Why a Native Hedge Earns Its Space

A hedge is the hardest-working thing you can plant in a garden. It gives you a boundary, a windbreak and a privacy screen, and in return it costs you far less than a fence while offering food and shelter to a whole cast of creatures. Native species earn their keep because our insects, birds and mammals evolved alongside them. A hawthorn will feed dozens of moth caterpillars that a leylandii never will, and those caterpillars are exactly what blue tits need to raise a brood in spring.

The three plants worth building a hedge around are hazel, hawthorn and holly. Between them they cover the whole year: spring blossom, summer cover, autumn nuts and berries, and winter shelter when everything else has been stripped back.

Hazel, Hawthorn and Holly: What Each One Brings

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is the backbone of the traditional British hedge. It grows fast, tolerates almost any soil, and responds brilliantly to hard cutting. Its dense thorny growth is the single best nesting habitat in a garden hedge — the thorns keep cats and magpies out. Creamy May blossom feeds early bees and hoverflies, and the haws that follow are stripped by redwings, fieldfares and blackbirds through the winter.

Hazel (Corylus avellana) is the coppicer's tree and the wildlife gardener's quiet ally. Its catkins open in late winter when there is almost nothing else for early bees to visit, and its leaves feed a long list of moths. The nuts are taken by squirrels, mice, jays and nuthatches. Left unpruned it makes a leafy, arching hedge that is ideal for small birds to fledge from.

Holly (Ilex aquifolium) is slow but worth the wait. It is evergreen, so it holds the hedge's structure through winter and provides roosting cover on the coldest nights. Female plants carry red berries that blackbirds and thrushes rely on when the ground freezes. Plant one holly for roughly every four or five hawthorns, and remember you need a male nearby for good berrying.

Planning the Planting

Bare-root plants are the cheap, reliable option and should go in between November and March, whenever the ground is not frozen or waterlogged. Order whips about 60–90cm tall; they establish faster than larger, more expensive stock.

• Single row: plant at 30–40cm spacing for a thick, quick hedge. Five plants per metre is a good rule of thumb.
• Double row: two rows 40cm apart, staggered, gives a denser base and better nesting cover — ideal if you have the width.
• Mix it up: a rough ratio of 60% hawthorn, 25% hazel and 15% holly gives structure, food and winter cover without looking regimented.
• Position: most native hedges prefer sun, but holly and hazel will manage light shade. Keep the hedge at least a metre from a boundary you will need to maintain.

Getting Them In and Growing Away

Clear a strip about 60cm wide of grass and weeds — competition in the first two summers is what kills most young hedges. Fork over the ground, and if your soil is heavy clay, add a little garden compost along the row rather than in the planting hole itself.

Plant each whip to the same depth it was growing in the nursery, firm the soil properly with your heel, and water well. A mulch of bark chippings or well-rotted compost around the base will hold moisture and suppress weeds. If rabbits or deer visit, spiral guards are worth the expense. Water through the first two dry spells, then leave the hedge alone apart from weeding.

Do not trim the hedge in its first two years. Let it grow tall and bushy — a hedge trimmed too early never thickens properly at the base, and you will spend years trying to fix it.

Coppicing and Cutting: The Traditional Skill that Keeps a Hedge Young

Traditional coppicing is simply cutting a woody plant hard back to near ground level and letting it regrow. Done on a rotation, it keeps a hedge or a hazel stool permanently youthful — vigorous, dense and full of life.

• Hazel stools can be coppiced on a seven to ten year cycle. Cut stems low in winter and you will get a burst of straight new rods, which are perfect for bean poles, pea sticks and plant supports.
• Hedge trimming should be done in late winter, ideally January or February, once berries have been eaten but before birds start nesting.
• Avoid cutting between March and the end of August. It is an offence to cut a hedge during the main bird nesting season, and it is also the worst time for the hedge itself.
• Cut on a slight A-shape — wider at the base than the top — so light reaches the bottom and the hedge does not go bare and leggy.
• Never trim every year. Cutting on a two or three year rotation lets flowers and berries form, which an annual trim prevents.

If you have the space and patience, hedgelaying is the traditional craft of partially cutting stems and laying them at an angle. It produces a stock-proof, wildlife-rich hedge that will last decades. Even a short laid section makes a wonderful feature.

What You Will See Within a Few Years

A young native hedge fills with life surprisingly quickly. Expect spiders and beetles colonising the first summer, followed by nesting dunnocks, robins and wrens in year two or three. By year three the blossom will be buzzing, and by year five you should be watching blackbirds strip the haws in November. Add a shallow dish of water nearby and leave a patch of long grass at the base, and you have created a corridor that connects your garden to the wider landscape — one of the most valuable things any gardener can do.