Creating a wildlife-friendly hedge

[Colin Miles]

Now that I have moved my apple trees to the better-drained and safer fruit cage, I have room to plant a hedge. It will be against a neighbours 4 inch square wire mesh fence and I have between about 23ft to 35ft, depending on how far I extend it.

What would you plant which was bee and bird friendly? Preferably native species. And any suggestions as to suppliers? Or just go local? And how many?

[Primrose]

I guess that's going to depend on whether you want something that's high or low maintenance. Plants with berries like hawthorn and pyracantha will attract both insects and birds but pyracantha can grow out of hand if not pruned hard at least once a year as it's a fairly fast grower once established so you probably would only need one every three feet. I've found that the ones with orange berries seem to grow faster than the red berried variety (and the birds seem to eat the orange ones first too).

[Monika]

Hello, Colin, I agree with Primrose on the hawthorn but I would go for a mixed hedge with predominately hawthorn, say two thirds, and then the remainder some female hollies, blackthorn (but you would have to watch for suckers or runners), hazel and viburnum opulus (guelder rose).

Or, a lower hedge which is very pretty and attracts insects and birds would be rosa rugosa, particularly Fru Dagmar Hartopp (the name varies slightly from firm to firm). This is in flower all summer and then has really large red hips, much beloved by birds, particularly greenfinches. It's disease free, rarely gets attacked by greenfly and just needs a drastic prune every spring.

[Colin Miles]

Many thanks for your suggestions. Since posting this I have discovered http://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/ which looks like it answers all my questions.