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Hedge Your Bets
Hedging plants are an ideal addition to any size of garden. They soften fence lines, act as a windbreak, and provide homes and food for insects and small birds.
If you choose soft fruit hedging, you'll be rewarded with fresh produce, such as blackberries, red currants, and gooseberries in season.
A holly hedge could offer opportunities to create fresh Christmas decorations. Conifer or box hedging, in the meantime, are both easy and attractive options which can be as low or high maintenance as you like. You can set and forget, with just an occasional trim and some watering, or fall down the rabbit hole of creating stunning and life-like hedge sculptures.
From the Montreal Botanical Garden
“It’s entirely up to you!”
When planting hedging, bear in mind the height of the mature plant and how quickly it will grow. Certain conifers can easily dwarf the average fence in just a few years, for example.
While you might love the sense of living in shadowed undergrowth, your neighbors may not be so happy about your plants blocking their natural light!
Also, be aware of how much attention the young plants need and choose ones whose maintenance requirements will fit in around your work schedule and your existing leisure activities.
Pruning hedging plants is necessary both to ensure your hedge is kept neat and tidy (and thus less likely to cause problems with neighbors) and to remove dead wood which hinders the plants' growth.
“Pruning is typically carried out in fall and winter.”
With flowering hedging plants such as hawthorn, wait until the flowers have finished for the season before pruning.
The Top Five Best Hedge Shears - Reviews
ARS-HS-KR1000 Professional Hedge Shears
These hedge shears are definitely an investment purchase.
Designed to produce professional-level topiary (sculpture) results on both hedges and decorative grasses, these lightweight shears feature ultra-sharp and replaceable blades so you'll be shaping and styling your garden art for years to come.
The shears are easy to use and light enough to move quickly and swiftly — a must for the serious topiary enthusiast.
If you want striking plant art and top-tier topiary, these are the shears you need.
Pros
Lightweight
Designed for topiary and plant sculpture
Strong, sharp, replaceable blades
Cons
Not designed for heavy-duty work, thick branches, etc
Suited To: Topiary, plant sculpture, and trimming of light hedges and decorative grasses.
Fiskars 9191 Power Lever 8”
These hedge shears feature serrated blades and soft grip handles along with the power lever dual pivot system designed to give an easier cut.
These shears are not designed for heavy-duty cutting but more for light trimming and neatening up of small hedging plants, climbers, and decorative grasses.
Pros
Dual pivot power lever system
Soft grip
Serrated blades
Cons
Suitable for light use only
Suited To: Light trimming and tidying of small, thin-stemmed plants.
Tabor Tools Extending
These narrow-blade precision hedge shears have a shaped and wavy blade designed to make light work of plant sculpting.
They are suitable for use on box and conifer hedging and to trim decorative grasses and large ferns.
The shears come with a shock absorbing grip, making them comfortable to use for individuals with joint pain or arthritis.
These are reasonably priced for shears specifically designed for plant sculpting and a worthwhile investment if you'd like to bring your hedges to life in striking, stylish fashion.
Pros
Extendable
Shock absorption
Designed for hedge sculpture work
Cons
Prone to rust
Suited To: Hedge sculpture. If you like making features and faces out of an in your hedging, then these shears are for you.
Songmics Extendable
These extending telescopic hedge shears have an 8 3/16” forged carbon steel blade for sharp precision cutting and are designed to absorb shocks from cutting through thick branches.
The blades feature a wavy design which helps with artistic cutting patterns such as might be used in box or conifer hedge sculpting.
These are an affordable, quality set of hedge shears.
Pros
Shock absorbing
Extendable
Precision cutting blade design
Cons
None that we could find.
Suited To: Box and conifer hedging sculpture.
The shock absorption element may also be good for individuals with arthritis and similar conditions.
Okatsune Precision
While these shears are a little on the pricey side, the expense becomes an investment if you have a lot of hedging plants or if you are into sculpting box trees and conifer hedging.
These shears come extremely sharp and are almost as quick and easy to use as an electric trimmer.
The shears are 22” overall, with a 7 5/8” blade, and are easy to grip and comfortable to use.
The one drawback is that the blades don't seem to react well to plant sap which oxidises them very quickly.
Pros
Easy to use
Sharp
Professional results
Cons
Prone to oxidisation
A little pricey
Suited To: General trimming, and box / conifer hedge sculpture creation.
A light, easy to handle addition to the toolkit of novice and professional gardeners alike.
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