The hedging plant you pick is going to be with you for 20+ years. It'll define your boundary, set the maintenance bill, and either thrive in your soil or look miserable for a decade. Worth getting right.
Best all-rounder: griselinia littoralis (broadleaf, kapuka)
The default NZ hedge plant for good reason, fast-growing, salt-tolerant, drought-hardy once established, and forgiving of pruning. Grows to 8m+ but maintains nicely at 2–3m. Doesn't like cold inland frosts and gets blotchy in waterlogged ground.
Best formal hedge: buxus (box)
The classic clipped formal hedge. Slow-growing, ultra-dense, takes any shape you cut into it. Watch for box blight (Cylindrocladium buxicola) which has affected NZ box hedges, keep airflow good, avoid overhead watering, and consider resistance varieties.
Best fast screen: pittosporum tenuifolium (kohuhu)
Native, fast (1m+ per year for the first few years), comes in green, dark, lime and variegated forms. Tolerates wind and salt. Will get sparse at the bottom if not maintained from young, start trimming early.
Best low-maintenance native: corokia
Wire-stemmed native, naturally compact, tolerates everything from coastal salt to mountain cold. Slower-growing than griselinia but needs less trimming. Cotoneaster and 'Geentys Green' are common varieties.
Best wind screen: pohutukawa
Used as a tall hedge on coastal sites. Bushy from the ground when started young, salt-immune. Slower than griselinia but lives for centuries and flowers spectacularly. Not for inland frost-prone sites.
Best evergreen privacy: lemonwood (pittosporum eugenioides, tarata)
Bigger leaves than tenuifolium, slightly slower growth, very tidy form, lovely citrus scent when crushed. Excellent privacy hedge to 4–6m.
Best for tall shelter: totara
Native, slow but extremely long-lived, takes hard wind, frost and drought. Hedges magnificently if you have time to wait. Good for shelterbelts on rural properties.
Tall fast hedge, but be careful: leyland cypress, lonicera nitida
Both grow fast (1.5m+/yr). Leylandii hedges are infamous for getting away from owners and becoming impossible to reduce, they don't reshoot from old brown wood. Use only if you commit to twice-yearly trimming from year one.
Best deciduous formal hedge: hornbeam, beech
Holds dead leaves through winter, so still gives privacy. Slower than the evergreens but classic look. Suits cooler climates, Canterbury, Otago, central plateau.
Avoid these
- Privet (Ligustrum sinense, lucidum). Self-seeds into native bush. Banned in some districts.
- Cherry laurel. Aggressive seeder, considered a pest plant.
- Old Leyland hedges past 4m if you can't commit to maintenance. Either trim religiously or replace.
- Sycamore as a hedge. Just no.
Match species to site
| Conditions | Best choices |
|---|---|
| Coastal, salt-exposed | Griselinia, pohutukawa, corokia, taupata |
| Cold inland (frost) | Totara, hornbeam, beech, corokia |
| Dry / drought | Olive, escallonia, viburnum tinus |
| Wet / heavy clay | Photinia 'Red Robin', viburnum, ti-tree |
| Low maintenance | Corokia, totara, native flax (low only) |
| Fast tall screen | Pittosporum, griselinia, lemonwood |
| Formal clipped | Buxus, lonicera, photinia |