1. LAVENDER
Conjuring up heavenly images of French lavender fields and English cottage gardens, a lavender hedge in full bloom is a sight to behold. Lining entranceways, enveloping alfresco dining areas and poolside terraces, these masses of tiny blooms set against silver-green foliage come in all shades of white, lilac and deepest purple.
2. SPIREA
Smothered in masses of tiny white or pink, showy blooms from spring to late summer, a spirea hedge is a breathtaking sight. They are a magnet for bees and other pollinators, making them one of the best hedges for wildlife into your yard. The attractive, smooth green and variegated leaves turn to spectacular shades in fall but do leave slender bear stems throughout winter, so are best used for hedging where privacy is not an issue.
3. CAMELLIA
If you love hedges with flamboyant, bold blooms and glossy foliage, camellias are for you. Easy-to-grow and evergreen, they will bring a vivid dash of color to the neighbourhood when little else is flowering. Camellias make wonderful flowering hedges, providing dense evergreen screening year-round and bursts of color at certain windows in the growing season
4. FORSYTHIA
If you are looking for a tough hedge that’s happy growing in most conditions, then forsythia is a winner. Tolerant of full sun and part shade, it will quickly grow into a dense hedge up to 10ft high
5. HYDRANGEA ARBORESCENS
Laden with striking mop-headed blooms in summer, hydrangeas are hugely popular and instantly recognisable. Bringing show stopping color and sculptural form to every corner of the yard, they can also be planted as statement boundaries. Preferring a sunny spot, but also tolerant of partial shade, these garden favorites are pretty easy going and require little attention. Hydrangeas have huge snowballs for blooms, are highly fragrant and have a long blooming cycle in spring and late summer making it a favorite, especially of old southern plantation homes and homesteads.
6. ESCALLONIA
True sun lovers, escallonia are robust shrubs that are covered in red, white or pink bell-shaped blooms from June to October. Most varieties are evergreen with their small, glossy deep green leaves showcasing the clusters of waxy flowers. Tolerant of salty conditions – they are often spotted thriving in coastal gardens and make stunning garden hedges.
7. JAPANESE AZALEA
Providing they are clipped immediately after flowering, Japanese azaleas make an impressive garden hedge. With their extraordinary display of cerise, red or white blooms in mid to late spring they will dazzle the neighbourhood with their theatrical display. Best suited to a sunny or part shady spot with acidic soil, these evergreen shrubs need little attention throughout the year, rewarding with a show of dense glossy, green foliage.
8. PHILADELPHUS
Also widely known as mock orange, this shrub is instantly recognised for its sweet, fruity fragrance and delicate, white, cup-shaped flowers. Blooming from late spring to early summer, it’s display season may be fleeting but it is a seasonal highlight worth looking forward too. Often planted as a standalone garden shrub or placed at the back of a border, philadelphus, available from Burpee, can actually be trained into a striking hedge. Preferring full sun or part shade, it can reach a height of 10-21 ft (3-3.7m) and will thrive in most soil types, as long as they are well drained.
9. LILAC
A cottage garden favorite, lilacs are adored for their cascades of highly perfumed flowers in dreamy shades of white, mauve, purple and pink. Set against their lush, bright green leaves these conical blooms make a striking springtime spectacle and are adored by butterflies, bees and other pollinators. Usually grown as a standalone shrub, they also make a beautiful, dense hedge growing up to 1 to 2 feet in a year. A deciduous woody plant, they can look a little bare and spartan during the colder months, but this is soon forgotten once the foliage and blooms reappear in April and May.
10. ROSA RUGOSA
Also known as Japanese rose, this plant forms a thick, sturdy hedge that is covered in magnificent white or pink flowers from June to September. These blooms are then followed by handsome, large red hips in fall that are hugely popular with garden birds and mammals alike.
11. VIBURNUM CARLESII
It’s hard to beat beautiful Rosa Rugosaiburnum carlesii as a hedging plant. With its clusters of white trumpets fringed with pink coupled with the sweet – spicy fragrance its sure to stop you in your tracks. Also known as Arrowood or Korean Spice viburnum, this springtime beauty is ideal for lining path and driveways and has a loyal following amongst garden designers.
12. HAWTHORN
Attractive and a magnet for wildlife, hawthorn is a fabulous hedging option. Grown widely across the UK and North America it will form a dense, prickly boundary perfect for protecting birds, mammals and an effective deterrent for unwanted visitors too.