Need a windbreak? Here are some great hedge plant options | Garden Design | Gardening Australia

Hannah profiles plants that can be used as windbreak hedges. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
Hannah’s garden in Hobart is subject to legendary winds. High up on the hill, both the southerlies and the westerlies can rip through and smash things around, so providing natural screening barrier is a great way to make sure the plants in her productive patch can survive and thrive.

A windbreak is a row or screen made from plants that functions to protect other plants or sections in the garden from strong winds. It could be a large track of trees, a bushy hedge or even a row of strategically placed pots. In a productive garden, a shrubby windbreak has many benefits. Rather than a solid wall which blocks or redirects wind to create a wind tunnel, a shrubby windbreak filters and slows the wind.

Depending on where you establish it, a shrubby windbreak can create a warmer microclimate to help your veggies along in the cooler months; or create a cooler microclimate by blocking the hot sun in warmer months. The other bonus is that it brings more plants into your garden, which brings more habitat and food to attract beneficial wildlife and pollinators.

One of Hannah’s favorite plants to use as a windbreak is the sticky hopbush. This will grow around four or five metres in good soils, but it can be hedged and maintained at two metres to make it easy to manage. Native shrubs like the hopbush are ideal for small gardens. They’re easy to prune to shape and can be very tough once established. They are also easy to propagate to grow more plants if you need them.

Other native plants that are great for windbreaks include westringia, tea tree, acacias, saltbush and eremophilas that have a dense form. Non-natives include English lavender, photinia, teucrium, rosemary and feijoa. Pick the species to suit your site conditions, the heights needed to protect the site and the wind strength they’re up against.

When it comes to creating the ideal windbreak, Hannah’s learned a few things along the way. Planting a hedge with two metre spacing is suitable for letting the plants grow large without having to compete for space and resources. However, it takes a long time for the gaps to fill and merge into a dense windbreak, so Hannah says one meter apart is a better spacing.

Hannah also planted salvias beneath the sticky hopbush to get more plants faster but says that things got crowded quickly with two different plants so close together. These days, Hannah keeps the salvia trimmed low to encourage a clear hedge shape but strongly suggests being patient to wait for the hedge to grow. It’s important to give the plants space because they’re already competing with each other. Recently, one of the hopbush shrubs died leaving a small gap in the hedge, but a new seedling in its place will catch up with the rest of the hedge in a few years’ time.

If wind is a challenge at your place, plant a shrubby windbreak. Not only will it look great, but it will also protect your productive patch and give you another good reason to put more plants into your garden!
___________________________________________

Gardening Australia is an ABC TV program providing gardening know-how and inspiration. Presented by Australia’s leading horticultural experts, Gardening Australia is a valuable resource to all gardeners through the television program, the magazine, books, DVDs and extensive online content.

Watch more: http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/gardening-australia
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gardeningaustralia
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/gardeningaustralia
Web: http://www.abc.net.au/gardening

___________________________________________

This is an official Australian Broadcasting Corporation YouTube channel. Contributions may be removed if they violate ABC’s Online Conditions of Use http://www.abc.net.au/conditions.htm (Section 3).