The Hedge Navigator - Comparison of garden hedges
Which garden hedge is suitable as a privacy screen for modern urban gardens?
When you think of a garden hedge, you often think of a cherry laurel or privet hedge. Garden hedges as a privacy screen are cheaper, take up less space and are more durable than a wall or a wooden privacy screen. The disadvantage is that you have to trim the hedges once or twice a year. Depending on the size of the hedge plant, you will need a few years of patience and care until the plant privacy screen has grown tall and is opaque. In a small garden, cherry laurel or privet hedges quickly feel cramped because they quickly become very bushy at a height of 160 to 220 cm and therefore take up a lot of space in the garden. Space is often lacking in modern urban gardens because land prices have risen enormously and gardens are therefore generally smaller.
Cherry laurel hedge as privacy screen
The leaves of the cherry laurel are slightly shiny and evergreen, which means that they provide a perfect privacy screen as a hedge all year round. The wall of leaves becomes opaque after a few years. Cherry laurel generally does not shed its leaves in winter, so there is little foliage in winter. It depends on the variety whether the white flowers give off a pleasant smell. It is therefore not surprising that cherry laurel creates a modern look in many modern gardens. That is why I often see the plant in modern, new townhouses.
The disadvantage is that cherry laurel quickly becomes very bushy because it grows quickly and vigorously. Young plants are usually planted 50 cm apart. In terms of price, cherry laurel is one of the more expensive hedge alternatives. It takes about five years until you have a reasonably dense and high hedge in your garden. If the hedge is opaque, it can easily reach a width of 70 to 100 cm at the top. In many city gardens, the hedge even grows much wider than that. This space is then missing in the modern city garden and also creates a cramped atmosphere.
Privet hedge as privacy screen
Privet is clearly one of the classic hedge plants. It is robust and needs little sun. The leaves are very fine, between two and four centimeters long, and provide effective privacy in the garden. In combination with the fine branches and small leaves, the hedge grows very quickly, becoming opaque and graceful. One advantage is that you can cut the hedge into beautiful, rounded shapes. Birds like to nest inside the hedge because there is a lot of space inside. Depending on the type of plant, privet can reach a height of up to five meters. The advantage is that privet is uncomplicated, location-tolerant, cut-tolerant, easy to care for, tolerates sun and partial shade, and is relatively inexpensive.
The disadvantage is that privet loses some of its leaves in winter. Just like laurel hedges, the hedge quickly becomes bushy and, at a height of 160 cm to 220 cm, quickly takes up an enormous width and therefore a lot of space in the garden. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is missing in modern city gardens these days. This is certainly the reason why this type of hedge is rarely found in modern new build houses.
What should a modern hedge look like?
If we think of modern townhouses and modern city gardens, the gardens are smaller than they were 20 years ago. For these gardens, we need a hedge that grows very quickly, is evergreen all year round and is also opaque. In addition, the hedge should only take up a minimum of our beautiful city garden. The hedge should not take up more than 20 cm in width. If possible, the hedge should also replace the garden fence and thus keep unwanted guests away. Does this super alternative even exist?
Ivy as an evergreen hedge plant
The modern homeowner does not immediately think of ivy when he thinks of his city garden. Ivy is more known as a climbing plant that loves to grow and cling to walls. This no longer does justice to the venerable ivy today. If it is treated properly, ivy can be a beautiful, evergreen and opaque hedge. The advantage is that it is completely opaque even in winter. It is easy to care for, very location-tolerant, can be cut all year round and, compared to other hedge plants, it copes very well with shade. The real advantage of ivy, however, is that it can form a very narrow hedge just a few centimeters wide. These properties make ivy, provided it is cut and cared for regularly, interesting for city gardens and even balconies. There are basically two types of ivy that come into consideration. The large-leaved ivy (Hedera hibernica) or Irish ivy and the common ivy (Hedera helix). Both species are hardy, evergreen, tolerate pruning and love to grow. They have leathery and shiny leaves. If you are waiting for bright flowers, you will have to do without them with ivy. After about ten years, the ivy forms small, rather inconspicuous and greenish flower umbels in September. These flowers are an important source of food for insects, even before the winter break, when other hedge plants have already lost their leaves. If the ivy is left to itself, it will happily overgrow its entire surroundings with its shoots.
The ivy leaf is green in summer and takes on a
reddish coloration
Planting ivy correctly as an evergreen hedge
In order for ivy to form a tall, slender hedge, it needs a trellis to support it. The trellis can be a wooden frame or a wire mesh trellis. The ivy climbs up around this trellis and forms a slender, opaque, green ivy wall.
How do you plant an ivy hedge?
Ivy is easy to plant on your own without the expense of hiring a landscaper. Mark the spot with a spray paint, sand or a string. Then dig a trench along the mark and remove the stones and larger roots. There are several methods for building a climbing aid. You can build a trellis out of a wire mesh fence or build a trellis yourself. A wire mesh fence is permanently stable, but also a bit more expensive. Hardware stores sell drive-in sleeves if you decide to build a trellis yourself. You can put the appropriate fence posts in these drive-in sleeves. Alternatively, you can drive the posts directly into the ground. It is important that the posts are exactly the height you want your hedge to be. Use about two posts per meter if you want to attach a wire mesh fence to them. If you attach a wire mesh to the posts, a distance of one meter between each post is sufficient. Sprinkle some potting soil into the gutter. Now plant four to five ivy plants per meter in the planting channel and attach the ivy tendrils to the trellis.
Plant ivy as a ready-made hedge
Anyone who wants to sit in front of a finished, opaque and green ivy hedge that same evening can use ready-made ivy hedge panels that are 120 cm wide and between 100 and 220 cm high. The panels save the garden owner the wait until the plants have reached the desired height and are opaque enough for a terrace or garden. Each ivy module consists of a trellis, a seed ball, and around five ivy plants that have been nurtured to height over several years. The modules are easily lined up next to one another. Posts are placed between the modules for stability, to which the trellis is attached with wire or plastic clips. You can also plant the finished hedge modules in planters and place them on balconies or terraces. With these modules, you save yourself the trouble of training the ivy shoots, as the shoots are already firmly attached to the trellis. This way, the dream of an opaque, green ivy fence becomes reality within around four hours.
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What does proper ivy care look like?
Caring for an ivy hedge is child's play. There is no season to consider. The ivy shoots can be cut off regularly or woven into the fence. However, you should care for the hedge regularly, otherwise the shoots will curiously conquer their surroundings. Ivy feels comfortable in both sun and shade. The more water it gets, the more sun it can withstand. Ivy prefers partial shade or shade and not direct sunlight. Since the hedge forms a vertical ivy wall, the ivy is inevitably shaded regularly. Therefore, you hardly have to worry about its position in the garden. Ivy doesn't care much about the soil, as it can cope well with almost any soil. Ivy feels most comfortable when the soil is slightly permeable and slightly moist.
Ivy hedges can cope with both shade and sun in the garden and form a slender wall of about 20 cm
How and when do you cut ivy?
You should trim an ivy hedge twice a year so that the hedge retains its slender shape, which is so space-saving for city gardens. You can do this without feeling guilty, as the privacy screen is not affected. Ivy is tough and you don't need to pay attention to anything or be particularly careful. Ivy recovers very quickly from being trimmed back because it is so keen to grow. If the shoots are short, you can wind the shoots back into the hedge. If the shoots are a bit longer, you can use electric garden shears. This saves time and really doesn't harm the ivy. If possible, trim the ivy in cloudy weather. This way, the exposed leaves, which have not yet experienced direct sunlight, do not get direct sun. The best months for hedge maintenance are April and September. If that's too much for you, you can trim your hedge once in August.
Ivy as a hedge plant: The most important things in brief
- The best time to plant ivy is in spring. Then the tendrils have time to work their way up the trellis.
- Dig a trench along the line where you want to plant ivy. Fill the trench with potting soil.
- Drive stakes into the ground to attach trellises or a chain link fence.
- Plant about four to five ivy plants per meter in the soil.
- Attach the shoots to the trellis and cut the ivy about twice a year. If that's too much work for you, you can find ready-made ivy panels in our shop that are 120 cm wide and 180 or 220 cm high. The panels are only 20 cm wide and you can string as many panels as you like together.
>> For those who don't want to wait: Here you can find our finished ivy hedges that can be ordered online and delivered directly to your home.
