When installing hedging or screening, there are a number of factors to consider when choosing your plants.

The final size the hedge needs to get to is foremost when choosing your hedging type. For example Griselinias like to grow into tall (5m+) trees, so are not suited to low hedging. Similarly you will be waiting a long time for box hedging to grow tall enough to  screen out your neighbour’s second storey window.

For taller (3m+) hedges, planting a metre apart or more will suffice; for hedges of 1.5-3m then spacings of 700mm-900mm work well. Low hedging such as buxus, euonymus and lonicera are best planted 200-600mm apart.

Medium and large hedges generally need a minimum of 500mm wide beds to accomodate the root system needed to anchor and support the tree. However, there are some great alternatives for screening narrow spaces. Planting a slender growing plant such as bamboo (non-invasive) or fast growing cluster palms can quickly screen out a narrow space. Standard trees such as citrus, bay, and ficus can all be grown in large containers. Alternatively, there are a variety of climbers, such as clematis, bower vine, jasmine and Three King’s climber, that can all be trained over a trellis or high tension wire to provide screening in a tight spot.

Another important decision is which ‘grade’ to go for. Plants in smaller sized pots are less expensive but will take longer to reach their final size, whereas a larger grade should be bushier with a more developed root system giving stronger growth once established,

Finally the saying goes “Dig a twenty dollar hole for a ten dollar tree”. Do not cut corners when planting or even the healthiest plant will suffer. Dig a nice wide deep hole, rough the edges up and mix in some good compost and sheep pellets with planting mix. You can check the drainage before planting by pouring a bucket of water into the planting hole and seeing how long it takes for the water to drain away.  Drainage rates slower than 5cm per hour, or water remaining after 24 hours indicate drainage issues need to be fixed before planting.