How to Grow and Maintain the Perfect Hedges
Hedges have been popular garden features since the oldest of times. They are especially popular infamous French and Italian gardens and a lot of homeowners in Australia invest and grow these fine garden plant types.
This type of plant grouping is so popular because it can boost the aesthetics of your garden and it can be used to create a boundary between properties, create privacy, or make a screen in certain parts of the garden. Growing the perfect hedge requires time and dedication. In this guide, we share some of the best secrets to help you get that perfect French hedge look in your own garden.
Start With the Right Plants
You can’t turn just about any brush into a hedge. For proper and beautiful hedges, you need to invest in a bush plant variety that grows slowly and that forms many small, closed leaves.
You also need to choose a plant variety that will grow well in your given region, especially since it can take a while for hedges to properly form.
Here is a quick look at some of the best plants to get if you want to grow a beautiful and thick hedge that offers lots of coverage.
- Lilly Pillies
- Westringias
- Leighton Greens
- Photinias
- Orange Blossoms
- Blueberry Ash
- Callistemon
- Acacia Plants
Plant Bushes Closely Together
Hedges are meant to grow together, to touch and intertwine their branches. Ideally, your plants should be close enough to each other so they will start growing into each other within the first year.
Start by marking out your bedding with a straight or curved line that the hedge should follow. Now plant your growths straight in this line. For a thicker or wider hedge, you can also zig-zag the plants along the line you drew but this method can require more plants.
Choose Your Shape
A smooth geometric shape that is slightly wider at the base than the top is ideal for perfect hedges. This shape allows the sunlight to hit all surfaces and will keep the lower branches from dying.
Start Sheering the Hedges
At first, you can let the hedges grow wildly. The first hedge shearing should be done next spring. Before you start trimming, you should create an artificial guide. Without a guide, it is just too easy to cut into your intended pattern and ruin your hedge, especially while the plants are still young.
You can create a guide by stringing twine between posts and cutting along these guides. If you have a specific shape in mind like round hedges then it is best to make a guide from plywood or metal. This type of guide can be moved along the hedge as you work and will tell you where to trim and which spots to avoid.
Invest In a Quality Hedge Trimmer
It is very hard to maintain a hedge with just garden shears. Hand trimming is going to take a long time and won’t give you that perfectly even shape you might desire for your garden.
For young hedges or small hedge gardens, you can invest in the Matrix Hedge Trimmer and Shear kit. This kit features a handheld trimmer and shear that you can use to get those perfect edges.
If you have a large garden with lots of hedges then you might want to invest in the Matrix x-One cordless hedge trimmer kit. With this large trimmer, you can perfectly cut straight lines in no time at all.
Maintenance Is Important
Once you start trimming your hedges, they will require regular trims to keep them in good condition. It is best to trim your hedges at least once a year. Healthy plants that get plenty of sunlight might need shearing about two to three times a year so you can keep guiding your hedges in the right direction.
With these tips and a few good tools from Matrix Tools, we are quite sure that your hedges will look fantastic in just a few short years.