Indigenous Hedges And Screens: Keeping It Green

Many gardeners are hesitant about hedges and unsure about screens. A hedge, they reason, will take a long time to grow and need a lot of maintenance, but that’s not necessarily so.

- Andrea Durrheim

Many gardeners are hesitant about hedges and unsure about screens. A hedge, they reason, will take a long time to grow and need a lot of maintenance, but that’s not necessarily so. There will be a bit of a wait, so you might want to fence first and plant the hedge around that, but it will be worth the wait.

Consider your options: walls are expensive, and the cheaper options are pretty unattractive. Wooden fences are pretty, but they do need maintenance to keep the wood in good condition, and at some point you will have to replace support poles that are starting to rot. Diamond mesh fences are ugly, and they don’t give you privacy, while palisade fencing, though neater, might make you feel like you’re living in Fort Knox and still doesn’t block out prying eyes.

Hedging myths

Hedges take a long time to grow: That depends on your plant choices. I’ve seen a Cape honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis) hedge giving nice cover in just 2-3 years. Yellowwood hedges can also be pretty speedy, as long as you choose one of the faster-growing species, such as the Outeniqua yellowwood (Podocarpus falcatus) or Natal yellowwood (P. henkelii). Hedges are high maintenance: Not necessarily. You can install a drip-line for easy, low-water-use irrigation, and you shouldn’t need to clip a hedge more than 2-3 times a year. Get an electric hedge trimmer and the task won’t take more than a few minutes. You can also plant an informal hedge that needs little or no pruning.