Susan, could you please state your zone and whereabouts, thanks. You can add these to your GW name by clicking on "Member Pages" at the bottom of the page and 'editing your profile'. It sure helps a lot!

Dax
"gardener 365 IL 5/6"

welcome ..

a pic would sure help ...

i lived a nightmare of having to deal with mom and dads 65 feet of privets.. shearing them twice a year from the age i was old enough to use the electric shears ... and you are considering 3 times that length ...

let me be clear.. you should think long and hard about the work involved in your dream hedge.. or the cost of hiring out the job twice a year forever ...

every plant has an annual growth rate.. usually it is suggested that faster growing things.. develop problems faster ... and then peak and ebb faster ... its a fools errand to make decisions on what is fastest ...

you also fail to mention the potential width of the space.... how much room do you have .... other than 140 feet long??

and there is nothing you can do .. to make things grow faster ....

if snow is going to happen .. and there is plowing involved.. it is going to be problematic ...

though i can understand the 'look' you are going for.. IMHO.. its a bit of a newbie dream ... reality can be a whole different universe .. short of a staff of gardeners to do the labor ....

more facts .. and pix .. please ...

ken

I updated my profile, I live in zone 6 in Boston. On one side of the "hedge to be" would be a flower garden that belongs to our neighbor and some assorted small trees they have planted along our property line. The hedge will now directly border their property so i guess there isn't too much growth to be allowed on one side of the hedge where their garden and assorted trees are. The other side is our yard and nothing will be in front of it. I am unsure of what picture to send as there is nothing there other than what I mention above. Thank you for your help.

Which direction would your new hedge run? You might have issues with the neighbours if you shade their flower garden. You need to look at the final height and the angle of the sun to decide if it would affect their light. A hedge would also deplete and dry out the soil on their side if it is right up against the boundary. And if it is directly on the boundary have you thought about how you will cut it on their side? I love hedges and live in a land full of hedges where everyone is used to cutting their own side of a joint hedge but there are quite a lot of things to think about when you put in a new one. Maybe you need to put your hedge a certain distance inside the boundary and leave a grass path behind it, but still on your land, for maintenance.

To get quicker screening as you wait for width to fill in, you can plant in staggered rows as shown in the article below.

You can look at Ilex crenata, but I don't know what heights they come in. Did you say how tall you wanted this hedge to be? Getting a firm handle on desired height and width is step 1.

Taxus and Thuja are quite common hedge material around here. Do you have deer?

Nearly anything will look formal when sheared.

Also to consider with a hedge that long is the sun may be different the entire length of it and the plants may not grow the same rate or density.

Definitely leave ample room to get around the other side easily. Double what you think you should leave and it MIGHT be enough in 15 years.

Here is a link that might be useful: hedges

Look into Cotoneaster species and/or cultivars.

Dax

I am dealing with a similar problem. Just today, I had a tree service come in and remove a pine tree that fell in the middle of my yard during the hurricane we had two weeks ago. While the guys were here, I had them remove my Arborvitaes, which were damaged during an ice storm we had two years ago.

The Arborvitaes created a beautiful privacy screen for our yard but the people we purchased the house from, let them grow much too tall and that is why they were damaged so easily. I am sick over this removal but it had to be done, they were a mess. Now I need to begin creating a new privacy screen and I would like to do it with the emerald green Arborvitaes, only this time, I'll be able to control their growth, if I purchase them at 5', by pruning them on an annual basis. They are on sale at a few places and they are around 5-6 ft, which is a good start IMHO. Arborvitaes are very hardy and look great all year long. Home Depot has the 5-6 ft ones for $44.99 a piece.

I wanted the mention them because it is another option.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to go with.

Linda

Linda, I was recently looking into purchasing arborvitaes and I found that Emerald Green is a slow grower. Dark American (a/k/a 'Nigra') is a moderate grower and a little wider. (quicker screening) I personally liked the foliage better, but that's personal preference. It was softer and less stiff looking to me. 'Green Giant' is fastest growing, but obviously will be too tall eventually.

I would be a little leary of end-of-season evergreens at any box store. Even at a quality nursery, end-of-season evergreens do need to be in good shape and need a lot of TLC to get through the winter okay. If you are going to do it, I would get them in the ground asap or wait til the spring.