How to create a Short Hedge in your Flower Garden

How to create a Short Hedge in your Flower Garden

We’ve been growing a hedge for the past ten months or so using non-perennial ornamental bushes. We’re hoping to make it a small hedge that surrounds our flower garden.  The purpose of this hedge will be to discourage people from stepping on the flowers growing in the garden.  This morning, we spent a few moments trimming the plants so that they would grow in a straight line.  We also put in posts and wire that will help guide the bushes to grow to the height we are targeting.

Posts - Reused wood

Trimming Scissors

Things we needed:

6 posts- can be used wooden sticks.

Wire

Trimming Scissors

Procedure:

1. Make sure your garden is free of weeds first.  This way it will be easier to work with the plants.
2. Measure the size you want your fence to grow into.  Our height goal is 3”, so we measured the posts to be 5” tall.
3. Dig holes according to the length of your garden and how far your fence is.  For us we needed 6 posts, for 6 holes along the fence.  The distance between each post is at your discretion.  The depth of the holes was 2” inches.
4. Put your posts in to the holes, and make sure they are firm. 
5. Tie the wire along the posts at the height you want your fence to reach.
6. Weave the branches into the wires.  This will direct your plant to grow along the wire, and any branches straying away above the wire, get to be trimmed.

This picture on the left is the end result.  This activity makes it easier to trim the branches of the plants as they grow into the wires creating the small hedge below.

Short Hedge