Evergreens for hedging that keep their leaves in winter, so they screen all year round.
34 plants from our verified database, by name. A plant is only listed when the data this list relies on is not in doubt. How our data is made
Taxus × media 2.5 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A dark green, dense evergreen and one of the best plants for a clipped hedge: it grows in sun and deep shade alike, copes well with city air and…
Cupressus arizonica 3.5 m × 1 m after 10 years
A blue-grey, scale-leaved evergreen that is mostly sold in slim, columnar forms: a handsome specimen in a warm, sunny spot, a screen when planted in a…
Ilex × meserveae 2 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A dense evergreen shrub with glossy, blue-green, spiny leaves that is much hardier than English holly, so it works both as an impenetrable hedge and…
Lonicera nitida 1.2 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
Box honeysuckle is a small-leaved, glossy evergreen shrub that grows fast and takes clipping at almost any time, so it is used for low hedges,…
Prunus laurocerasus 3 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A fast-growing evergreen with glossy leaves and one of the most popular hedging plants: it grows in sun and shade alike and takes hard pruning well.…
Prunus laurocerasus 'Novita' 4.5 m × 3.5 m after 10 years
For a fast-growing screen that stays leafy all year, 'Novita' offers large, glossy leaves, but needs regular clipping and watering while establishing.…
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Columnaris' 3.5 m × 1 m after 10 years
A false cypress that forms a slim, dense column branched to the ground, with steely blue-green scale-like foliage and stiffly upright branches. In ten…
Taxus baccata 4 m × 2.1 m after 10 years
Its dense, dark green foliage makes a useful evergreen hedge or a clipped garden feature, even in shade. It tolerates pruning well, but eventually…
Santolina chamaecyparissus 50 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
An evergreen subshrub with silver-grey, finely cut, strongly aromatic foliage that grows into a tight little dome and carries yellow button flowers in…
Elaeagnus × ebbingei 2.5 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A vigorous, dense evergreen shrub with leathery leaves that are glossy dark green above and silvery beneath, bearing tiny, barely visible but strongly…
Ilex aquifolium 2.5 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A slow-growing, dense evergreen shrub or small tree with glossy dark green or variegated leaves edged with spines, at its best in winter when the…
Lavandula angustifolia 60 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
An evergreen, grey-leaved, scented subshrub covered for weeks in early summer with purple, blue, pink or white flower spikes that bees and butterflies…
Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
'Hidcote' forms a compact mound of silvery foliage topped with fragrant, dark-purple flowers that attract bees. It works well along sunny borders,…
Pyracantha coccinea 3 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A dense, fiercely thorny evergreen shrub with clusters of white flowers in late spring and masses of red or orange berries from autumn to late winter,…
Fargesia nitida 3 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A clump-forming bamboo: unlike running bamboos it does not send out far-reaching rhizomes, the clump only thickens slowly, so you can plant it without…
Santolina rosmarinifolia 60 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
A Mediterranean subshrub with bright green, thread-fine aromatic foliage that forms a dense cushion and is covered with pale yellow button flowers…
Osmanthus heterophyllus 2 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
An evergreen shrub with glossy, dark green, spiny leaves that look like holly, bearing tiny white flowers in autumn whose scent carries a long way…
Ilex crenata 1.2 m × 1 m after 10 years
A small-leaved, glossy, spineless evergreen that looks deceptively like box when clipped, so it is planted in its place for low hedges, edging and…
Euonymus japonicus 2 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
An evergreen shrub with glossy, leathery leaves that takes clipping well, so it works as a low to medium hedge, a screen or a container plant, and…
Viburnum tinus 2 m × 2 m after 10 years
A Mediterranean evergreen viburnum with dark, glossy foliage that flowers from late autumn in mild winters, otherwise from late winter into spring:…
Lavandula × intermedia 90 cm × 1 m after 10 years
A bigger, more vigorous hybrid than true lavender: a grey-green, aromatic subshrub that carries long-stemmed, strongly scented flower spikes in summer…
Viburnum rhytidophyllum 2.5 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A large evergreen shrub with long, deeply wrinkled dark green leaves that screens all year, so it is excellent as a tall, loosely kept screen or…
× Cuprocyparis leylandii 8 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A very fast evergreen that gives you a tall, dense privacy hedge within a few years, but only choose it if you have the room and the time. It grows…
Mahonia aquifolium 1.2 m × 1.2 m after 10 years
A slow-growing evergreen shrub with glossy, holly-like, spiny-edged leaves that copes with shade and part shade under trees, where few other shrubs…
Photinia × fraseri 'Red Robin' 3 m × 2 m after 10 years
Glossy evergreen leaves and bright red new shoots make this a colourful hedge or a striking standalone shrub. Give it sun or partial shade, shelter…
Prunus lusitanica 3.5 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
A dense, elegant evergreen shrub or small tree with glossy dark green leaves that are narrower than those of cherry laurel, reddish young shoots and…
Viburnum × pragense 2.5 m × 2.2 m after 10 years
A fast-growing, dense evergreen shrub with glossy, dark green, veined leaves; in late May it carries flat heads of creamy white, lightly scented…
Photinia × fraseri 3 m × 2 m after 10 years
An evergreen shrub for hedges and specimens whose new shoots emerge bright red and mature to glossy dark green; trimming in spring and summer brings…
Fargesia robusta 3.5 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A clump-forming bamboo that does not run: the clump only thickens slowly and stays where you plant it, so it needs no rhizome barrier. It is one of…
Juniperus scopulorum 4 m × 60 cm after 10 years
Rocky Mountain juniper is sold as narrow, columnar, blue-green or silver-blue forms (Blue Arrow, Skyrocket): in ten years they reach roughly four…
Fargesia rufa 2.5 m × 2 m after 10 years
A clump-forming bamboo that does not run, so you can plant it without a root barrier: the clump widens slowly but never wanders through the garden. It…
Teucrium chamaedrys 30 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low evergreen subshrub with small, glossy, scalloped leaves that look like tiny oak leaves, and pinkish purple lipped flowers in summer that bees…
Thuja plicata 5 m × 2 m after 10 years
A fast-growing evergreen with glossy dark green, scale-like foliage that smells of pineapple when crushed. For hedges it is mostly planted as the…
Berberis julianae 2 m × 1.5 m after 10 years
A dense evergreen barberry with glossy spiny-edged leaves and three-pronged thorns 2 to 4 cm long: clipped or left free it makes a practically…
Fast-growing hedges: how much each grows in a year
The fastest hedge plant is the Leyland cypress, growing about 90 cm a year, followed by cherry laurel 'Novita', firethorn and western red cedar at about 50 cm a year, then privet at 40 cm. How long a 180 cm hedge takes to screen depends more on the size of plant you buy: several years from small plants, one or two summers from large ones, but at many times the price per metre. The tables use the current shop prices in your country.
Planting a hedge: how many plants per metre, and what it costs
Most hedge plants go in at 2-4 plants per metre: Leyland cypress 2, cherry laurel and photinia 2.5 (40 cm apart), yew 3, hornbeam 3.5, privet and beech 4. The plants go in one row, 80 cm from the fence, in autumn or early spring. What the hedge costs depends most on the size of the plants: the table works it out at today's shop prices in your country, for the length of your own hedge.
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