RHS Flower Shows The RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival was a welcome return to garden shows for the first time this year. Our attentions now turn to Tatton Park in Knutsford, Cheshire. This Garden Show promises to be “a fabulous day out bursting with colourful gardening inspiration, fun family activities, have-a-go workshops and shopping” RHS […]
RHS Shows are back this month, and we are delighted to be working with talented garden designers at both Hampton Court and Tatton Park.
Every year, top garden designers choose our Instant Hedge as an integral part of their concept, forming an important green backdrop or as part of the structure within the design itself.
First on the agenda is The Hampton Court Garden Festival (6-11 July) which is the world’s largest flower show, set in the stunning grounds of the Historic Royal Palace in Richmond upon Thames.
We are working with two designers at this year’s show:
Tracy Foster has designed this Global Impact Garden for Canal & River Trust.
This conceptual garden represents a discarded bottle floating towards the shore. It’s not a depressing piece of pollution, rather, it has a bright and appealing garden growing inside it. Its message is simple; we can all take action to help prevent plastic pollution, in our own gardens, urban green spaces and around our canals and rivers. Surrounding the bottle is a sea of graceful flax plants that represent plants which are natural alternatives to plastic.
We are supplying a number of individual shrubs as part of the bottle garden.
Amelia Bouquet’s Lifestyle Garden, in support of Mental Health UK, is a living, growing symbolic refuge.
The Communication Garden is a place to meet, talk, listen and to highlight the importance of face-to-face communication for our mental wellbeing. The rustic woodland and native trees provide a protective canopy. Topiary balls symbolise ordered, rigid thoughts. Other shrubs represent a mindset that is less inhibited and more relaxed and is reinforced with bursts of colour.
Practical Instant Native Mix Hedge will be used as a backdrop to Amelia’s garden.
Both Garden Designers visited us to see the hedge growing in our nursery in Iver, Bucks and to select the exact specimen and height they want for their individual designs.
See our social media channels for more images as the gardens are being built, including some behind the scenes. There is a lot that goes on when creating a show garden!
Talk to our Horticultural team about how Practical Instant Hedge™ could be right for your own show garden. Simply email us on hedge@pracbrown.co.uk
And news of RHS Chelsea Flower Show to follow in due course!
Gardens are an important part of our lives. They give us space to relax and unwind outdoors, and the satisfaction of seeing the landscape change with the seasons. Many studies have shown that gardens and outdoor spaces improve our mood and wellbeing, and a great garden can just lift our spirits.
We have been helping create inspired outdoor spaces for over 20 years. Here are a few ideas on how you can make the most of your outdoor space.
Many studies suggest that spending time outdoors can help alleviate stress, as well as improving mental wellbeing and mood. A garden designed and created with your needs in mind, can bring all the benefits of spending time in nature into the comfort of your own home.
You can create privacy in your garden by planting mature hedging to give you instant screening. Buying pre-grown hedges, such as our Practical Instant Hedge™ ensures that you have a solution to create a private, secure garden without waiting for small plants to grow into a hedge.
Using Instant Hedge to section off areas in your garden is easy. The production method of Practical Instant Hedge™ for example, ensures it is easy to handle, because it is pre-grown in 1m troughs and there’s no worry about “transplant” shock.
Here are just a few ideas for creating unique spaces in your garden
An evergreen hedge isn’t just one colour, Practical Instant Hedge™ comes in many different varieties to suit your individual taste. If you like bright colours, then the apple green leaves of Griselinia could be your favourite. If shiny leaves are more your thing, then its Common Laurel. For classic elegance, nothing can really beat the traditional Yew. Or if subtle greys is what your garden needs, then Elaeagnus would be perfect. There are many more varieties of instant hedge that will help make your garden the perfect space.
We hope this has given you some ideas about how to make the most of your outdoor space. If you would like to know more about what makes our Practical Instant Hedge™ special, please look our projects and blogs.
What springs to mind when you think of how you’d like your garden to look? Lush expansive greenery or clear simple lines? An array of beautifully vivid wild contrasting colours or your favourite simple colour theme in a variety of subtle hues. Natural, wild foliage or tightly trimmed and clipped geometrical patterns? We all have our own idea of what makes a great garden.
Whether it’s the view from your window as spring bursts into life, or creating the perfect place to relax and entertain outdoors as the weather turns warmer, if you have structure to your garden it will be much easier to create the look and feel that you’re aiming for, and hedges are the ideal natural way to do this. They are extremely versatile and even popular well known gardeners have been known to say that they are the secret of every good garden.
Hedges have multiple benefits and having grown and supplied mature instant hedging to garden designers, landscapers and private clients, for over 20 years, we know they are also quite unique. The secret to a good garden is that structure is the foundation from which everything else should be planned. A hedge naturally establishes structure, creating a framework that will convey a sense of scale. While many hedgerows may have been growing for hundreds of years, Practical Instant Hedge™ can create full hedging structures instantly.
Boundaries and Partitions
Hedges make some of the best boundaries and dividers. Using hedging to separate your garden into ‘rooms’ or areas is a good option, as they can channel or block views. Low hedges can act as physical barriers to without blocking views, while taller hedges create an outline and can also provide a backdrop for focal points.
Backdrop and Colour
Instant hedging provides a lush green backdrop for other planting. Depending on how the light falls you will see the colour and texture change as well as attractive shadow play. It’s the perfect way to show off your flowering plants that are bursting into bloom in spring, and of course evergreen varieties will even make the view less bare and colourless in winter.
Shelter and Protection
Hedges give your garden more shelter and protection because the wind is broken up by the hedging. With a fence or wall, the wind whistles over the top and can land on the other side with some force, leaving delicate flowering plants or sheltered seating areas exposed to the elements.
Punctuation, Contrast and Framing
Just as commas break up a sentence, gardens need their punctuation points too. Lavish borders need a little geometry to give them structure and instant hedges are ideal for creating this as well as providing contrast for wilder plantings. You also showcase large features or sculptures by using instant hedging as a frame.
We have grown our own range of instant hedges to ensure they are easy to handle and plant all year round, meaning you can add instant structure to any garden. Practical Instant Hedge™ enables you to create the garden you want during the spring and summer months when you can enjoy the benefits immediately without having to wait for the right time to plant.
If you would like to know more about the range of species available and what makes our Practical Instant Hedge special, visit our webpage here, or simply email us hedge@pracbrown.co.uk
Traditionally, the best time to plant hedges is during the autumn/winter – this applies to both evergreen and deciduous hedging plants.
Our Practical Instant Hedge™ has been produced to ensure that it is easy to handle and plant all year round, with no transplant shock. We have designed this instant hedging range to give you plenty of choice, depending on your garden style, local soil and weather conditions. It’s also ideal for use as a partition or screening to divide your garden into sections. All of this means, any time of year is the perfect time to plant Practical Instant Hedge™.
Planting and caring for a new instant hedge is very similar to that for any new tree or shrub. Good soil preparation beforehand will give your hedge the best start in life.
We can supply you, or your gardener with an installation guide. This outlines trench preparation, handling, planting and back filling. All of the hedging in our Practical Instant Hedge™ range comes in bespoke trough bags, developed to enable easy handling during the planting process.
We will supply you with a maintenance guide for aftercare to help ensure the instant hedge establishes well in your garden. We do recommend the use of a simple irrigation system, which will help the hedging plants establish themselves in their new permanent location.
And of course, one of the beauties of our Practical Instant Hedge™ is that we have taken to the time to grow a large product, so you can appreciate the mature effect, in an instant!
Why not take a look at our range of instant hedge on our website now, and plan your garden improvements.
To help you choose, we have a Hedge Selecting Guide, which give details of the different species available. And if you would like further guidance, simply email us hedge@pracbrown.co.uk
Our team of experienced operatives and fleet of specialist machine has been busy throughout the year with environmental contracting works in large infrastructure projects, forestry and woodland translocation…
We pride ourselves on having the right tool for the job, and have made some new purchases:
We have undertaken our usual range of diverse projects, each of which requires a bespoke approach. Our rigorous methods ensure that we meet all the latest compliance standards.
We have the right machinery, skills, experiences and capabilities to manage your Tree & Vegetation Clearance, whether its mechanised tree clearance, whole tree chipping, forestry mulching, woodland translocation, tree surgery, etc., all work is carried out with the most stringent compliance measures.
Email treeclearance@pracbrown.co.uk for more details.
Elaeagnus ebbingei Compacta, also known as Oleaster, makes a wonderful evergreen instant hedge.
Elaeagnus leaf detail
Oleaster has very attractive leathery leaves that are metallic grey-green above and silver underneath. This mix of colours gives a silver shimmering effect when the leaves of an Elaeagnus hedge flutter in the wind. Newly emerging leaves are almost entirely silver, adding to the sparkly appearance.
Elaeagnus Instant Hedge is a robust hedging plant that is very tolerant of site conditions, except those that become waterlogged. It prefers a well-drained soil although it can grow in very poor soils. It is also very drought resistant and will succeed in dry soils. This versatile plant is as happy in full sun as it is in deep shade.
This hedging plant is one of those species that is extremely resistant to maritime exposure and salt-laden winds. It can grow right next to the sea and in such a position would give very good wind protection. The plants are fairly hardy in temperate areas, and although they are not best suited for the coldest, harshest of winters, they can be seen at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens in Scotland.
Another attractive feature of Elaeagnus Ebbingei is how it flowers and produces fruit. Exquisitely scented tiny bell-shaped, silvery flowers appear in clusters during October and November. The flowers then ripen into fruits in spring, which are red with a very attractive silver marbling effect. Known as Wild Olives these are edible when fully ripe and are popular in south-eastern Europe.
Elaeagnus Ebbingei is excellent for creating a dense evergreen screen with seasonal interest anywhere but has particular value in coastal or windy areas.
Elaeagnus Practical Instant Hedge Currently is available in heights of 1.6-1.8m and 1.8m high.
Click here to if you would like a quote for this instant hedge.
| Species | Latin | Foliage | Pruning | Annual Growth | Aspect | Soil preference | PH | Leaves |
| Oleaster | Elaeagnus ebbingei Compacta | Evergreen | Once in July or August | Fast 40-60cm | All – excellent for coastal areas | All well drained | Acidic to slightly alkaline | Silvery Green |
If you like to find out more about our comprehensive range of evergreen and deciduous Practical Instant Hedges, you can:
As 2020 draws to a close, we hope that you are able to enjoy the winter festivities and look forward to the New Year. As usual, we will be closed between Christmas and New Year.
Our last working day will be lunchtime on Thursday 24th December, and we reopen on Monday 4th January 2021.
Until then, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
When looking for hedging to provide screening in your garden, the best solution is to plant mature hedging to give you instant privacy. Buying pre-grown hedges, such as our Practical Instant Hedge™ ensures that you have a solution to create a private, secure garden for you to enjoy.
You could plant individual plants, but you will need to wait for them to grow into a hedge. The best hedges to provide screening and privacy are those that are ready grown for that purpose, and in particular, evergreen instant hedge.
There are many garden hedges, and many are suitable for specific issues or requirements. Deciduous hedges offer season interest, from spring blossom to autumn fruits, however due to the annual leaf drop, they may not be suitable for year-round screening.
The best hedging to provide great screening for the whole of the year are evergreen, and they will give an attractive backdrop in your garden. Evergreen hedges are the best for screening and privacy.
Evergreen Instant Hedges are attractive hedges and give an immediate privacy screen. Our Practical Instant Hedge™ is grown in nine varieties at our hedge nursery in Iver, Buckinghamshire. Our production method that ensures this mature hedge is easy to handle, as it is pre-grown in 1m troughs at our nursery which means it can be planted all year round with no worry about “transplant” shock.
From our range of 9 evergreen Practical Instant Hedges, these are our pick of the top five hedges that are ideal for screening:
Common Laurel (or Cherry Laurel) makes a bright, dense evergreen hedge. It’s shiny lime green leaves are thick and leathery, making it a good choice for noise reduction, for example, from a busy road. Common Laurel Instant Hedge will thrive in most soils, including clay, but it dislikes (shallow) chalk.
Practical Yew Instant Hedge is a very popular choice, a timeless classic that is at home in any garden style from formal traditional to elegant contemporary. The dark-green, conifer foliage is easy to maintain and trim. Yew hedges are perfect choice for dense, mature evergreen hedging.
Practical Portuguese Laurel Instant Hedge will work well in any garden setting. The dark green leaves are neat and attractive, giving this evergreen hedge an attractive compact and refined appearance. Portuguese Laurel hedging likes most soils including clay and shallow chalk.
Practical Griselinia Instant Hedge™ (as known as Broadleaf) makes a wonderful evergreen instant hedge with its attractive light apple-green leathery leaves. Griselinia hedging is excellent for coastal locations as it is particularly tolerant of salt laden winds, ‘littoralis’ translates as ‘growing by the sea’.
Elaeagnus ebbingei ‘Compacta’ is a robust hedging plant with tough silvery grey leaves that are frost, wind and salt resistant. Also known as Oleaster, this Instant Hedge. is excellent for creating a dense evergreen screen anywhere but has particular value in coastal areas.
If you like to find out more about our comprehensive range of evergreen and deciduous Practical Instant Hedges, you can:
Royal Botanic Gardens required a mature hedging solution along the perimeter of their planned Children’s Garden at Kew Gardens. The hedging was needed for immediate impact, to create the boundary of the garden, with the intention of leaving only one main entrance and exit to the garden.
The Children’s Garden is a major new feature being the first significant development within the Kew Gardens estate for over a decade. and aims to inspire children to love and care for plants, gardens and open-air play. The completed garden is over an hectare in area and includes play structures and extensive planting among the existing trees,
Practicality Brown won a competitive tender to supply 190 metres Green Beech and 200 metres of Mixed Native instant hedge. We grew our Practical Instant Hedges™ for Royal Botanic Gardens, here at out nursery in Iver. The Instant Native Mix Hedge was made up in equal quantities of
As with all our dense, pre-planted and ready grown Practical Instant Hedges™, this was produced in 1m long bags of continuous root strips for easy, stress-free planting all year round. In addition to the original tender, we also supplied Quercus Ilex Instant Hedge and as well as additional Beech and Native Mix.
The Children’s’ Garden has proven really successful for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with over 25,000 positive reviews. Our 400 metre Practical Instant Hedges™ contribute to the overall ambience, providing a safe and secure environment for the children to play and explore nature.
This project has been awarded the British Association of Landscape Industries’ (BALI) prestigious Grand Award at the 43rd BALI National Landscape Awards 2019. Planted and managed by specialist landscaping company, Ground Control, this scheme also won the Community and Schools Development category.
Congratulations to Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, Ground Control and everyone involved; we are proud to associated with The Children’s’ Garden.
Wildlife Friendly Hedges & Trees23 January 2025 - 12:15 pm
Winter Special – 20% off Pleached Trees12 December 2024 - 10:32 am
Tree of the Week – Ilex aquifolium Nellie R Stevens6 December 2024 - 3:33 pm
Tree of the Week – Magnolia grandiflora20 November 2024 - 4:12 pm
Instant Hedge Biodiversity Benefits7 November 2024 - 2:37 pm
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