Hedges with Berries

Berries can be a very welcome addition to a hedge whether for colur and interest (especially in winter) or to encourage birds and other wildlife. You can view the whole range here.

Hedges with berries – A hedge can be thought of as a very useful but fairly bland border or barrier but this is absolutely not the case, with so many varieties of plant to choose from that produce flowers and berries, a hedge can be highly decorative. Ideas of an excellent way for softening ugly screening are to train either an evergreen, that produces flowers followed by an abundance of lovely brightly coloured berries, along it.

Plants that would be very suitable for this would be either Pyracantha or Cotoneaster Lacteus hedging plants, another option would be something like a deciduous Dog Rose, also an excellent intruder deterrent with gorgeous red hips produced in autumn. Deciding which variety to select from the most amazing choice of berry (some edible) producing plants is the difficult part!

Walking around your local area, to see what grows well in the vicinity and visiting open gardens at different times of year, seeing the flowers, the foliage and berry colours on your favoured choices may help in the final decision. An excellent hedge that can be kept as a formal as informal hedges with berries is Holly with its most fantastic bright red berries but if choosing Holly hedging plants, it is worth noting that the berries are produced the female plants and this does require a male pollinator.

Natural berry hedges are planted on a regular basis on farmers boundaries and on the edge of roadways, often offering up the opportunity to pick things like rose hips, sloes from the Blackthorn hedge, elderberries and many more to make jams, cordial drinks, liqueurs, puddings and in some cases eating them fresh! Even a small hedge can be a major asset to any garden, anything from a more rustic mixed native hedgerow mix to a more formal evergreen Yew hedge, not only providing colour and interest for us humans, they create great shelter and provide food for wildlife. Some hedges with berries, like those of the Quickthorn or Hawthorn are believed to have healing properties and used in herbal medicine.