THE LIVING FENCE

Love them or hate them, a hedge can be the perfect natural fence. Hedges create privacy or curiosity; they can act as a screen or create a border around or between the majestic aspects of your garden. A creative gardener may use a hedge to grant linear perspective to a garden and accentuate the design of buildings and the garden that surrounds them, they may even create a winding labyrinth or garden maze. Typically, hedges are the evergreen, box shape creations that are in front of houses in place of a picket fence. If the thought of a green box that is a carbon copy of every second neighbour’s front fence bores you, or if you are short on garden space and require practical plants, then can I suggest you try an edible hedge and bare fruit from your living fence? There is a truckload of options to consider when creating an edible hedge. Plants such as Blueberry and Blackcurrant offer delectable fruits, yet they are slightly fallible and require a lot of water. The Chilean Guava (Myrtus Berry) is an exciting fruit baring shrub that is hardy, easy to grow and suitable to the Tasmanian climate. The Chilean Guava can create a magical hedge; even in its first few years it is overloaded with berries and anyone walking past will smell what can only be described as the scent of fairy floss. The berries are the size of a blueberry but taste like an infusion of apple, strawberry and pineapple. When efficiently pruned, the stems of the shrub grow tightly together, allowing it to be trimmed into a neat hedge. Raspberry and Blackberry bushes are obvious choices but hedges don’t have to be the ungodly mess of prickles and thorns that you may have experienced as a child. Sure, the prospect of having a hedge that doubles as natural barbwire is great for security but a nightmare if the kids need their ball retrieved, or the newspaper boy throws your paper into the hedge every morning. Even meaner than a rose bush, these plants will taunt you with their berries and stab you with their thorns. A thornless blackberry is however is available which should ease the pain of picking the berries. Although not directly edible, herbs can also create practical and beautifully scented edible hedges. Rosemary and Lavender are common; Bay Leave trees are a hardy yet slow growing tree that respond well to pruning but Oregano is perfect for low-hedging as the leaves grow tightly together making them easy to manicure into geometrical shapes. You could also consider herbs such as sage, basil and mint but the less woody the stems the harder they will be to hedge. These herbs may be better as ground covers than hedges. Even the wiry Rosemary as a hedge can be wayward unless you install wire supports. Perhaps, the most common use for a hedge these days is for privacy. The shrinking size of suburban blocks and the close presence of neighbours on all four sides ensures fence builders will never be out of work. But if the thought of looking at a plain old paling fence that will just fade and wither ‘til you have to replace it is not appealing and you can, for the mean time, handle the site of your neighbours, then a hedge is a great option. The right hedge can create a living, colourful, privacy wall. Evergreens plants, particularly those belonging to the conifer family, make perfect plants for creating a high “living” wall. Castlewellan Gold is a popular and affordable Conifer for hedging. This plant, if planted in a sunny position, can create a hardy yet beautiful golden hedge. It is extremely fast growing and can become a 5m high hedge in just 10years. You must, however, be dedicated to pruning a Castlewellan and keep it at a manageable height. A living wall can grant privacy without requiring a council permit, however don’t expect any council hesitation in cutting your Castlewellan to the ground when your neighbours are living in darkness behind the towering hedge. From poisoning, to hacking them down when you’re on holiday, some neighbours will have zero tolerance for these sun stealers. Even if your neighbours are not an issue, you must still carefully consider the position of your Castlewellan Gold, baring in mind the height it grows and the difficulty that will arise in trying to remove it once it has rooted into the ground. In the right position, the resonating beauty of a Castlewellan is hard to hate, they make the perfect living fence.