Choosing the Right Native Species for New Hedgerows: What to Plant and Why It Matters

Walk along a genuinely old hedgerow – the sort that follows a medieval parish boundary in Worcestershire or a drovers’ route across the Derbyshire uplands – and count the woody species. Five or six in a thirty-metre stretch is a reasonable baseline for an ancient hedge. Ten or more isn’t unusual. Hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, hazel, elder, dog rose, crab apple, spindle, holly, guelder rose. Each with its own flowering season, fruiting season, and suite of associated invertebrates. Each contributing something the others don’t.

That diversity doesn’t happen by accident and it doesn’t happen quickly. But it does start with what gets planted, and how many species are included from the outset.

Species selection is the decision that determines the ecological ceiling of a new hedgerow. You can manage your way to good structure and reasonable cover over time, but you can’t easily add species to an established hedgerow that closed up a decade ago. Getting the mix right at planting is the opportunity that, once missed, doesn’t come back cheaply.

Native vs Non-Native – Why It Matters More Than It Sounds

Non-native hedgerow species – Leyland cypress, laurel, privet in some forms, cotoneaster in many – are widely planted in domestic settings and have their place as garden boundary plants. But for ecological hedgerow creation, native species are the right choice, and the reason is specific: native plants support native invertebrates in a way that introduced species simply don’t, to the same degree.

Hawthorn alone supports over 300 invertebrate species – many of them specialist feeders that depend on it and can’t use substitute plants. Oak, if included as a hedgerow standard tree, supports over 500 invertebrate species. These aren’t vague associations; they’re specific, co-evolved relationships built over thousands of years. A hedgerow planted with native species slots into that ecological web. One planted with ornamental exotics, however tidy and dense, doesn’t.

Local provenance matters on top of that. Native species sourced from plant stock with its origins in the same region as the planting site are genetically suited to local conditions – local soils, local climate, local pest and disease pressures. Hawthorn from a Yorkshire nursery planting in Yorkshire stock makes ecological sense. Hawthorn from a nursery sourcing from continental Europe may establish fine but isn’t the same thing ecologically. Natural England guidance, and the specification requirements for most BNG and agri-environment schemes, stipulate local provenance sourcing.

The Core Species – What Does Most of the Work

Hawthorn is the backbone of most British hedgerows and for good reason. It’s fast-growing, thorny enough to be stockproof within a few years, produces abundant flower and berry, tolerates a wide range of soils and exposures, and responds well to cutting. A new hedgerow without hawthorn is a hedgerow that will close up slowly, provide less early structure, and take longer to become stockproof. For most sites in England and Wales, hawthorn should make up forty to sixty percent of the planting mix.

Blackthorn is the other essential structural species. Thornier than hawthorn, earlier flowering – which is critical for early-season pollinators when not much else is in bloom – and producing sloe berries that are ecologically important and, separately, useful if you’re minded towards homemade sloe gin in October. It suckers readily, which helps fill gaps in a hedge line but can also spread laterally into adjacent grassland if the base isn’t managed. Worth knowing at the outset. Blackthorn should typically make up twenty to thirty percent of the mix.

Field maple is underused in new hedgerow schemes, in my view. It’s a beautiful species – the autumn colour is genuinely worth having – tolerates most soil types, produces winged seeds that support invertebrates and birds, and adds structural diversity as it develops. On calcareous soils it does particularly well. Ten to fifteen percent of the mix is reasonable.

Hazel brings a different contribution: early catkins for winter-flying moths and overwintering insects, hazelnuts for dormice and small mammals, and a flexible, multi-stemmed growth habit that responds very well to coppice management – which is relevant to long-term hedgerow management on some sites. On damper soils or in shadier positions, hazel performs better than blackthorn. Ten to fifteen percent of the mix.

The Supporting Species – Adding Ecological Diversity

Beyond the structural core, a well-specified native mix includes a selection of supporting species that each add something specific. Dog rose for late spring flower and hips retained well into winter. Elder for the earliest summer berries – an important food source for birds ahead of the main berry season. Spindle for its extraordinary pink and orange autumn fruit, ecologically important and rarely included in commercial mixes despite being widely native. Guelder rose for its spectacular red berries and tolerance of wetter ground. Holly for evergreen cover that provides winter shelter and food.

None of those needs to make up more than five to ten percent of the mix individually. Collectively, they’re what turns a structurally adequate hedge into an ecologically rich one.

Our native hedgerow planting solutions are specified with both the structural requirements and the ecological ambition of the project in mind – because a mix designed purely for quick establishment can look very different from one designed for long-term ecological value, and getting the balance right matters for both the client’s budget and the biodiversity outcome.

Matching Species to Soil and Site Conditions

Not all species suit all sites. A mix that performs well on free-draining limestone in the Cotswolds may not be right for heavy clay in the Vale of Belvoir. Here’s a rough guide to which species tolerate which conditions:

Species	Soil Preference	Exposure Tolerance	Key Ecological Value
Hawthorn	Most soils; prefers well-drained but tolerates heavy clay	High – good in exposed positions	300+ invertebrate species; berry for winter birds
Blackthorn	Most soils; tolerates poor and calcareous	High – windbreak species	Early flower for pollinators; sloe berry for birds and mammals
Field maple	Prefers calcareous or neutral soils; poor on acid	Moderate – prefers some shelter	Invertebrate host; autumn colour; winged seeds
Hazel	Most soils; better on moist, fertile ground	Moderate – better in sheltered positions	Early catkins; nuts for dormice; coppice structure
Dog rose	Most soils; tolerates poor and dry	Moderate to high	Flower for pollinators; hips for birds through winter
Elder	Moist, fertile soils; often found on disturbed or nitrogen-rich ground	Moderate – prefers sheltered	Early berry crop; flower for invertebrates
Guelder rose	Prefers moist or wet soils; good on clay	Low to moderate – avoid fully exposed	Berry for winter birds; tolerates wet conditions well
Holly	Most soils; tolerates acid and free-draining	Moderate – tolerates shade and salt wind	Evergreen cover; winter berry; holly blue butterfly larval host
Spindle	Calcareous or neutral soils; good on chalk	Moderate	Distinctive fruit for birds and invertebrates; often overlooked
Crab apple	Most soils; best on well-drained	Moderate	Blossom for pollinators; fruit for birds and mammals; good standard tree candidate

On sites with specific ground conditions – waterlogged areas, very acid soils, coastal exposure – the mix needs to reflect those conditions rather than being a standard template. A hedgerow planted with species that don’t suit the site will struggle to establish, produce a patchy result, and cost more in replacements and aftercare than one that was correctly specified at the outset.

What to Avoid

Invasive species in hedgerow mixes is an occasional problem with commercial suppliers who aren’t paying attention to ecological appropriateness. Cotoneaster – particularly Cotoneaster horizontalis and Cotoneaster microphyllus – is on the GB Invasive Non-Native Species list and shouldn’t be included in ecological hedgerow schemes. Some cultivars of wild cherry are selected garden forms rather than true native stock. Ornamental blackthorn cultivars lack the ecological value of the true native species.

Checking that the nursery supplying the stock is working from genuinely native, locally sourced seed collections – rather than European imports sold as native – is worth doing before purchasing large quantities. The Horticultural Trades Association’s True British Native Plant campaign and the Flora Locale network are useful reference points for verifying provenance claims.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many species should a new hedgerow contain?

For a hedgerow intended to deliver ecological value – whether for BNG, agri-environment, or general conservation purposes – a minimum of five native woody species is generally recommended. Natural England’s hedgerow condition criteria for the biodiversity metric treat species diversity as one of the key condition indicators. Seven to ten species is a realistic target for a well-specified ecological hedgerow; more is generally better up to a point, beyond which the mix becomes complicated to source and plant without individual species becoming too sparse to establish well.

Should I include climbing plants in a new hedgerow?

Native climbing plants – bramble, honeysuckle, wild hop, traveller’s joy on calcareous soils – add significant ecological value to established hedgerows and will colonise naturally over time on most sites. Including them at planting is an option, though bramble in particular can be aggressively competitive with young shrub whips and needs managing carefully in the establishment years. Honeysuckle planted within the hedge structure from the outset tends to establish well and adds nectar value for long-tongued pollinators. A reasonable approach is to plant climbing species at the hedge margins rather than throughout the whip mix.

Does it matter what proportion each species makes up?

Yes, within reason. A mix where hawthorn or blackthorn dominates sufficiently to provide structural continuity, with minority species spread through the mix at intervals, will establish and function better than a perfectly even distribution of ten species where no individual species achieves enough density to establish well. The structural species – hawthorn, blackthorn – should make up the majority; the supporting species add diversity without undermining the structural backbone. Random mixing along the row rather than planting in blocks produces a more naturalistic result and avoids the overly patterned appearance that can look contrived.

Can I plant hedgerow species in spring rather than autumn?

Bare-root whips need to be planted during dormancy – October to March. Container-grown stock can be planted year-round but requires more watering in the establishment summer, is more expensive, and doesn’t necessarily establish better than well-planted bare-root. Late winter planting – January and February – works well for bare-root stock as long as the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged, and gives the plants time to begin root development before spring growth starts. Spring planting of bare-root stock (March or later) carries more risk as the plants are beginning to break dormancy and establishment stress is higher.

The Mix Is the Foundation

Species selection is one of those decisions that takes relatively little time to get right and has disproportionately large consequences for everything that follows. A well-specified native mix, sourced from appropriate provenance, suited to the site conditions and ecological objectives – that’s the foundation on which everything else about the hedgerow’s ecological value rests.

Get it right and the hedgerow has the potential to develop into something genuinely valuable over decades. Get it wrong – a single-species hawthorn monoculture, or a mix of ornamental non-natives, or a technically native mix sourced from the wrong provenance – and you’ve planted something that will look like a hedgerow without really functioning as one ecologically.

The difference isn’t expensive. But it does require a bit of thought at the specification stage rather than just ordering whatever’s cheapest from the nearest catalogue.