I want to plant an evergreen 'hedge' made up of different shrubs

Photinia Red Robin, Pittosporum, Ceonothus, are some I can think of, they all can be kept easily

I agree with Grindle, those would give you a beautiful hedge.

If you wanted summer flower colour to be present you could grow a few Clematis nearby so that they scrambled through the evergreen hedge, i do that in my front garden and it looks great :)

A few others are Escallonia, Euonymus, Ilex, Aucuba.

Thank you! Would Choisya work too?

Yes it would, and Rosemary and Berberis darwinii. Are you thinking of an informal hedge, that is, one you don't cut into a formal hedge shape? If you are, I recommend you carefully select the shrubs you use for their eventual height and spread, so as to ensure that you don't have some at 13 feet high and others at 6 feet. All of the shrubs mentioned already get between 6 and 13 feet.

Thanks for your help. I have been having real difficulty deciding what sort of hedge to have and thought shrubs would be an easy option! I am basically starting a massive garden from scratch (and it is a real nightmare).
I'm planting quite formal beds with low box hedging at the front of the house, a portuguese laurel hedge at the bottom of the garden and wanted this 'hedge' to run down the side of the garden.
What I would really love is to have something formal with an arch leading into the back garden (maybe yew or box, but these are too expensive), but am concerned that this may be a little too long a hedge. Any other suggestions as to what I can do?

I don't think 18m is too long for a hedge, but it would be a real bore having to trim it twice a year minimum every year! If you're prepared to do that, though sounds like a nice idea - otherwise you could just fence it? This wouldn't be cheap to do, but once its done, its done and it doesn't need cutting and won't get taller than you want!There's always the classic privet, dare I say it - plants are usually much cheaper to buy if you look at hedging plant suppliers. It needs cutting twice a year too, though. Do I take it that there is nothing to mark the boundary of your garden currently, and that's why you're thinking of hedging?

Thanks again for your advice. I had thought of using hazel hurdles (but these need lots of looking after) as it would be more in keeping - my house is right in the middle of a pretty village and anything new has to be low key!
The garden is enclosed with a picket fence along one side of the garden (I have considered a picket fence too, but don't think it would be wuite high enough). The problem I have is that the garden is really large (about 700 square metres - and at the moment, it is all soil!) and all at the front of the house, so we need to create a 'front' garden (with lots of flowers - hence thinking about keeping the 'hedge' softer) at the front of the house and a 'back' garden with a lawn to the side, which is more private from the road. Hope that makes sense!
I have thought of privet, but are there any disadvantages?
Yours desperately..

If you're in a village perhaps a hedge made of more native species would be better - not all evergreen but then you don't need so much privacy in the winter. You could mix holly with hawthorn, blackthorn, dog rose, hazel, Alder, Spindle, Guelder Rose to name a few. This would give lots of visual interest and also be good for wildlife.

Only disadvantage is the need to cut it, but it seems like you like formal anyway, and the other thing to remember is that the hedge will eventually get a minimum of 3 feet deep; you should not grow anything nearer than 2 feet minimum to a hedge (particularly privet) because of dryness and lack of nutrients caused by having the hedge. My personal feeling is that having a mixed informal hedge of that length might just look incredibly messy - Yew would be great though, but perhaps that is just too expensive, even from an internet hedging supplier. Whatever, I think it would look best if you stuck to one evergreen that is kept trimmed regularly - Berberis darwinii might be a good option - small, slightly prickly leaved ,orange flowers, evergreen, only gets between 6 and 7 feet when mature so easier to keep lower. Cotoneaster mightalso be an option, which isn't prickly, need to check my books...

There's Cotoneaster lacteus, gets 10 feet if left unpruned, white flowers red berries - leaves are 2 inches long though, something with smaller leaves would probably look better. Over to you;-)

Emma, I want to stick with what you want - correct me if I've got it wrong. It sounds like you want a hedge that is evergreen, formal and provides interest - being mixed is one way of doing that.

18 metres of hedge will need about 55 plants. Just as a starting point, lets see what that would cost in Yew: about £125 for plants that are just over a foot high or £218 for plants that are nearly 3 feet high. I wouldn't go bigger than that - plants that size will establish faster than bigger ones.

However, Yew won't give you much in the way of variety - its younger leaves are brighter than the older ones but, apart from the little red berries, that's it.

Privet has no disadvantages that I know of, other than it will need trimming at least twice a year to keep it looking tidy. However, overgrown Privet hedges will reward you with masses of white flowers and you can chop them back without mercy when they get too big.

If you went for a 50%-50% mixture of green and golden privet, that would give you year round interest for about £70-80, depending on the size you chose.

Another classic evergreen combination is holly and laurel - a mixture of that would cost about £160.

Beech is worth a mention - it isn't evergreen, but if you clip it well during the summer, it will hold its autumn leaves all winter. And it is cheap - you could start with foot high babies for just over £20, or you could go straight to 5 foot for £200, with several gradations in between.

Worth a final mention is berberis - a mixture of thunbergii and the evergreen darwinii will provide good cover with lovely flowers, excellent autumn colours and bright, edible berries.

You can of course go a much more mixed hedge, with five or more species, and it will probably look great. However, it will almost certainly be more expensive - 25+ plants is a common cut off point for getting good savings on your order.

The bareroot planting season (bareroot plants are cheaper and better than potted stock) is from November to March, so you have plenty of time to look around your area and see what you like.

Good Luck!

Edward

All prices are from our site as of 15/09/09, minus VAT and delivery, and are subject to increase or decrease ;)