A new hedge bought as pot-grown plants can cost ten times as much as the same hedge bought bare-root, and the cheaper version usually establishes better. The catch is a deadline: bare-root plants are only available and only plantable while dormant, roughly November to March. Get organised for that window and you can plant a hundred metres of native hedge for the price of a handful of container shrubs.
Why bare-root beats pot-grown for hedging
Bare-root plants are field-grown, lifted while leafless and dormant, and sold with their roots bare of soil. Because the nursery skips pots, compost and year-round watering, a two-year-old hedging "whip" of 40–60cm typically costs less than a pound when bought in bundles, against several pounds or more for the equivalent in a pot.
Cost aside, bare-root plants tend to establish well. Their roots grow directly into your soil from day one, rather than circling in a pot-shaped ball of compost that dries out at a different rate from the surrounding ground. Small whips also suffer less transplant shock than larger specimens and usually overtake them within a few seasons. The trade-offs: you must plant between November and March, ideally on the earlier side so roots settle before spring; the plants look like bundles of dead twigs when they arrive (they are not); and you cannot procrastinate once they are delivered.
Choosing the species
- Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna, H7) — the backbone of British hedging. Fast, thorny, tolerant of almost any soil and exposure, white May blossom and red haws for birds. The default choice for a stock-proof or wildlife boundary.
- Beech (Fagus sylvatica, H6) — the classic formal garden hedge. Clipped beech keeps its coppery dead leaves through winter, giving year-round screening. Dislikes heavy waterlogged clay.
- Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus, H7) — looks similar to beech and also holds winter leaves when trimmed, but thrives on the wet, heavy soils beech hates. If your ground squelches in January, choose hornbeam.
- Mixed native — hawthorn as roughly half the mix, plus blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), hazel (Corylus avellana), field maple (Acer campestre), dog rose (Rosa canina) and guelder rose (Viburnum opulus). The best option for wildlife: blossom, berries, nuts and nesting cover across the year.
- Yew (Taxus baccata, H7) — the finest formal evergreen hedge, dense and long-lived, and faster than its reputation suggests once established. Needs decent drainage; note that all parts are toxic to livestock, so keep it away from grazing animals.
Avoid the temptation of ultra-fast conifers such as leylandii for small gardens — the speed that appeals in year two becomes a maintenance burden every year after.
Spacing: single row or double?
For a standard garden hedge, plant a single row with whips 30–45cm apart (roughly three per metre). For a denser, wider, more stock-proof or wildlife-rich hedge, plant a staggered double row: two lines about 40cm apart, plants 45cm apart within each line and offset so each plant faces a gap in the other row — about five plants per metre. Yew and beech for formal hedges are usually planted in a single row at 45–60cm.
Order around 10% more plants than the arithmetic says. A few failures are normal, and having spare plants heeled in makes gapping-up in the first winter trivial.
When the plants arrive: heeling in
Bare-root plants must never dry out — an hour of wind on exposed roots can kill a whip. Unpack on arrival and check the roots are moist. If you can plant within a couple of days, keep the bundles somewhere cold, frost-free and shaded with the roots wrapped in their bag or damp sacking.
If planting will be delayed longer, heel them in: dig a rough trench in a spare corner, lay the bundles in at an angle with roots in the trench, cover the roots completely with soil and firm lightly. Heeled-in plants keep happily for weeks, until proper planting weather returns. What they will not tolerate is sitting in a shed in a plastic bag, or being planted into frozen or waterlogged ground — wait for a mild spell instead.
Planting: trench or notch?
Trench planting
The thorough method, best for garden hedges on compacted or weedy ground. Strip a metre-wide line of turf and weeds, then dig a trench one spade deep and about 45cm wide along the run. Fork over the base to break up compaction, but do not add fertiliser or bags of compost to the trench — roots should be encouraged out into the native soil, not to stay in a pampered slot. Set each whip against the trench side at the depth it grew in the nursery (look for the darker soil mark on the stem), spread the roots, backfill and firm as you go.
Notch (slit) planting
The fast method for long runs of small whips into reasonable ground. Push a spade in vertically, rock it forward and back to open a slot, slide the whip's roots down into the slit to the nursery soil mark, withdraw the spade and firm the slot closed with your heel. An experienced pair can plant hundreds of whips a day this way. It works well for whips up to about 60cm; larger plants deserve a proper hole or trench.
Either way, keep the bundle of unplanted whips in a bag at your side, exposing each plant's roots only at the moment of planting.
Firming, watering and mulching
Firm every plant in properly with your heel so the roots make close contact with the soil and wind cannot rock the stem — windrock opens a socket around the stem that fills with water and rots the bark. Water in after planting even in winter, to settle soil around the roots, then water through dry spells in the first spring and summer; April to June droughts kill more new hedges than winter cold ever does.
Mulch the full length of the hedge with 5–7cm of woodchip, bark or garden compost, keeping it clear of the stems themselves. The single biggest cause of slow establishment is competition from grass and weeds, and a metre-wide mulched or weed-free strip makes a visible difference to growth in years one to three.
Formative pruning in year one
It feels wrong to cut a brand-new hedge, but early pruning is what makes a hedge thick at the base rather than gappy-bottomed and top-heavy.
- Hawthorn, blackthorn and vigorous mixed native hedging: cut whips back by about half, to 15–30cm, immediately after planting. This forces branching low down where you need it.
- Beech and hornbeam: gentler treatment — trim the leading shoot lightly and shorten any long side shoots by a third after planting, then trim annually.
- Yew and other evergreens: do not cut the leader until the hedge reaches its intended height; just lightly trim straggly side growth in the early years.
Thereafter, trim deciduous hedges once or twice a year, shaping them slightly wider at the base than the top so light reaches the bottom growth. Avoid cutting between March and August where birds may be nesting — it is an offence to damage an active nest, so the traditional late-winter trim suits both hedge and wildlife.
Guards against rabbits and deer
If rabbits, hares or deer visit your garden, protect every plant from day one — a rabbit can ring-bark a whole row of whips in a night, and finding out the hard way costs a full season. Spiral guards (60cm, with a bamboo cane per plant) stop rabbits; taller tubes or a temporary fence of rabbit netting dug in at the base handle heavier pressure. Deer need 1.2m tubes or proper deer fencing — spirals alone will not save the shoot tips. Check guards each winter, loosen or remove them once stems thicken, and collect them in before they become brittle plastic litter in the hedge bottom.
What to expect, year by year
A hawthorn or mixed native hedge from 60cm whips typically reaches 1.2–1.5m and starts to knit together by the end of year three, and looks like a proper hedge by year five. Beech and hornbeam are a touch slower; yew puts on 20–30cm a year once settled, which builds a respectable formal hedge faster than most people expect. The first two summers of watering and weed control determine almost everything — a hedge that gets that attention will outgrow a neglected one planted two years earlier.
Sources and further reading
- Royal Horticultural Society — hedge planting, species selection and pruning guidance
- Woodland Trust — native hedgerow species, their wildlife value and tree packs for community planting
- gov.uk — rules on hedgerow management, nesting birds and countryside hedgerow protection