Fences are great, but they can interrupt a beautiful and natural aesthetic that you want to maintain. When you want some privacy without a manmade fence, a beautiful hedge is the best option. These elevate the look of any property and can be done with many different shrubs and bushes, allowing you to find the perfect look for your home. Not all bushes are suited for all climates, so these are some of the best zone 7 hedge bushes available.
Boxwood Shrubs
A boxwood shrub is the quintessential hedge bush that tolerates extensive pruning and shaping if you want a refined and meticulously curated look. This bush is a broadleaf evergreen, producing beautiful green foliage year-round. If you get visiting deer, boxwoods are a great option because deer don’t like the way they taste. This will keep them from destroying your hedge.
Japanese Holly
Japanese Holly, also called Sky Pencil, has a similar look to a boxwood. This bush grows vertically, creating tall, skinny bushes that look really fascinating and create the perfect silhouette for a hedge. English Holly produces toxic berries, but Japanese Holly doesn’t so it’s safe to grow around kids and pets.
Arborvitae
Arborvitae, or Thuja, is a coniferous shrub that grows in dense, making it an excellent privacy hedge and windscreen. There are several different varieties of Arborvitae, with ‘Emerald Green’ being one of the most popular. The ‘Green Giant’ variant, though impressive, can grow up to 60-feet tall and 20-feet wide, so it should be carefully considered before being chosen for a property that is not very large.
Forsythia
If you want a real head-turner, Forsythia is a great choice. This is a flowering deciduous shrub from the olive family that has stunning golden leaves during the spring and yellow, orange, and red leaves during the fall. There are many different varieties of Forsythia, including ‘Meadowlark’ which grows up to 10-feet-tall and resists most pests and diseases. Some other varieties have interesting color variations, such as the ‘Lynwood Variety,’ whose autumn leaves include purple tinges in their yellow coloring.
Rose of Sharon
Rose of Sharon is a beautiful flowering bush that is easy for beginners to handle and tolerant in conditions that are less than ideal. Their flowers come in a multitude of colors, allowing you to choose the one that’s perfect for your property. These bushes also continue to bloom into late summer, producing a colorful aesthetic much longer than most other flowering bushes.
Azaleas
The Rhododendron ‘Stewartstonian’, or Stewartstonian Azalea, is one of the best choices for an azalea hedge. This specialty shrub was created to be dense, unlike other azalea bushes, making it a better privacy hedge that grows up to 5 feet tall. It is a broadleaf evergreen that blooms in early spring with flowers that are a stunning red-orange color.
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