I want to build a long hedge for privacy from neighbors, probably around 100 ft long. I am thinking of doing a matrix pattern like the 5 side of a dice so the plants are staggered. I have been looking for fruiting bushes that are larger but I can keep below 10 ft. The back row I will probably do dwarf trees or classic hedge plants like boxwood, yew, laurel. The front rows can be a little less tall, trying to cover the 3-6 ft height range.
No raspberries, blackberries, blueberries. But maybe I should change this rule. I am afraid of spreading, thorns, and the acid soil requirement.
I’m considering hazelnut, pawpaw, haskaps, currants, sour cherry, persimmon, elderberry, mulberry, viburnum tinus, serviceberry. Any other good bushes I can consider adding in? I want it to be a variety so there is always something in bloom or fruiting.
Zone 7b in Missouri is a good spot for a mixed fruiting hedge. For that 3-6ft range, gooseberries and currants are reliable and handle some shade. Aronia (chokeberry) fills space fast and the birds love it but you probably won’t. American elderberry gets big but you can keep it pruned. If you want something more ornamental, serviceberry bridges the gap between the front rows and your taller back row nicely and fruits early in the season.
Bush cherries (nanking, the usaskatchewan types) ! service berry, elderberry, hazelnut. Currants or josta if thorns are an issue. There are thornless blackberries i suppose but the pruning seems quite challenging to keep in a hedge….
Eastern redbud had edible blooms and seedpods and is a nitrogen fixer.
wild american plums can be mixed in.
Hardy pommegranates, perhaps, no experience with them though, i’m not positive theyre hardy to zone 7
You can also grow goumi, they smell amazing and have fruit.
As far as I know cane berries don’t need acid soil except for the blueberries you mentioned. For stuff that spreads you can always just hit it with the weed Wacker or mower.
Gooseberry thorns look very intimidating, but I honestly don’t think they are that bad, roses and cane berries are far more scary than gooseberry thorns IMO.
You could also grow kiwi if you wanted to do a long trellis type thing as a wall.
At my parents house I planted a very long row of currant, gooseberry, a single josta, throrned blackberry, elderberry and Nanking as a hedge with the neighbors.
I love aronia fresh…if you don’t have a big sweet tooth, you might like it.
I’m an elderberry fanatic, and it would be so easy to walk along and shove a stick in the ground every 4-5’ for a dense, free hedge. Those give you the later blooms and you mentioned wanting to spread that out, which is brilliant.
Maybe huckleberry for evergreen? I hope to get some next year, haven’t tried yet.
Some folks like Flowering Japanese Quince for bushes, cookable fruit and thorns to keep folks away. With a huge early spring floral display. Just bought a bush that has peach colored flowers that fruit. A bonus? They root easily. But they are not fast growers either.
Thanks for starting this thread and everyone’s replies. I’m looking at my options for a privacy hedge. I want to be able to go out in my yard “comfortably” (un)dressed during the warmer weather. I’m in 9A.
I have 6 or 8 Elderberry of 4 or 5 varieties that haven’t made it into the ground yet. I’ll prune them and get some more started. I have a number of cane berries I’ll throw in for fun.
If you want something fast growing and dense its hard to beat hybrid hazels. You might even be able to get some seed or seedlings from the Missouri center for agroforestry. I planted small seedlings ,about a foot tall, spring of 22’, and now they are easily 15’ tall and making nuts for the second season this year. I planted them next to my sidewalk as a privacy hedge. Kind of did a zig zag pattern with 5’ between them on the diagonal.
Might not be what you had in mind for a fruiting hedge, but I think for the density of leaves and hast growth its tough to beat. Mulberry would be a runner up in terms of growth and density, but also a great choice.
For privacy I would say the hedge needs to be evergreen, so that makes it harder for fruiting. I have a newly planted arborvitae hedge with spaced fruit trees in a row about 8 ft from the centerline of the hedge. I’m quite pleased with how the dark green backdrop makes the fruit trees look much more intentional as landscaping. Before it was just a bare chain link fence.
well you dont need evergreen perenials if you just want to be naked in your yard in the summer. i personally wouldnt want to be naked in the winter lol.
But also add in things like grasses which can provide winter cover
Don’t jerusalem artichokes spread super aggressively? I really don’t want something that will spread into neighbors land and cause a problem for them
@Richard i am probably going to have a layer of “true hedge” kinda plants like laurel, boxwood, yew etc and then have the additional layers on my side of edible bushes to provide extra cover. Maybe I should be targeting shade tolerating plants since they will be mostly shaded from the west side
