Edible Landscape Elements: Hedges

Hedges are another area that are easy to replace with edibles.  They are great if you would like to define a border of the yard, increase your privacy or as a barrier.  Depending on the desired effect you can either choose from plants that are pruned into specific and defined shapes that tend to lend themselves to a more formal look, or you can choose from a more informal looking hedge that is only lightly trimmed so that its natural shape is kept.

Here are a few that lend themselves to a more formally trimmed hedge:

For a more informal or natural looking hedge, try any of these:

Sometimes you might want a really dense hedge that will be nearly impossible to get through, not even for your sneaky dog who wants to escape.  These types are typically very dense and compact and sometimes thorny depending on which type you choose.

If you want a thorny hedge, try any of these options:

Or for something very dense, but thornless, consider using any of these:

So did you notice some unique things about these lists?  We are getting into dwarf and genetic dwarf varieties.  The more common dwarf varieties you can usually find at  places like Gurney’s Seed and Nursery and Henry Fields Seed and Nursery that will ship right to your door or your own local nurseries. But sometimes a dwarf or genetic dwarf variety are much harder to find and these are what I’m trying to find for you so we know some good places to get them from.