SOUTH ACRES FARM

GARDEN HEDGES - " A hedge between keeps friendships green"!

Imagine a garden without hedges ?  Impossible I say! Growing up in South Africa, with a mother who loved her garden, hedges were only used to mark boundaries, and not incorporated into the overall design.  Most gardens then were crammed with flowering annuals, perennials and shrubs!  Initially our garden here at South Acres was also crammed full of perennials and shrubs,  but over time, I have tried to simplify the garden.  Hedges create form and style to a garden and are such an important part of the initial planning. They become the "bones" of a garden  during winter, when the  evergreen hedges still provide the green structure and tracery,  within which the dormant garden quietly sleeps.

Laurel on the right and Buxus on the left.. bordering the rose garden

South Acres Farm has many hedges.  The house and garden are divided from the paddocks on the South side by a very, very long Laurel hedge, providing a back-drop  as well as sheltering the garden  from the southerly winds.  This hedge was completely grown out when we bought the farm, and we employed chain-saw bearing men to bring it back to form!   
I have never measured this hedge - but it's definitely no shorter than 100m !

The garden at South Acres  is almost 5 years old.  We have wonderful soil and a very good rainfall and so everything has grown incredibly fast.

The courtyard garden

Bottom of the herbacious garden

Pleached Silver Pears at the entrance

Buxus and Laurel and herb garden in the foreground

The pleached Lime walk (Tilia Cordata) and Buxus beneath.

The long winding Hornbeam hedge with Buxus at it's feet in the foreground

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Homestead Interiors