Evergreen, deciduous, flowering...
To know what we are talking about, and what type of tree we use to create a hedge, let's go back to some definitions.
An evergreen tree is a tree that keeps its leaves in winter. On the other hand, a deciduous tree loses its leaves in the fall. Flowering trees can belong to both categories, evergreen or deciduous.
Trees or shrubs?
It is also important to distinguish between trees and shrubs. Even on large plots of land, where there is room to install large hedgerows favorable to biodiversity, we mainly use shrubs, which are less cumbersome than trees.
A shrub can easily be more than 2, 3 or 4 meters high. Also, on the scale of a modest garden (500 to 1000 m2), we tend to use subjects of 1m to 1.50m, or that we will maintain at this size (in general, a maintenance pruning every 2 or 3 years is sufficient).
Diversity to encourage biodiversity
When planting a hedge, it is important to keep biodiversity in mind. This requires a diversity of planted shrubs. It is important to mix species and varieties, to have recourse to evergreens, deciduous and flowering plants, with flowering periods staggered throughout the year. Thanks to the plant diversity, we encourage animal diversity and therefore, the arrival of terrestrial and aerial auxiliaries.
The advantages of a plant hedge
- Contrary to a mineral hedge, the vegetal hedge brings coolness to the garden when it is hot.
- The leaves of deciduous shrubs nourish the soil and the biodiversity of the soil when they fall to the ground and decompose.
- It limits the effect of wind, erosion of sloping soils, etc.
A 'disadvantage': maintenance
The disadvantage of a vegetal hedge is that it requires a minimum of maintenance to benefit from all its advantages in the long term. Some shrubs require only one pruning per year, others every two or three years. From time to time, it will be necessary to intervene in a more drastic way, i.e. to cut back to let it grow back.
Bonus: pruning will allow you to have some firewood or to make some shelters for auxiliaries (for example, for a hedgehog), by making some piles that you will install under the hedge.
