The Gray Dogwood should sucker from the roots to form a thicket.

How about some variety of Blueberry.

Have you checked the Maryland Native Plant Society site?

First, it sounds like you need a whole lot more plants to make a hedgerow 375 feet long. Second, I would never cut any of the shrubs you have down to ground level to encourage suckering. If they are relatively young, I'd cut to 12 inches or so. Large, older shrubs I'd cut to perhaps 2 feet tall. Third, I would add lots of Eastern Red Cedar to make a dense evergreen hedge. When you write hedgerow I think of a wide, dense hedge. That means at least two parallel rows of shrubs perhaps five feet apart, with the shrubs staggered and within each row the shrubs about five feet apart. This will eventually form a nice, wide, dense hedge. Eastern Red Cedar is probably common in your area, grows well in sandy soil, and in dense and evergreen. It gets berries that are eaten by many birds, and provides a nice place for birds to escape predators. I think I would use Red Cedar as perhaps every second shrub, with others in between, or even better a row of Red Cedar in the back, with other shrubs in front. Cedars five feet apart would fill in to form a solid row in perhaps five years if they are growing well. Cedars three feet apart would fill in more quickly.

Another favorite of mine, but perhaps more slow growing, is American holly, which is probably also common in your area in the understory of the forest. American Holly also is evergreen, upright, dense, and gets berries the birds eat.

Flowering Dogwood is a small tree that would be a nice addition to a hedgerow, but really wouldn't help make the hedge, since it is a tree, not a shrub.

I don't have enough experience with you particular kind of conditions. A wild guess would be blueberries and some more bayberries. Maybe some more from the viburnum family? More evergreen plants would make it more hedgy during the winter.

I agree with adding more evergreens. I second the Juniperus virginiana recommendation - if you are open to cultivars, there are some that don't grow as tall as the species. Ilex glabra is good (you could add more) as well as the holly Ilex (once again, shorter versions of the holly tree are available).

- wd

Thanks very much for your input kcon, ladyslppr, bob64, and well drained.

It's true that I will need many more shrubs to fill the property line; because of budgetary constraints I'm planting in phases :) We're also renovating an old farmhouse.

Thank you also for the evergreen suggestions. I don't know why but I hadn't really thought about evergreens (duh - the obvious so often eludes me) but now that you all mention it they would provide a sort of visual "anchor" for the rest of the hedgerow (and would also block the view of the neighbors house). Eastern Red Cedars do, in fact, grow well down here - they're all over the place. Same goes for American Holly. So I will definitely seek out both of those. Is Juniperus virginiana the same as Eastern Red Cedar (I'm probably confused on this)?

I mentioned the blueberry suggestion to DH and his eyes lit up, so it looks like we'll definitely be putting those in. I'd like to also add some raspberries and/or blackberries, but someone at a local garden store told me that I shouldn't because of cedar rust; is that true? Blackberries do grow wild here...

I also plan on adding to the viburnums and ilex glabra to ensure more berries and spicebush to make the butterflies happy. Also probably another serviceberry or two because they're so pretty in bloom and don't get too terribly tall. What about a native hawthorn? Does anybody know if there any that might do well here?

Thanks again for your replies and helpful suggestions; it also helps so much just to have someone to bounce ideas off of.

Sorry for the confusion - Juniperus virginiana is red cedar - I tend to go with the scientific names because the common names are so variable (more than one common name per plant; more than one plant per common name).

- wd

Aronia arbutifolia, red chokeberry, might be another option to mix in. Berries persist into winter.

if you have hemlocks they make excellent hedges. plant them close together.

I also wanted to plant a hedgerow last year. I googled for info and found some very interesting articles and photos of real hedgerows in England. Fascinating. It isn't merely planting a row of shrubs, you plant a type that will sucker as ladyslppr mentions or sends up woody growth that gets bent back to the ground and/or weaved up thru the old wood. I even saved photos to my hard drive, cause I was so impressed. But, alas, I deleted them. I think you would really enjoy researching English hedgerows.

Schoolhouse, I appreciate your comments. I have, in fact, researched British web sites regarding hedgerows and the process of hedging. Fascinating. You can even go to school to learn how to do it.
When I first read about hedging (as a process) I was taken aback - it looked so...well, violent. I imagined that the folks over at the Shrubs and Trees forums might say the same thing, based on the many objections I've read in the past to things like pollarding (which I don't entirely understand because pollarding a tree provides a source of renewable energy). In fact, I'd like to explore the idea a bit, since having a wide hedgerow (consisting of 2-3 tightly-spaced rows of shrubs) would take up more space than might be available (we have peculiar property lines). I'd just prefer to do it with native species, if any are suitable.

Amelanchier, I like your idea about Aronia Arbutifolia; it's now on my wish list for the native plant sale at our arboretum in Sept. And cynandjon, I'm looking into hemlocks; I've probably seen them everywhere and didn't even realize it. Thanks for the continued ideas!

Well, over the years I've ended up planting a hodgepodge of shrubs at one end and letting the native wild cherry and scrub trees grow at the other. Some brambles and pussy willow, too. To save money, I planted very young plants that will probably take years to make a decent screen! ha. I planted Viburnum, summersweet, redbud, forsythia and red twig dogwood. Also a a couple burning bush. I tried to stagger them, not plant in a straight line. The line is too close to neighbors for tall and wide fir trees. Sadly, they cut down a row of white pine and old arborvitae (needles got in their new swimming pool). So, I'd better not replace those. This means in the winter, there is nothing evergreen.

Your welcome.
We have a 900 foot property line on one side. We are taking fallen branches and are weaving them into approx 7 ft tall fence. It makes a formiable fence and habitat for animals. Im thinking about planting rugosa roses on it. This one is to keep kids and deer out. Its doing a pretty good job. We learned to make the fence in a V shape because the deer cant jump it. Its not fool proof, but it helps.
Eventually I want to fence in just around the house. That will be a trick considering it would have to cross the creek.
cyn

Eastern Red Cedar, aka Juniperus virginiana, is really easy to transplant, so a cheap way to get your hedgerow started might be to find a place like a pasture with a lot of small red cedars and transplant. I have successfully moved many red cedars in the late fall, winter, and early spring - the dormant season - simply by pulling them up carefully and replanting. Even better, if you take the time to move a shovelful of dirt with each one's roots, you should have a very good success rate. Red cedar tends to grow in pastures because cows apparently avoid eating it. Sometimes roadsides or fence lines may have lots of small ones as well. In pastures they are a pest so you shouldn't have too much trouble getting permission to move some.

Here in the US I have never seen an authentic hedgerow like the old fashioned ones in europe, so I assume you really just want a nice thick shrub border, not an english-style hedgerow. I am not sure which native shrubs would be best for an english-style hedgerow.

Forgot to mention that I have read that Hawthorn trees are good for making barriers and providing bird shelter and food.
Cynandjon, are you making a wattle style fence or something kind of like that? I saw on some tv show some people making a living wattle fence with willows. Sounds cool whatever method you are using since you are putting your brush to good use. You could throw in some native vines also and they will climb on your brush fence. You make me jealous because I have been meaning to do something like this with the tons of branches, etc. I have (especially after the nasty microburst storm we had about two summers ago).

Cynandjon, I came very close to doing the same thing with branches off the brush pile; but instead put up a length of wooden picket fence someone gave me for free as I wasn't sure the new neighbors would appreciate my "creativity". I've always enjoyed working with this material and have done many projects. With maintenance, your barrier can last for quite a few years.

I added a bladdernut shrub to my border this year, purchased at the local agricultural research center's Spring sale.

Eshore - I have planted a mixed shrub row along our sunny property line also. It's sort of L-shaped since it goes part way across the back also.

I used mostly gray dogwoods, and viburnum trilobum, arrowwood and blackhaw viburnums. There's also a variegated red twig dogwood, oakleaf hydrangea, ninebark 'Diablo', purple-leaf sandcherry, serviceberry, American holly, Chinese dogwood, a crabapple, viburnum 'Shasta' and an arctic blue willow. I planted a few smaller shrubs on each side. Some of those are getting crowded out. There are a couple weigela 'Wine and Roses' and a hydrangea 'Annabelle', clethra, two Deutzia 'Nikko', aronia 'Brilliantissima', mahonia, and dwarf nandina. I may be forgetting some. I was hoping that by adding some variegated and purple leaves, it would look less like a place we forgot to mow to the neighbors. I've also been planting perennials and annuals on each side of it for color. It keeps getting bigger and bigger.

It sounds like a lot when I write it all down. lol I was on a limited budget also and was able to get some of the shrubs at low cost through our state department of conservation to help me get started and have gotten many things through trades. Be sure to check with your state conservation department, forestry division, or department of natural resources to see if you can order low-cost seedlings.

When I first planted my shrubs, I put down several layers of newspaper and then mulch on top of that to keep the weeds out. I mulched the entire length of the shrub row so I wouldn't have to mow in between the new shrubs. I had gotten a free dump truck load of mulch from a tree trimming company so it didn't cost me anything but was very time consuming to spread it all out. It needs to be mulched again.

When looking for information on the internet, using the word "hedge" or "hedgerow" may bring up stuff about uniformly clipped single species hedges where the words "shrub row" would be a more natural unclipped look. You can try using "mixed shrub border" or "mixed shrub row" as search words also.

How far apart are you spacing your shrubs? That's something I struggled with and still not sure what I would do if I had to start over. It seems some shrubs have gotten bigger than I expected them to and others aren't growing very fast.

The gray dogwoods don't need to be pruned. They will get thicker on their own. I don't have any experience with winterberry.

I have a winterberry at the end of my line, it's planted under a very old white pine (neighbor's side), next to a redbud tree (I planted, about 20' now) so it's growing in mostly dappled shade. Is very well branched out, but not on the bottom, i.e. isn't "thick". Has a lovely canopy tho, with brilliant red berries in winter. Height probably near 5'.

My shrubs are appx. 3 - 4' apart - now. When and if they mature, there will be some crowding.