Dead Hedges built out of brush are my new favorite thing to add to any landscape with a patch of woods.

There are always downed branches and fast growing invasive species to clear out of the yard. A pile of brush is great habitat for birds and woodland creatures, but I like for things to look a little more purposeful. I’ve started neatly stacking brush between two t-posts to make brush fences on a few properties I work on.

Hedges are often used in this way – to visually add boundaries to an area in a yard. I’ve always loved Piet Oudolf’s use of manicured hedges to contrast the feral florals in his designs. These dead hedges can serve the same purpose aesthetically, but they have so much more ecological value than traditional boxwoods or arborvitae.

The dead hedges can be used to create rooms and doorways within the woods, like little secret gardens. I plan to do this at my house, and will update with pictures as I go. Here are a few images pulled from the internet (not my work) that I’m using as inspiration.

Living Fences

I’m excited to start toying around with living fences in a few places as well. I have already begun incorporating cattle panel fences as trellis structures for vining plants with great success.

Next I’d like to incorporate living trellis material into the fence line, instead of purchasing expensive panels.

This Winter I have placed cuttings of forsythia and willow along a strip in my field at home where I’d one day like to have a fence. I can let them grow for a year or two, then coppice them. Between cuttings I’ve planted things like english climbing rose, sage, lavender, rosemary, castor, and horseradish. The fence won’t be impermeable, but I’m hoping it will deter some of the neighborhood deer and groundhogs before they get to the garden fence. I can’t wait to see how that projects grows. I’ll update this post with pictures come Spring and Summer.