[vicki bates]

I am looking for a shrub, to be used as a border/hedge, to go along a chain-link fence that divides my garden from my poultry area.... I'm not very good with names of plants, and have no idea what sort I should get... I would like something that flowers and grows thick... Any suggestions would be a great help. Many thanks.

[snow white]

Kerria is good.  Lovely yellow flowers. Grows quite tall (6_7ft) if you let it.  Can be cut back short of required.  Can be propagated easily.  Good to grow up a fence without invading too much garden space, but gets quite thick if allowed.

[brianbishop]

I have a Berberis × stenophylla Lindl. AGM it forms a tight evergreen hedge with prolific spring flowering.Leaves look like a miniature holly.
Bish

[vicki bates]

Thanks Brian,
        Sounds a nice shrub, but not sure with Grandkids! .... Nor me come to that.. I make holly deckies at x-mas and am usually covered in plasters !

[vicki bates]

Oooh thanks snow white Kerria sounds perfect.... How long does it take to establish? And how many do you think I would need to screen a 30'f fence.....Sorry to bombard you with questions, but I'm a novice.

[snow white]

They establish very quickly.  They will grow to height within the first year. Each plant can grow to a thickness of 5 or 6 ft.  Mine are six years old and about 3 and a half feet wide. In its first year it will be about two feet wide. To propagate simply cut a cane off and stick in the soil in the spring.  Will add a picture.

[Kristen]

I have a Berberis × stenophylla Lindl. AGM it forms a tight evergreen hedge with prolific spring flowering.Leaves look like a miniature holly.

We've made a conscious choice here not to plant prickly or spiney (Berberis being both ) next to any borders here. It is painful when weeding, and spines left from clipping Berberis and Pyracantha have punctured my barrow on more than one occasion

Flip side is that it makes a good security hedge - if your need to keep your plot neighbour out, or the local tear-aways - and the birds love it, I don't know how they navigate the thorns, but they do like the security.

Escallonia will grow as a colorful hedge.  I think it look scruffy, but then given the choice I would plant Yew and clip it painfully formally and that is not everyone's choice either

[Goosegirl]

I echo Escallonia - it's evergreen, you can get them with different coloured flowers and is easily trimmed into a neat hedge of what ever height you want. My neighbour has one that looks superb like a privet hedge but I don't know the spacings. Cuttings root quite well too. Another one for a dense evergreen shrub is Cotoneaster horizontalis which can be trained to grow upright - don't think it has thorns (check), one variety has variegated silver-green leaves; then there's Euonymus - another dense evergreen shrub which can be trained to grow upright with varieties having green and yellow or green and cream leaves, but only tiny flowers. I have a Kerria but I find it has a rather spindly growth so won't be as dense as you might want? Try a mixture or see their density growth in a garden centre and see how you go. Kerria flowers in spring, Escallonia flowers in late summer.

[vicki bates]

  Thank you Kristen and goosegirl, I will certainly have a look at Escallonia at the garden centre.... Evergreen and flowering sound perfect.... And maybe a Kerria for somewhere else in the garden!

[RichardA]

good chance to do something that is bee, bird and butterfly friendly such as lavender or buddlia or cotoneaster etc but depends on how high, how thick, how inpenitrable, how spikey you need the hedge  - lots of ideas on line.