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Living Walls - Borders & Hedges: Yews and Hemlocks

© Marge Talt

I guess you could call any dense planting a 'living wall', but I'm thinking more in terms of plantings made to enclose a space with a purpose in mind. This could be a border or hedge of evergreens or one of mixed evergreens and deciduous plants.

"What's the difference between a border and a hedge," you might wonder. To me, a hedge is a row of shrubs or trees, pruned or clipped to a definite shape; and a border is a more informal planting of just about anything, allowed to grow in a more or less natural shape. If you have the space, a mixed border can be quite effective. If you garden in more restricted quarters, the extra work of maintaining a clipped hedge may be necessary to achieve the effect you want. You can also combine a section of clipped hedge with sections of mixed border. Keep in mind that your 'living wall' does not have to run in a straight line! A broad curve, with a mixed border at each end and a section of clipped hedge in the center could give the illusion that your garden is larger than it really is.

Whether you want clipped or natural, you need plants that, either singly or in groups, are dense enough to block the view beyond. To be effective, these plants should be able to do the job year around. This means that you need to use evergreens or more evergreens than deciduous plants.

Beech (Fagus) is one deciduous tree that will hold onto its dead leaves just about all winter, providing a screen. Beech has been used for clipped hedges for centuries. Left to it's own devices, it becomes a very large tree with smooth, silver gray bark and lovely long pointed leaf buds , as this slow loading photo on the U. of Delaware site shows. It's quite a graceful tree, in my opinion. It will cast a very dense shade, under which it is difficult to grow many other plants. It also comes in a variety with purple leaves, which could be interesting if you want to develop a 'tapestry' hedge.

Of evergreen plants, needled evergreens generally require at least a half day of sun in order to do well. Two exceptions, suitable for gardens from US zones 2 or 3 to 7 (depending on variety) are Yews (Taxus) and Hemlocks (Tsuga). Both of these tolerate medium shade. In my experience (and I grow both species), they will survive, but their lower branches will start to die out and their form will be more open in dense shade.