[Petite graine]

I would like to use it to create a hedge for my allotment, but I don't know its name.

Thanks

[WG.]

It looks like a mahonia - are the flowers yellow?  Spiny stems?

Perhaps one or other of the barberry family?

[DD.]

It think WG has nailed it with Mahonia

[Aunt Sally]

Sorry to disagree.  I think it's a berberis darwinii.  Great for hedging.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/88.shtml

http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/pics_10138.html

[jaycee]

Sorry to disagree.  I think it's a berberis darwinii.  Great for hedging.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/88.shtml

http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/pics_10138.html

I agree with Aunt Sally.Berberis Darwinii it is. I pushed a twig of this plant in a few years ago and it is now over 6` high. Lovely.

[WG.]

Perhaps one or other of the barberry family?

Common Name: Barberry
Genus: Berberis

[DD.]

That proves it. I'm sticking to veg.

[Petite graine]

Thanks very much !

Jaycee, what do you mean by "I pushed a twig of this plant a few years ago..."  :?:  

I cut a few branches and planted them in a pot. But I think I am dreaming a bit there, aren't I?  :roll:  

[jaycee]

My neighbour has one of these bushes and she said I could take some of it so I broke of a couple small stems (without either flowers or berries)and pushed them into the soil. Can`t remember what time of year, and they both took.
I have very acid and usually moist soil and live on the edge of a sea loch in the N.W.Highlands.
You have the bush so just try it. I have also grown the whole Escallonia hedge in the same way.
I am no gardener, just a very enthusiastic amateur

[Petite graine]

So you did mean what I thought ! That's very encouraging. I feel less foolish about trying it this way  

By the way, it's not my bush, it's my neighbour's. But it is close enough that I can take a few branches  

Thanks!