Garden & outdoor
How many plants do you need for a hedge?
Number of hedge plants (laurel, cedar/thuja, Green Giant arborvitae, murraya, photinia, boxwood) for your length, with the right spacing per species.
Quick answer
Hedge spacing is a trade-off between money and patience: plant tighter and the hedge closes in 2-3 seasons, plant wider and you save 30% but wait two extra years staring at the gaps. The right distance also depends on the species — vigorous growers like cherry laurel and photinia close ranks at 70 cm apart, thuja and cypress want 60 cm, small-leaved privet 40 cm, and low boxwood borders just 30 cm.
Plants needed
23 plants
- Spacing used
- 70 cm
- Planting soil (20 L per plant)
- ~10 bags of 50 L
Count = length ÷ spacing, rounded up, plus one plant to close the row. Spacings shown give a dense hedge in 2-3 seasons; you can widen them by 20-30% to save money if you can wait longer. Plant in autumn or early spring, in a trench enriched with compost, and water weekly for the first summer.
How it works
Recommended spacings, centre to centre. Pick the species in the calculator and it divides your length by the spacing, rounds up, and adds one plant to close the row.
| Species | Spacing | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Boxwood | 30 cm | low border |
| Privet | 40 cm | |
| Cherry laurel (lauroceraso) | 50 cm | fast dense screen |
| Murraya | 50–60 cm | |
| Thuja / cedar / arborvitae | 60 cm | |
| Cherry laurel — economical | 70 cm | closes in one season more |
| Photinia | 70 cm | |
| Leylandii / Leyland cypress | ~80 cm | closer becomes a pruning nightmare |
| Clumping bamboo screen | 80 cm | |
| Green Giant arborvitae | ~150 cm |
Two things matter more than the count: buy plants all the same size (mixed sizes produce a wavy hedge that takes years to even out), and dig a continuous trench enriched with compost rather than individual holes — roots establish faster and growth is more uniform. Water weekly through the first summer. Compare hedge plants of matching height, and plan an electric hedge trimmer for twice-yearly cuts on fast growers like Leylandii.
The planting window changes the price as much as the plant: bare root, from November to March, costs about a third of the potted version — same plants, different moment. What decides whether the hedge takes is the first two summers, not the planting: watering has to reach the depth of the root ball, and a sprinkler that wets the leaves does nothing. Plant with the root ball intact — if it crumbles in your hands the roots have already suffered and that plant will lag behind the row for years.
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Frequently asked questions
How many laurel plants do I need for 10 meters of hedge?+
At the standard 70 cm spacing, 10 metres needs 15-16 plants. At a denser 50 cm spacing you need about 21 plants and the screen closes faster. With 60-80 cm pot-grown plants, expect a closed hedge in about 3 seasons at 70 cm; going wider than 90 cm leaves visible gaps for years.
What spacing for Leylandii vs laurel?+
Leyland cypress is usually planted about 80 cm apart — tighter spacing makes an unmanageable wall of growth. Cherry laurel is commonly 70 cm, or 50 cm if you want a dense screen sooner and accept a higher plant count.
What is the fastest growing hedge?+
Among the classics, cherry laurel and photinia put on 40-60 cm a year once established; Leylandii is even faster but becomes a maintenance burden. Bamboo (clumping varieties only — running bamboo is a neighbourly disaster) gives an instant tall screen. Fast growth cuts both ways: whatever closes quickly also needs trimming twice a year forever.
Single or double row for a thicker hedge?+
A double staggered row (two rows 30-40 cm apart, plants offset in a zigzag) gives a noticeably denser, more opaque hedge — the classic choice for windbreaks and full privacy. It needs about 60-70% more plants than the single row the calculator computes. For most garden boundaries a single row of a dense species like laurel, trimmed regularly, is perfectly opaque within a few years.
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