Gone is the sad, uniform, massive and straight hedge. The garden hedge has evolved, long live the compound hedge! Inspired by the bocage hedge, this modern version highlights more decorative plants.
For a few years now, green walls have lost their appeal, too rigid, too opaque, too cold. With the new hedges, around the garden, we see again the values of a more abundant, diverse and colorful life. The plants mix according to your desires, entangling their free and flexible forms. Flowering shrubs, fruiting shrubs or colored foliage, deciduous trees of the soil are associated with bushy evergreens for a hedge, a real living plant case.
As the seasons go by, you will see your hedge change colors, like so many renewed pleasures. And even if, in winter, these species become more discreet, who cares! Do you really spend a lot of time outdoors in the wrong season? And besides, among the proposed species, some even keep a winter attraction, and not the least!
The proportion of deciduous species should be about 2/3, with a preference for flowering shrubs. As for evergreen plants, avoid conifers in this type of hedge. In addition to being beautiful, the mixed open hedge is also ecological. It welcomes birds, offering them a choice shelter. Choose berry bushes, hawthorn, black elder, mahonia, viburnum... They will come to feast on them. In spring, you can watch (from a distance!) the construction of the nests and the emergence of the young! For the butterflies, plant buddleias, lilacs, and other escallonias, cotoneasters and privet...
Planting distances
The difference between a bed and a compound hedge comes from the aligned arrangement of the plants (the ideal being however to plant on two rows in staggered rows) and their closer position. The average spacing between two shrubs is 1 m (compared to 2 m to 2.50 m in beds).
Pruning
A mixed hedge is very easy to maintain. Pruning is no longer a chore! A single annual pruning is sufficient (generally in September). It is enough to balance the silhouette of each shrub and to lighten the branches of plants that are too enterprising and that try to gain ground on their neighbors. Flowering shrubs also benefit from being rejuvenated every three years by removing old wood in favor of young shoots. If you have used colorful berry bushes, wait until early winter to prune.
Care
Another major advantage of the mixed hedge is that it is more resistant! The diversity of species that make up the hedge protects it from the lightning attacks that have sometimes destroyed coniferous hedges.
Good advice
To limit maintenance, place a planting film on the well-prepared soil. It prevents the proliferation of weeds and conserves moisture well. The installation of a drip watering system is also recommended.
