Purple Beech hedge plants or Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea’ is often referred to as Copper Beech. This is a colourful, purple-leaved variety of Beech with rich purple colouration in the Summer months and coppery brown Winter foliage that is retained in the Winter. Purple Beech hedging plants give year-round interest and are one of our most popular species!
When the leaves of Purple Beech hedging first emerge, some plants look much greener than others. They will all quickly darken to various shades of purple within a week or two.
Purple Beech hedge plants make a very colourful backdrop to a garden or landscaping project, whether you are planting a boundary hedge for privacy, or the glorious purple foliage can contrast beautifully with the carefully chosen colour palette of plants in a border planted in front of the hedge.
Some designers and gardeners like to mix Purple Beech hedge plants with Green Beech to create ‘a harlequin effect’ – this can be very effective in late spring when the fresh green and rich purple colours contrast, plus, both types of hedge have the same growth rate.
Once established, Purple Beech hedge plants will grow quickly at 30-60cm per year and are easy to maintain with a trim once a year in late Summer to keep them tidy. This will also improve leaf retention on the plants in Winter. For a manicured and sharp look, you could trim twice: once in late May and again in late Summer.
If you would like to read about how to protect your Purple Beech Hedging from fungal disease, please take a look at our guide on controlling Honey Fungus.
Our Range of Purple Beech Hedging Plants
Hopes Grove Nurseries provide many different types of purple beech hedging plants:
Bare Root Purple Beech Hedging is the most cost-effective way to plant a new purple beech hedge. The plants are lifted from the nursery field with all the soil shaken off and delivered to you ready for planting.
Our Pot Grown Purple Beech hedge plants are grown here in our on-site nursery, looked after by our experienced horticulturalist staff. Dispatched within two days.
Rootball Copper Beech plants are a great choice where instant impact is desired without being too expensive. Root Ball Beech plants are grown in the soil in our fields for several years to make strong, bushy plants.
Instant Purple Beech Hedging plants are a great way of creating maximum impact right from the moment they are planted. We have a variety of options starting with the young trough hedges that have been trimmed at the sides, to the larger and taller troughs which bring greater privacy from day one!
For maximum impact you may like to consider our Purple Beech hedge elements – these have been grown from younger plants for up to six years on the nursery with a regular and disciplined programme of trimming to produce an excellent quality of fast establishing, fibrous-rooted hedging that offers a real ‘show garden’ look in heights up to 200cm. All our hedge elements are supplied with the corresponding length of trickle irrigation hose and fittings included in the price.
All our instant Purple Beech hedging products are supplied in convenient 1-metre lengths.
Get in touch to discuss your purple beech hedge plant requirements, or call our office on 01580 765600.