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Native Mix Instant Hedging
Native Mix Hedges

Garden Hedges

Hedges are aesthetically pleasing and add character to a property, whether they are an integral part of the design, or form a boundary fence.  We have a number of mature hedge options across a range species, both evergreen and deciduous, including the popular Native Mix.

 

A good hedge has many benefits in addition to being a garden boundary:

Native mix hedge in private garden

Native mix hedge in private garden

  • It provide a good shelter; reducing wind strength better than a solid fence
  • It acts as a filter; absorbing dust and noise
  • It offers privacy; as an effective visual screen
  • It offers a level of security; a prickly hedge is a great deterrent
  • It has natural beauty and interest with seasonal changes
  • It provides background texture and colour to complement other plants
  • Wildlife can benefit from its food and shelter for insects, birds and mammals
  • It is long-lived; many hedges can last hundreds of years

 

Native Mix Instant Hedges

Native mix hedging contains plants that are all native to the UK and as such emulate traditional country hedgerows found throughout Britain.  Our Native Mix would usually contain a combination of Hazel, Blackthorn, Hornbeam, Dogwood and Hawthorn, all of which are indigenous species.

Close up of Native Mix hedge leaves

Close up of leaves in Native mix hedge

 

Native Mix hedges creates a natural look and contain a variety of colours and textures which provide a rich living collage for excellent seasonal interest from the early spring blossoms to fruits and berries in the autumn.  All kinds of wildlife will be attracted by the food and shelter opportunities.

 

Native hedging, by its very nature will thrive on most soil types and can be planted in all but the deepest of shade.  It will tend to grow quite quickly at some 20 – 40 cm per year and will require pruning once a year, ideally in July; it can be left un-pruned, when it will prove even more wildlife friendly.

 

Elveden Instant Hedge
Truly instant hedging – up to 1.8m high

First planted in 1998, Practicality Brown is the sole supplier of the award-winning Elveden Instant Hedge, which is a truly mature, dense hedging product.

The Elveden Instant Hedge difference:

  • Grown from British origin stock (seed or cutting) not just UK provenance (which can be where plants have been growing in the last six months)
  • Allowed to grow and mature over time at the Elveden Estate in East Anglia
  • The roots are grown in a membrane which helps to eliminate transplant shock; thereby allowing planting of this substantial mature hedge to be carried out all year round
  • It is fed, watered and regularly clipped to ensure that it is an effective, robust and dense hedge around 2ft deep
  • For example the Green Beech available to plant now at 1.8m high was planted during 2008/9 season, some 7 or 8 years of diligent care and attention whilst the same height Laurel is 4-5 years old.
  • Available in 2.5m length strips which ensure continuity of plants, as they are replanted in the same order as they are lifted from the ground.

Time and again this proper instant hedge provides landscape architects and garden designers with the essential element to emphasize, enhance or enclose their design.  We have stock available in heights from 1.2m, 1.5m and 1.8m across a range of species, all of which are 400-500mm deep.

Elveden Instant Hedge is a premium product and still is the best in class in terms of the size, density and quality; it is perfect for high end projects and where clients or circumstances demand a superior finish.

The Landscape Show 2016

The Landscape Show is a trade event, aimed at garden designers, architects, landscape contractors, local authority landscaping professionals, facilities managers and interior designers from all over the UK and beyond.

Once again we exhibited at the event, which is in Battersea Park London, showcasing the Elveden Instant Hedge.  We were able to talk to new customers and meet up with existing ones.

Thank you to everyone that visited us – we hope to see more of you soon!

 

RHS Hampton Court Flower Show Results

The RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2016 has showcased more stunning garden designs this year, made all the more challenging to create due to the unseasonal weather. Practicality Brown are proud to have contributed to the following medal-winning gardens, for which we provided Elveden Instant Hedge, Elements and hedging plants.

 

Gold Medals

• Show Gardens:

A Dog’s Life Garden designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes for The Dogs Trust

World Vision Garden designed by John Warland (Senseless Acts of Beauty)

• Summer Gardens:

A Summer Retreat designed by Laura Arison and Amanda Waring for CCLA

The Lavender Garden designed by Paula Napper, Sarah Warren and Donna King

 

Silver-Gilt Medal

• Show Garden: PMS: Outside Inside Garden for NAPS designed by Emma Bannister

• Summer Garden: A breath of Fresh Air designed by Rae Wilkinson for The Abbeyfield Society

 

Bronze Medal

• Show Garden: Cancer Research UK’s Life Garden designed by Antonia Young Built by Jeff Rosenblatt

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016 “Together We Can”

We are proud to be supplying hedges for the Papworth Trust’s “Together we can” acoustic garden which has been created by Peter Eustance of Symphonic Gardens, together with percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.

See our facebook page for more details.

Instant Hedge makes a difference

Lisa Cox, is an award-winning SGD designer who transforms gardens into inspiring spaces. Lisa created a beautiful family garden in Oxshott, Surrey and chose our Elveden Instant Hedge to complement her beautiful design creating a soft boundary in laurel on a fence line.  Lisa created a blog when first implementing the project with an update a year later.

Box Instant Hedge at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Paul Hervey-Brookes
RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows 2014

The Elveden Instant Hedge™ has been used extensively by Garden Designers at both at RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows 2014 and the results have been impressive with Golds, Silver Gilts, Silver Flora and Bronze.  See more details in the projects page.

Chelsea

Show Gardens Exhibitor stands
Paul Hervey-Brookes’ Show Garden on Main Avenue – Bronze Medal David Austin Roses – Gold Medal

Cole Henley

Giles Rayner

Jenny Pickford Artist Blacksmith

David Harber

The Topiarist’s Garden – Marylyn Abbott – Silver Gilt Medal

Hampton Court

Show Gardens: Conceptual Gardens:
Vestra Wealth’s Vista – Paul Martin – Gold Medal Dichotomy Garden (Greed) – Sara Jane Rothwell and JoanMa Roig (Box, Portuguese Laurel and Hornbeam) – Silver Gilt Medal
Jordans Wildlife Garden – Selina Botham – Silver Flora Medal
The Flintknapper’s Garden – Luke Heydon – Silver Gilt Medal Summer Gardens
Vestra Wealth’s Vista – Paul Martin – Gold Medal Hedgehog Street – Tracy Foster (Beech) – Gold Medal
Jordans Wildlife Garden – Selina Botham – Silver Medal The NSPCC Legacy Garden – Adam Woolcott and Jonathan Smith (Common Laurel) – Silver Gilt Medal
Flintknapper’s Garden – Luke Heydon – Silver Gilt Medal

 

Extensive mulching on A11 Road Scheme


Practicality Brown worked on the dual carriage scheme of the A11 in Norfolk, which involved cutting and mulching of 1000’s of tree stumps, day and night. Conditions where made worse by the extreme weather; excessive rain followed by heavy snow, however no day’s work was lost, particularly due to our determination to complete the project although the sandy soil might have helped. This important scheme brought a Read more

Evergreen Instant Hedge delights another customer

The customers requirement was simple, an effective screen from passing ramblers.

We suggested Yew hedging plants at 2.5 metre high and 79 linear metres was carefully planned and planted in just two days.   In addition, Elveden Instant Hedge in Native Mix was planted in another area of the property, helping to create a mature garden and privacy that the client craved.  The client gave us the following testimonial:

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Soft green touch on a new development

The new development of individually styled period houses was softened into the environment by the judicious installation of evergreen Elveden Instant Hedge.

Common Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus ‘Rotundifloia’) was chosen for its soft, pale green, fresh look and its even, vigorous growth that provides a year round hedge which reliably screens any new build project. Common Yew (Taxus baccata) was used on the front boundary to add a touch of classic evergreen maturity and sense of time to the development.