15% PRE-ORDER DISCOUNT ON BARE ROOT PLANTS. USE CODE BARE15 AT CHECKOUT. DELIVERIES BEGIN FROM 2 NOVEMBER5–12.5% OFF POTTED PLANTS, ROOT BALLS, & INSTANT HEDGING ORDERS OVER £300. DISCOUNT AUTOMATICALLY APPLIED AT CHECKOUT (NO CODE NEEDED)
Probably the second most common hedging plant in the UK (after Hawthorn), and suitable for all sites other than waterlogged
Profuse flowering very early in spring, and extremely wildlife-friendly
Native and non-toxic to livestock, but do not use near horses
Prickly
Good for hedging from 1m up to 10m, with an average growth rate
If you are claiming a farm grant, you must use the 45/60cm 2-year-old plants, planted at 6 per metre (grant rules)
All our Blackthorn plants are grown in Britain
We have Blackthorn as bare root plants in the dormant season (November to April), and cell-grown and pot-grown plants all year round
Please contact us by phone (or email us at hello@hedgenursery.co.uk) if you have any questions, would like any advice, or if your order is likely to exceed £1000 - we may be able to offer a better price than the online price. We have experienced horticulturists answering calls and emails, and we’re always very happy to help.
Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is one of our most popular native hedging species, and the nursery grows it in vast quantities (hundreds of thousands of plants each year). It’s one of the earliest species to flower in spring (a good month earlier than Hawthorn), reminding us that spring is on its way. Blackthorn is extremely wildlife-friendly - it provides all sorts of insects with a very early source of nectar, and wherever there are insects, there are birds. It's small, with narrow leaves that are a food source for many caterpillars, and its thicket-like habitat provides shelter and nesting sites.
Blackthorn has a tendency to sucker from the base, so it forms an incredibly dense hedge that, over time, can become much thicker than the hedge that was planted (suckers are easily mown away or dug out if not required). It is very prickly and grows in all soils, even those that tend to be quite damp (but not waterlogged), including sometimes difficult, windy, and coastal sites. It's good in full sun and partial shade.
Perhaps its best attribute, on top of those already mentioned, is that its fruits, called sloes, are what make sloe gin (along with some gin of course!). We recommend netting a section of your hedge if you want to make sloe gin because the sloes are very popular with birds, and they’ll eat them just before they are ripe, so one day the hedge can have plenty of sloes and the next day it can be stripped bare!
Blackthorn is easy to plant, easy to grow, fast-growing (about 40–60cm per year), and easy to maintain. You can trim the plants after planting to encourage bushy growth; they can be cut back hard, and they are very suitable for hedge laying. Ideally, it should be trimmed in late winter/early spring after the birds have feasted on any remaining, wrinkled sloes so that you don’t cut off the “winter larder” that birds and small mammals rely on. It can be planted in single or double rows (4-6 per metre for single rows and 5 – 7 per metre for double staggered rows).
Although Blackthorn is suitable as a stock-proof hedge (and is not poisonous for livestock), it is not safe for horses, so we do not recommend it for horse paddocks or hedges that might be jumped on horseback. The thorns are very long, and if one embeds into horse flesh, it can cause swelling and pain, known as Blackthorn poisoning. If it embeds into a joint or tendon sheath, it can cause severe swelling and lameness, potentially requiring surgery. Secondly, Blackthorn is very high in roughage, and if horses consume large quantities, it can cause impaction (a type of colic). See our horse paddock packs if you keep horses.
The nursery grows Blackthorn whips (bare-root hedging plants) from seed over one or two years. Because Blackthorn bare roots are grown in vast quantities (hundreds of thousands of plants each year), and are easy to grow, it is one of the cheapest hedge plants. Because it is grown from seed in the UK, our plants are completely acclimatised to UK weather, and the nursery is registered with Plant Healthy, which is a very strict plant biosecurity code of conduct, so you can be certain that you’re buying British-grown, healthy and hardy plants.
Hedge Nursery has supplied vast quantities of Blackthorn hedging plants over many years. Our reviews are excellent, and you can buy Blackthorn whips or transplants with confidence knowing that you will receive top-quality plants that will give you an excellent, wildlife-friendly, dense, low-maintenance hedge. You can read more about bare root plants and how they are grown here. We also have this very popular hedging species as cell-grown and pot-grown plants, which are available all year round.
Code:
DELIVERY CHARGES
Delivery charges are automatically calculated at checkout, based on the size of the plants and the value of your order. Our delivery charges and the kick-in points for free delivery are highly competitive, and about 90% of orders are delivered free.
Plant Type
UK Mainland (excl. Scottish Highlands and Islands)
Scottish Highlands
Bare root plants shorter than 100cm, all cell-grown plants, plants in pots up to 7 Litres
Free for orders over £120 (or £9.90)
Free for orders over £120 (or £14.99)
Bare root plants 100-120cm
Free for orders over £300 (or £24.99)
Free for orders over £300 (or £29.99)
Bare root plants taller than 120cm, plants in pots larger than 7.5 Litres, all root ball plants and instant hedging
Free for orders over £350 (or £59.99)
£112.99
Notes:
All prices include VAT.
Orders of plants requiring delivery on pallets (bare root plants taller than 120cm, plants in pots larger than 7.5 Litres, root ball plants, and instant hedging) delivered to destinations in the UK Mainland are delivered free when the order is over £350, regardless of the number of pallets needed.
Scottish Highlands do not have a free pallet delivery option.
DESPATCH TIMELINES
Most plant specifications are in stock, so we typically dispatch within a few days after you order. Generally, we don't dispatch on Fridays, to avoid plants being in transit over a weekend. Rest assured that we will do everything we can to deliver your plants as soon as possible.
You'll receive an email from us on the despatch day, and delivery will occur within 48 hours - usually the next day, but occasionally it may take an extra day.
If you'd like to delay delivery to a date that suits your planting schedule, please include a note in the Delivery Instructions section at checkout or email us at hello@hedgenursery.co.uk.
We do not take responsibility for any deliveries delayed by couriers.
Pre-orders
For pre-ordered plants with an expected future delivery date (shown before you added them to your basket), we will dispatch around the indicated date. If your order includes both pre-order and in-stock items, we'll send everything together when the pre-order items become available.
Root Ball Plants
Root-ball plants are freshly lifted from our fields upon order. This approach ensures the plants are at their freshest when you receive them, improving their success rate. If you want delivery on a specific date, please order well in advance of when you need them.
During peak season, we lift root-ball plants twice weekly, aiming to deliver within 3-7 days. During busy periods, this may extend to 7-14 days. As the season slows, we lift once a week, with delivery within 7 working days. We'll promptly inform you of any stock unavailability or delivery delays upon receiving your order.
RECEIVING DELIVERY (Do I need to be at home?)
All deliveries will be sent with “no signature required”, so you do not need to be at home on the day of delivery.
For pallet deliveries, we will phone or email you on the day we dispatch. If you wish, you can arrange for someone to be there the following day to ensure the pallet is left in a convenient place for you to unpack the plants.
Pallets are delivered to the ‘kerbside’, but if there is driveway access for a pallet truck, the pallet will be left on the driveway or another suitable access point to your address, rather than blocking a road or pavement. Pallet trucks require a hard surface; pallets cannot be moved over gravel, soft or uneven ground, or grass.
Drivers do not unpack the pallets and it is down to the drivers discretion whether they will take the empty pallet away. If not, then customers must dispose of the pallet themselves.
RETURNS
We are rarely asked to accept a return. We can facilitate returns by collecting the parcel (s) or palletised plants from you (in their original packaging), but we do not refund the delivery charge or the carrier collection and delivery back to us. We do not accept returns if you have ordered too many plants.
If you wish to return an order, please email hello@hedgenursery.co.uk, and we will explain the process in more detail.
Pots, bare roots, root balls, instant, cell grown, P9s - if it's all double Dutch, this explanation should help you decide which root type is best for you.
The majority of hedging plants are sold as bare roots, pot grown, or root balls, so we'll start with those.
Bare Root Hedging
For many years, we only sold bare roots, so there's a lot of advice on our website about bare root plants. Here's a very quick summary, along with links to other pages you might find helpful.
Bare root plants are grown in open fields and lifted during the winter months when dormant. This is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly growing method, so they are usually the best option if you are planting from November to April and the species and height combination you want is available as bare roots (about 80% of the species on this website are available as bare roots).
We sell hundreds of thousands of bare root plants each year to thousands of customers and, for a cost-effective solution, they're hard to beat.
Everyone knows what a pot grown plant looks like, but there is often confusion about pot sizes and what you get for your money. Generally, with some exceptions, the bigger the pot size, the more mature, bushier and taller the plant will be - and the more costly.
Pot sizes are always described by the number of litres they hold. Our standard pot sizes are 2L, 5L and 10L (where L stands for litres). Pot dimensions from different manufacturers can vary, even though they all hold the same amount of growing medium, so sizes are specified by volume rather than the pot's dimensions.
There are several benefits to pot grown plants:
The range of species is very wide, with some only available in pots.
There is no root disturbance because they are grown in pots rather than lifted from fields, so the success rate is extremely high.
They can be planted year-round, though we always advise caution when planting in extremely warm weather - water generously until they are established!
Root Ball Hedging
For large plants, particularly big, bushy evergreens, the most popular root type is root balls. They are cheaper than pot-grown plants of the same height and often bushier, but they are only available during the dormant season, usually from October to April.
They're environmentally friendly because they are grown in open fields, but instead of lifting the plant bare rooted, soil is retained around the roots and wrapped in hessian. They are not quite as eco-friendly as bare roots because root balls are heavy to transport.
Instant hedging involves planting several plants (normally 5) into a 1 metre long trough and allowing them to knit together into a hedge, so that when planted by you, you get an instant effect.
Compared with other root forms, they are relatively expensive because if a single plant fails at the nursery, the whole trough is ruined. There is also a huge cost in nursery time because the plants are trimmed into a hedge shape by the nursery team and, in some more mature instant hedging, this is done many times so that the hedge becomes extremely dense.
Instant hedging is very popular and available year-round, and we are continually expanding the range of species grown this way. There's more information on instant hedging here, and we also have a blog explaining the benefits, drawbacks and how it is grown.
Cell Grown Plants
Small cell grown plants are grown by specialist nurseries in containers about the size of a small yoghurt pot, though a bit deeper because hedging plants and trees naturally have deep roots.
They are a cost-effective solution when gardeners are willing to wait for plants to grow, and they're ideal for infilling where there isn't enough space to plant larger root types. They are also often used by foresters because they are lightweight to carry to remote areas, easy to plant and have a high success rate, reducing the need for replanting.
They are increasingly used by home gardeners as hedging plants because, although they don't have the size and bushiness of pot-grown plants, they are less expensive and available year-round, making them a good alternative to small bare roots outside the bare root season.
There is very little root disturbance or loss of the fine feeding roots that plants rely upon when moved, so the success rate is extremely high. All our cell grown plants are grown in Britain.
We show prices in various bands depending on quantity, but if you are planting a woodland and need larger quantities, please contact us for a bespoke quote.
We're always happy to advise by phone or email, so please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about the best root type for you.
