well gold king produces female flowers so it will only produce berries if you have or a neighbouring garden has a male holly tree. silver queen is the male variegated form so planting both of these in your hedge would ensure berries.

is the hedge to be very formal or are you planning on letting it be a bit more 'untamed' planning to cut it once or twice a year? if the latter then it will be ok but really it is a small tree.

if it is to be formal and pruned 3/4 times a year or more then it isn't really suitable.

welcome to GoY by the way :o)

You can grow it as a 'formal' hedge, but you should only trim it once a year, in late summer, and the word 'trim' rather than 'cut' is used advisedly. And yes, if you want berries, you will need a male plant nearby - one will do though.

Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold, Portuguese laurel – Prunus lusitanica, would both make a good formal hedge. The best, in my opinion would be Yew - Buxus. As far as holly is concerned, if you are going to cut it with a hedge trimmer, it will leave part-cut leaves which can look unsightly which you don't get with Yew.

I don't like holly, and berberis, because of the spiny leaves. Some of the leaves will die, fall to the ground and be blown around the garden by the wind. The spines of these dead leaves are very sharp so when weeding etc. ouch!

Thanks for the replies and the welcome. More thought required on this one but come the Autumn planting begins.

Agree with Jimmy - I was thinking of the Lonicera too. it makes a lovely dense hedge when clipped.

PS - with holly remember you'll have to gather up all the spiky trimmings when you cut it - ouch!