A deluxe hedge with edible fruits for preserves, wines or just enjoying.

This informal mixed hedge is productive and will also greatly encourage wildlife into your garden. This hedge can be trimmed to keep it in check but for best flowers and fruit it should be given some room to grow a bit wild.

Our suggested mix

The point of choose-your-own is so that you can create a mix of the plants that you love most, but if you would like a suggestion for an affordable, lovely mix, we would simply choose an even mixture of as many of the below species as possible:

Aronia melanocarpa - Black Chokeberry
Cornus mas - Cornelian Cherry
Amelanchier lamarckii - Snowy Mespilus
Sambucus nigra - Elder
Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive
Malus sylvestris - Crab Apple

The more diversity in a mixed hedge, the better, but if there are only a few species available, don't worry! Any mixture of two plants or more is still a mixed hedge!

Site

Will take some inland exposure and will grow in any reasonable soil

Spacing

We recommend planting this hedge at 2 plants per meter but you can space them further apart if preferred.

Planting

For best results, we recommend planting the varieties in groups that repeat themselves down along the hedge, with the exception of Crabapple which is best dotted individually.

Pruning

When first planted, a good prune will encourage good bushy growth, how hard you cut the plants depends on how low down you want them to bush from. Ongoing this hedge can either be trimmed regularly or left to grow, early spring or late Autumn after fruiting is the best time to prune.

Care

Keeping any young hedge weed and grass free is vital to the overall vigour and health of the hedge. Using weed membrane keeps back weeds and insulates the roots and will greatly increase growth rates, as well as cutting down on your weeding work. Mulching is another great option for insulating the roots and holding back weeds, bark mulch is the most commonly used medium.