Choosing Small Hedge Plants for Your Garden
A small hedge can define a path, divide planting areas or add structure without creating a tall screen. The right plant will depend on the finished height you want, the available width, the growing conditions and how often you are prepared to trim it.
Some plants in this range are naturally compact and slow growing. Others can be maintained as smaller hedges through regular pruning. Always check the eventual height, spread and growth rate on the individual product page before ordering.
For taller boundaries, privacy screening or less formal planting, explore our complete hedge plant range.
Small Evergreen Hedge Plants
Evergreen hedge plants retain their foliage throughout the year and can provide permanent structure around borders, paths and entrances.
Euonymus japonicus varieties such as Green Spire and Jean Hugues are particularly useful for low evergreen hedging. Both have small dark green leaves and compact growth that responds well to clipping. They are particularly useful for low formal hedges and as alternatives to traditional Box.
Box hedging remains a traditional choice for edging, parterres and topiary. Customers concerned about Box-specific pests or diseases can also compare our wider range of Box hedge alternatives.
For a broader-leaved evergreen hedge, Compact Laurel has a naturally lower and more compact habit than vigorous Cherry Laurel varieties. Read our Laurel Hedge Care Guide for advice on planting, watering and pruning the different types of Laurel.
Colourful Small Hedge Plants
Small hedges do not have to be plain green. Variegated Euonymus can provide evergreen structure and contrasting foliage throughout the seasons.
Euonymus Silver Queen has green foliage with silvery white margins. Euonymus Emerald ’n’ Gold provides green and golden-yellow colour, while Euonymus Emerald Gaiety has green leaves edged with white.
These varieties tend to have a lower, broader habit than upright Green Spire. They are well suited to informal edging, compact borders and smaller decorative hedges.
Browse the complete Euonymus hedging range or read our detailed Euonymus Hedge Care Guide before choosing between upright and spreading varieties.
Small Hedges with Flowers, Berries and Winter Interest
A compact hedge can also provide flowers, berries or colourful seasonal stems.
Midwinter Fire Dogwood is deciduous and is grown for its brightly coloured winter stems. It creates a different effect from an evergreen formal hedge and works particularly well where seasonal colour is more important than permanent screening.
Cotoneaster dammeri has a low, spreading habit with small flowers followed by red berries. It is better suited to low ground-covering boundaries, banks and informal edging than a narrow upright hedge.
English Holly provides evergreen foliage, flowers and berries, but it is not naturally a dwarf plant. It will need regular pruning if it is to remain a small hedge. Browse the full Holly hedging range for further information.
Small Formal Hedges and Topiary
Plants with dense growth and smaller leaves are usually the easiest to maintain as crisp formal hedges.
Green Spire, Jean Hugues and Box can be clipped into neat lines around paths, borders and traditional parterres. Light, regular trimming from a young age normally creates a denser finish than allowing the plants to become overgrown before cutting them back heavily.
Some of these plants can also be used for simple clipped shapes. For ready-trained plants, browse our range of topiary plants, including balls, cones and trees.