try musser forests ...

your are in the shrub forum ... i am not aware.. of a lot of peeps solely in the shrub business ... under the term 'shrub'

so you might want to try the same post in the conifer and tree forums ...

in conifers.. people who graft need understock .. sold by bulk propagators.. of which.. those same.. might also do the type of plants you are searching for ..

same with trees ...

i spent my youth.. shearing everything for mom and dad ... and in suburbia.. there is no way around the fact that most hedges need to be sheared twice or 3 times per year.. to keep them in shape and form .. and frankly.. i lost the will to deal with such ..

and with today mc'mansions on a postage stamp lot.. barely bigger than the house.. where would most peeps put such???.. or have time to deal with such.. paying the mortgage ...

think outside the box of what you are calling it.. and you should have more luck .. they are out there.. you just have to find them .. and starting with a latin name.. will get you moving in the right direction ...

ken

In UK the hedgerow is not at all what you would call a hedge**, and many of your "hits" will be for companies specializing in hedgerow hedges. Those fall under "agriculture & roadworks", not gardening ;-)

In N America "hedge" refers pretty much solely to a single species planting, & if you are of a certain age you remember well, & not fondly, the ubiquitous privet hedge. One of the reasons that privet was so heavily used is that the box used for formal hedging in UK is questionably hardy here. Box requires much less trimming.

I'm going to guess there isn't enough market in "hedges" for a wholesaler to bother specializing here. You should decide what kind of hedges you want (formal/topiary/informal/edible etc) then look for suitable plants.

Most conifers are completely unsuitable for anything but an informal windbreak hedge, btw. Some of the more polite junipers are amenable to forming & topiary. Hardier box species are available, but smaller than the UK (B sempervirens) one. Barberries (eg Oregon Grape) are also slower growing, to cut down on maintenance.

Hope that helps.

True that most of what one sees here is a mono-hedge. But what you are describing was only one small part of what was being offered , which was definitely a garden worthy hedge of flowering shrubs or evergreen shrubs. They also offered the type of hedge one would manicure, such as beech, but it was just one of many options. Perhaps we call something un-manicured a "shrub border" whereas they call it a flowering hedge?

Most conifers are completely unsuitable for anything but an informal windbreak hedge

==>> agreed.. but that was not my point..

wholesalers who grow understock from seed.. also grow many other types of plants from seed.. including shrubs and hedge material ..

e.g. at the link.. on the PLANTS BY LINK page .... there are multiple named categories.. which include things that could become a hedge ....

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: Deciduous Screens

I think in the past hedges were more widely planted as a cheaper version of a fence. As Americans went towards higher incomes fences became more affordable and the hedges became too much '"work". Around where I live, the dream fence is one of those 6 ft white vinyl privacy fences. I feel like I've fallen into some kind of giant white Tupperware container when I'm in a small yard surrounded by that kind of fence..... To each his own.

Immaculate privet hedges are still popular and almost required in some of the real expensive beach areas of the Hamptons in NY. Maybe these same people have winter homes in FL because down there ficus Benjamin is the hedge of choice for the beach front "cottage"

Maybe it's a yard size thing. After you spend an hour or two cutting and edging the grass who wants to trim a hedge? On the other hand if you only need a couple minutes to cut the grass a couple feet of hedging is no big deal... That's my plan, eliminate more grass and plant some hedging!

Personally, i love hedges.
The first home I ever bought (older home), had a 30 foot long boxwood hedge out front.
i loved it!
it was always green, easy to care for, and we only had to trim it mabey twice a year to keep it perfect.
My neighbor now has mature boxwood hedges in front of his house, we are on big properties.
Even with the heat here, the boxwoods are fine.
They don't grow fast, so he doesn't have to trim them
all that often, and they look much nicer than a stupid ugly vinyl fence.(just my opinion).
Mabey I will plant some boxwood hedges, but I don't think I will live long enough to appreciate them. LOL!

'I think in the past hedges were more widely planted as a cheaper version of a fence. As Americans went towards higher incomes fences became more affordable and the hedges became too much '"work".'

heh. before power tools fences were a lot of work, too, just faster and more temporary. In UK hedgerows are centuries old, in that kind of long run they are still less work AND cheaper. If you plan on living that long. ;-)

I think Mr. Adrian has provided the best explanation: few endeavors are as labor intensive (with minimal reward) than properly maintaining hedges. When I hear the word "hedge" I immediately think of poorly pruned - usually wider at the top rather than correctly wider at the bottom - straggly privet or, even worse, barberry with a collection of plastic bags and other assorted trash lodged in the interior. Hedges in estate gardens, especially in England, are often very beautiful, but require a full time staff of workers to keep them looking that way.

The title of this thread gave me a chuckle. Back in the 1820s, almost 200 years ago, a Brit named William Cobbett penned a rant about this very subject--no hedges in America vs the glorious English hedgerows.

Cobbett was temporarily living in the US because his outspoken reformist political views got him in major legal trouble in England. While here, he wrote a gardening book that is unintentionally hilarious and occasionally useful in spite of itself.

He returned to England one step ahead of a libel suit in the US and got elected to Parliament when, as the immortal Liberty Hyde Bailey put it, "he was too old to do much damage." Presumably, he died happily near an English hedgerow.

If you want to see some hedges in their natural habitat follow the Olympic Flame on its journey through the UK. Between the towns the camera follows the roads, many of which are bordered by hedges. At the moment they are full of flowering hawthorn.

It's strange for me to read such anti-hedge rhetoric - hedges just ARE over here and nobody gives them a second thought. Farmers regard it as part of tending the land and home-owners regard it as basic gardening in the same way as weeding or mowing the lawn.

akamaingrower's comment about 'minimal reward' overlooks the fact that here, in a small country with little forest or wilderness, hedges are vital wildlife habitats and form corridors between patches of woodland which would otherwise be isolated. In suburban settings they make homes for almost all our garden birds and invertebrates. In open areas they prevent erosion and soil loss. They are a shelter for livestock and in coastal areas they filter the wind rather than deflecting it like a solid barrier. To someone brought up with them they are things of beauty whether trim or unkempt. akamaingrower, the reward is far from 'minimal.' You have a green living hedge full of scents, blossom and birdsong, not utilitarian chainlink or sterile white vinyl.

Here is a link that might be useful: Torch relay

You can also see them in the opening sequence of Lawrence of Arabia when Peter O'Toole is racing along a country lane on a motorcycle.
When I was visiting Devon in SW England, I really enjoyed the 'flailed' hedges. ;-)
Mike

It is popular in the US presently to heap scorn on practically any shaped shrub as an insult to nature.

This bores me.

Fences don't have to be ugly - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I kind of like split-rail fences. Why have a hedge when you could have a lush patch of woods? I see shrubs whacked into all sorts of humiliating figures. As to birdsong, hedges around here are usually jammed full of English sparrows!

Split rail does extremely look good in the appropriate situation. But it is not a traditional fence type here. One of the ridiculous aspects of Steven Spielberg's Warhorse film (of which there are many) is his placing of split rail fencing on a farm in Devon. I am not saying for a moment that the US should have hedges. Only that they are traditional here, we like them and they serve a vital function. They are a signature feature of the British countryside. The loss of many ancient hedges has been an environmental tragedy over the past few decades. As to 'Why have a hedge when you could have a lush patch of woods?' that is fine in a big country where you can be profligate with space. You are clearly not living on a plot the size of an average British garden. Even room for a single small tree is not guaranteed. The minimum recommended density for new build in the UK is 30 dwellings per hectare and the maximum is 50 dph ie 30 - 50 per 2.5 acres. Try having a 'lush patch of woods' under those conditions. In fact there isn't even room for a hedge in most modern gardens.

Here is a link that might be useful: Why we need hedges

I am seeing many different associations with the word "hedge". These could be the traditional UK land enclosure, natural (bird planted), garden enclosures, privacy hedge often against a fence(photinia) , mono-clipped hedge like privet dividing hone from sidewalk or neighbor, shaped borders (topiary-like), stately taller hedges using trees (ex.beech), lower growing hedges of roses or lavender, ect. mixed flowering shrubs often to encourage birds or four seasons of interest, unclipped or clipped tapestry hedges of evergreens. I'm sure there are more--perhaps the fedge, windbreak plantings, lane...

I am the "old house" in the midst of new. My hedge is the flowering unclipped type that serves to demarcate the property line in the back. It is over 50 years old and contains groupings of forsythia, winter honeysuckle, lilac, spirea, mature spindle, rhododendron and Japanese maple. As was mentioned, the age of a hedge can be determined by the other species living there. I have noted bird planted undesirables have taken hold in hard to reach areas-some invasive species too. My maintenance of grubbing these out has been sporadic; it's a lot of work. BUT, my yard is full of bird song in the backyard, narrow as it is, and these are the nice garden birds.

I have the option of making a traditional hedge on my country property which is appealing since the old grazing pastures were taken over by young maple saplings in the past 20 years and some introduced diversity along the property line would be welcome, I think.

I wonder, Flora, if the work of gardening is considered less onerous by the Brits than here, generally speaking, such that the tending and daily concerns of looking after hedge and garden is expected as part of the culture. After all, the very archetype of the "garden tour" is a group of British matrons in dresses and hats!

Sorry, didn't mean to come off as anti-hedge; they look outstanding in a formal landscape! I'm just saying that neat, trimmed hedges look a bit out of place in large, country settings (In America, anyways)