Hi, I'm going around and around and getting nowhere with deciding on a hedging plant to surround my vegie garden so I was hoping for some suggestions and advice from anyone who has done this. I live in Drummond in central Victoria on a hill that gets strong winds. I'm after something that's
- evergreen
- grows to about 1.5 m
- can be clipped to make a nice tight hedge to protect the garden from wind
- grows in full sun
- can tolerate poor drainage in winter - it's a problem I'm trying to solve, after a lot of rain water comes out of the hill just upslope of the veg garden
- since I'll need a lot of plants something that is cheap to purchase or I can grow myself from seeds or cuttings would be great
- long lived
- being edible or useful in some other way (eg nectar for birds and insects) would be a bonus
So far my ideas are
- bay
- native tree violet (Hymenanthera dentata) - we've got these growing wild here - don't know about their hedging potential, they might not be dense enough, could grow from cuttings
- cistus (Rock Rose) - we have one of these though I don't know which variety (we've been here less than a year so I haven't seen it flower), I could grow this from cuttings
- lavender - not sure if there's a variety tall enough
- chilian guava - would be expensive to buy enough
- rosemary
- escallonia iveyi - I've never seen these in person but they look good in the photos and can be purchased for $2.90 each from https://www.bmseedlingfarm.com.au
I'm hopeless when trying to decide on something that is a long term investment - argh! How do I decide?!
Vegie garden hedge suggestions
Discussion
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Not 100% confident about its ability to endure seasonal water logging, but the silverberry, Elaeagnus x ebbingei, is worth considering. Tough as nails, clips up beautifully. The only criteria box it doesn’t tick is the last one.
Also, many of the native saltbushes are one of the most underused plants for informal hedging in my opinion. Rhagodia candolleana or R. parabolica are worth considering too. They’re excellent for attracting beneficial insects, which is what you want around a vegetable garden!
As to your list, I’d say forget cistus. While they’re tough and flower beautifully, they have the habit of dropping dead suddenly if you try to shape them too much. You’d run the serious risk of a gappy hedge.
Sometimes windbreaks are more effective if they let some of the wind through – otherwise the wind can roll over the top of the planting and smash the plants a couple of metres inside the protected area.
I’ve experimented with a couple of different plants in the Adelaide Hills, where I’ve had similar winter waterlogging problems as you.
I’d give Rosemary Tuscan Blue a miss – it has a bad habit randomly dropping dead and ruining the hedge. Sophie Thomson has also observed this.
I’ve used Correa Glabra Yellow Bells with some success. Grows to about 1.2m, glossy mid green leaves, winter flowering, bird attracting, easy to propagate. I’ve read that correas can be short lived, but mine has been going well for 10 years. Growth rate can be a bit slow to start with, but after a couple of years it really seems to crack on. It might be a less formal look than you’re after, but it’s fairly low maintenance.
Thanks James and Tracey for your insights, I’ll check out your suggestions.
Hi Amy,
Totally random suggestion, but maybe a rugosa rose of some variety? They’re so endearingly tough and easy care, have great foliage and flower non-stop – when they’re flowering. You could buy a couple and propagate the rest.
Otherwise I suggest Artemisia arborescens which is also pinchy easy to propagate… I also endorse James’s indigenous suggestions 🌞
Try turcrium a silver hedge mauve flowers hardy and great hedge.