Screen Stars: 10 Hedging Plants With Punch and Panache
Surround your garden with beautiful screens and hedges that stand out from the crowd
Hedges and screens have a big impact on a garden. A wall of foliage – whether low or high, long or short – is not an element that’s easily missed in an outdoor area. Many of us stick to tried-and-true plants for hedges and screens, opting for the safest option to avoid costly mistakes. But sometimes the old favourites can be underwhelming and not right for certain sites. Box hedging, for instance, works well with a little shade but in a hot, sunny garden? Unless you want to be watering constantly, forget it.
The good news is that an enormous variety of great looking hedging and screening plants is available, whether your garden is hot or cold, windy, shaded or sheltered. In fact, there are hedges and screens to suit virtually every taste, from the elegant to the eccentric, as you’ll find in our list of top 10 plants.
The good news is that an enormous variety of great looking hedging and screening plants is available, whether your garden is hot or cold, windy, shaded or sheltered. In fact, there are hedges and screens to suit virtually every taste, from the elegant to the eccentric, as you’ll find in our list of top 10 plants.
2. Karo
Another Kiwi plant with its own unique charm is Karo (Pittosporum crassifolium). With its grey-green leathery leaves and gorgeous red flowers, karo looks superb as a tall screen in coastal gardens.
Best in full sun, Karo is very tolerant of wind and dry soil. Trees can reach 6 metres in sheltered areas and can be kept compact with regular trimming.
TIP: If you love native birds, plant karo. Birds flock to the trees in spring to enjoy the nectar of their fragrant flowers.
Photo by Flickr user Phillippa
Another Kiwi plant with its own unique charm is Karo (Pittosporum crassifolium). With its grey-green leathery leaves and gorgeous red flowers, karo looks superb as a tall screen in coastal gardens.
Best in full sun, Karo is very tolerant of wind and dry soil. Trees can reach 6 metres in sheltered areas and can be kept compact with regular trimming.
TIP: If you love native birds, plant karo. Birds flock to the trees in spring to enjoy the nectar of their fragrant flowers.
Photo by Flickr user Phillippa
3. Teucrium
For an eye-catching silver hedge you can’t go past the various species in the Teucrium genera, especially silver germander (Teucrium fruticans) and wall germander (T. chamaedrys).
These sun-loving plants make a lovely low to medium-height hedge and are tolerant of dry conditions.
TIP: New plants can easily be grown from cuttings.
For an eye-catching silver hedge you can’t go past the various species in the Teucrium genera, especially silver germander (Teucrium fruticans) and wall germander (T. chamaedrys).
These sun-loving plants make a lovely low to medium-height hedge and are tolerant of dry conditions.
TIP: New plants can easily be grown from cuttings.
4. Olearia paniculata
Also know by its Maori name Akiraho, this New Zealand native has distinctive light green leaves with undulating edges and white undersides. In autumn, its tiny, almost unnoticeable flowers fill the air with perfume.
Akiraho becomes a large shrub that can reach 2-4 metres in height and clips well into a tall screen. It does well in dry, windy conditions and is frost tolerant.
TIP: For tighter growth don’t overfeed Olearia paniculata
Photo by Flickr user Twining Valley Nurseries
Also know by its Maori name Akiraho, this New Zealand native has distinctive light green leaves with undulating edges and white undersides. In autumn, its tiny, almost unnoticeable flowers fill the air with perfume.
Akiraho becomes a large shrub that can reach 2-4 metres in height and clips well into a tall screen. It does well in dry, windy conditions and is frost tolerant.
TIP: For tighter growth don’t overfeed Olearia paniculata
Photo by Flickr user Twining Valley Nurseries
5. Japanese box
If you love the look of box hedging but not the slow growth rate then Japanese box (Buxus microphylla japonica) is for you. With a growth rate almost twice as fast as English box and more distinctive shiny lime green leaves, this Japanese variety is now the preferred option for many garden designers and gardeners.
It is also said to be more disease resistant and heat tolerant than English box. Plants will grow up to 2 metres in height but are happy to be kept clipped as low hedges.
If you love the look of box hedging but not the slow growth rate then Japanese box (Buxus microphylla japonica) is for you. With a growth rate almost twice as fast as English box and more distinctive shiny lime green leaves, this Japanese variety is now the preferred option for many garden designers and gardeners.
It is also said to be more disease resistant and heat tolerant than English box. Plants will grow up to 2 metres in height but are happy to be kept clipped as low hedges.
6. Ficus
The only Ficus that used to be seen in New Zealand was Ficus benjamina aka weeping fig, mostly grown as an indoor plant. Now many Ficus species and cultivars are being grown outdoors in warmer gardens as lush, green screens – in particular, varieties of Ficus macrocarpa hillii and F. tuffi.
These fast-growing, versatile trees make excellent tall screens for sun or part shade. They do best with some moisture during summer and are not tolerant of frost.
TIP: Try pleaching your Ficus hedge to allow planting below.
The only Ficus that used to be seen in New Zealand was Ficus benjamina aka weeping fig, mostly grown as an indoor plant. Now many Ficus species and cultivars are being grown outdoors in warmer gardens as lush, green screens – in particular, varieties of Ficus macrocarpa hillii and F. tuffi.
These fast-growing, versatile trees make excellent tall screens for sun or part shade. They do best with some moisture during summer and are not tolerant of frost.
TIP: Try pleaching your Ficus hedge to allow planting below.
7. Blue totara
The wonderful blue grey foliage of blue totara (Podocarpus totara ‘Matapouri Blue’) is a real show stopper. These New Zealand native trees are slow growing but they’re worth the wait. With regular clipping, blue totara forms a dense screen and is tolerant of dry conditions as well as generally pest free.
Photo by Flickr user Twining Valley Nurseries
The wonderful blue grey foliage of blue totara (Podocarpus totara ‘Matapouri Blue’) is a real show stopper. These New Zealand native trees are slow growing but they’re worth the wait. With regular clipping, blue totara forms a dense screen and is tolerant of dry conditions as well as generally pest free.
Photo by Flickr user Twining Valley Nurseries
8. Dwarf bottlebrush
One of toughest and cutest plants you can find for low, informal hedges would have to be the evergreen dwarf bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis ‘Little John’).
It has lovely blue-green foliage that needs virtually no clipping to stay in shape, and brush-like red flowers that attract nectar-feeding birds, bees and butterflies. It is also drought tolerant once established and can cope with traffic fumes and light frosts.
TIP: Although drought-tolerant, dwarf bottlebrush performs better when watered during the hotter months.
One of toughest and cutest plants you can find for low, informal hedges would have to be the evergreen dwarf bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis ‘Little John’).
It has lovely blue-green foliage that needs virtually no clipping to stay in shape, and brush-like red flowers that attract nectar-feeding birds, bees and butterflies. It is also drought tolerant once established and can cope with traffic fumes and light frosts.
TIP: Although drought-tolerant, dwarf bottlebrush performs better when watered during the hotter months.
9. Indian hawthorn
Another lovely flowering screen that is perfectly at home in dry, coastal gardens is Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepsis indica), a small (2-3 metres), slow-growing shrub with dark green, leathery leaves and pink or white flowers.
Tolerant of both sun and part shade, Indian hawthorn looks fabulous planted in large blocks under deciduous trees. Avoid planting its close cousin, the white flowering Rhaphiolepsis umbellate, which has become an invasive weed in certain areas.
Another lovely flowering screen that is perfectly at home in dry, coastal gardens is Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepsis indica), a small (2-3 metres), slow-growing shrub with dark green, leathery leaves and pink or white flowers.
Tolerant of both sun and part shade, Indian hawthorn looks fabulous planted in large blocks under deciduous trees. Avoid planting its close cousin, the white flowering Rhaphiolepsis umbellate, which has become an invasive weed in certain areas.
10. Flame of the woods
The perfect flowering hedge for warm, subtropical gardens, Flame of the woods (Ixora coccinea) is evergreen with glossy leaves and of course those spectacular scarlet red flowers. It can reach well over 3 metres in height but is happy to be cut back hard for a lower screen.
TIP: Flowers, leaves, roots and stems are used in the Indian Ayurveda traditional system of medicine.
Photo by Flickr user Celso Marino
YOUR SAY
Have you had success with hedges at your house? Share your garden photos in the Comments section.
MORE
10 Things You Might Not Know About Garden Hedges
Plant Profile: Humble but Handy Boxwood Hedges
Block Out Thy Neighbour: Privacy Plants for the Modern Home
The perfect flowering hedge for warm, subtropical gardens, Flame of the woods (Ixora coccinea) is evergreen with glossy leaves and of course those spectacular scarlet red flowers. It can reach well over 3 metres in height but is happy to be cut back hard for a lower screen.
TIP: Flowers, leaves, roots and stems are used in the Indian Ayurveda traditional system of medicine.
Photo by Flickr user Celso Marino
YOUR SAY
Have you had success with hedges at your house? Share your garden photos in the Comments section.
MORE
10 Things You Might Not Know About Garden Hedges
Plant Profile: Humble but Handy Boxwood Hedges
Block Out Thy Neighbour: Privacy Plants for the Modern Home
Interlacing zigzagging branches with tiny heart-shaped leaves give a Muehlenbeckia astonii hedge an instant wow factor. This New Zealand native is under threat in the wild but thanks to local gardeners and landscapers it’s enjoying a resurgence in gardens around the country.
It’s often planted as a loose, billowy hedge similar to the cloud-pruned forms in Japanese gardens. Shrubs respond well to pruning so clip them to whatever shape you desire. Fond of dry conditions, sun or part shade, Muehlenbeckia astonii is also frost-tolerant and semi-deciduous, losing its leaves in colder areas.
TIP: Looks wonderful after rain or heavy dew when droplets of water cling to its slender branches and catch the light.
Photo by Flickr user Russell Cumming