, rounded shrub that is ideal for a cloud-pruned hedge.
Compact shrub roses can make a beautiful low hedge. Tresses of lavish pink blooms are produced throughout summer and autumn on arching stems that form a shapely mounded plant. This prickly hedging choice is ideal if you’re looking to discourage animals such as cats from passing through.
Sarcococca confusa makes a lovely informal or informal hedge, depending whether you allow it to take on its natural form or trim it into shape. Year-round interest is provided by the glossy deep green, spear-shaped leaves and shiny black berries, but the plant really excels in January when it fills the air with the most delicious, heady scent from its clusters of small cream flowers. This makes winter box the perfect plant for low hedges near paths, doorways and patios, where its fragrance can be enjoyed to the full.
Sweet box is an excellent hedge choice for shaded areas of the garden. A hedge bordering a path through a dense shaded area looks great and sweet box can help you achieve such a look. The foliage is a deep dark glossy green. The leaves are much larger than a normal box plant.
Westringia will thrive in dry sandy soils, even right on the coast with salt spray. The main options are mauve or white flowers. Both can come with variegated foliage.