A well-chosen hedge can do a lot more than just look great—it can give you privacy, act as a windbreak, define garden spaces, reduce noise, or add year-round greenery. Whether you're looking to block out a view, frame your garden, or just create a lush backdrop, hedges are incredibly versatile.
One of the most underappreciated roles of a hedge? It makes everything in front of it—flowers, trees, garden art—look even better. Think of it as a green stage curtain that lets your garden stars shine.
Pretty much any shrub planted in a row can create a hedge, but the right plant depends on what you want it to do. Here are some of our top picks.
Evergreen Hedges - The Classic Green Wall
Botanical Name: Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd'
Cedar is a favourite for a reason. With its dense, year-round green foliage and low-maintenance nature, it's ideal for privacy. Depending on the type, cedars can grow between 9–14 feet tall, forming a living wall that blocks wind, noise, and prying eyes. It also makes a lovely backdrop for all your other plants.
Botanical Name: Ilex glabra
Looking for a Boxwood alternative? Inkberry Holly is a great choice—especially if you're concerned about Boxwood Blight. This broadleaf evergreen keeps its dark, glossy green leaves all year and can grow up to 8 feet tall if left unpruned. It loves full sun, wet soil, and even acidic conditions. You can trim it to keep it neat or let it grow naturally—either way, it makes a fantastic border or garden divider.
Botanical Name: Taxus cuspidata
With dense, dark green foliage that stays lush all year-round, Yews make excellent hedges for privacy, property lines, and garden backdrops. They’re incredibly versatile—leave them to grow naturally for a softer look or trim regularly for a crisp, formal shape. Yews respond beautifully to pruning, creating a smooth, tailored finish. Just be sure to wear gloves when handling them, and plant them away from children, pets and livestock, as all parts of this striking plant are toxic.
Deciduous Hedges with Drama and Colour
Botanical Name: Spiraea x vanhouttei
Graceful, arching branches that are completely covered in double-white blooms in the Spring make Bridalwreath Spirea a truly stunning hedge plant in the spring. After its spring show, small, glossy green leaves cover this plant until the fall, when its leaves take on beautiful autumn colours.
Bridalwreath Spirea grows to a mature height of 4-9 feet, can tolerate light shade as well as a variety of soil conditions and can be lightly pruned to shape. They are also deer-resistant.
Botanical Name: Cotoneaster lucidus
Peking Cotoneaster may not be flashy, but there are lots of reasons to love this shrub. Its smooth, dark green leaves create a clean, structured look that works beautifully behind flowering plants or along fences. In fall, the leaves turn a fiery red, and black berries appear, which birds snack on through the winter. Growing 5–7 feet tall, this shrub is also a great choice for wind protection and bird habitat.
Still not sure which plants to choose for your hedge? Stop in to see us at Eising Garden Centre and talk to one of our tree and shrub specialists - Zach, Sandy and Donna, or contact one of our landscape design specialists, Emily or Lucas. We’re here to help!
If you think a small space and a small garden are limiting when it comes to shrub choices, think again! Colour and texture, structure and seasonal interest are all available in many small shrubs. Whether you’re looking for beautiful blooms or evergreen foliage, you’ll love what our favourite small shrubs have to offer!
Follow the 5 links for more on our 5 favourites!
My Monet Purple Effect Weigela - Weigela florida
A deciduous shrub that’s deer resistant, colourful and low growing. This plant checks lots of boxes!! Variegated mint green and cream foliage with purple tones and pink blossoms, it makes a great companion to perennials, and as an edging plant. My Monet Purple Effect Weigela grows 18” to 2 ½ feet tall and wide in partial or full sun.
Little Gem Spruce - Picea abies ‘Little Gem’
This compact evergreen has dark green needles, making it attractive all year round. Its pyramidal shape makes it a great choice as an accent feature or in a border. It’s drought-tolerant and requires little care, making it a very appealing low-maintenance choice! Little Gem reaches a mature height of 10” to 1’ and a spread of 1’ to 2’. Plant this shrub in full sun.
Blue Star Juniper - Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’
Sun-loving and slow-growing, Blue Star Juniper graces the garden with steel blue evergreen foliage that’s a beautiful contrast to many plants. It’s also drought-tolerant and requires very little pruning, making it an easy to care for naturally small shrub. Growing 1 to 3’ tall and 1 ½ to 3’ wide, its shape makes it great as ground cover or as an edging plant.
Bluebeard - Caryopteris
Classified as a shrub or as a woody perennial, either way, it deserves to be on this list. Bluebeard loves full sun and grows anywhere from 2 to 4’ in a compact mound. Sweetly scented and long blooming, it attracts all the pollinators: bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Bluebeard foliage and blooms come in various colours depending on the variety, so it’s easy to fit into your landscape plans.
Inkberry Holly - IIlex glabra
Native to North America, Inkberry has lots to love. It looks similar to Boxwood and can be trimmed to shape, but this slow-growing evergreen also forms a tidy mound, and it blooms in the Spring! It will grow in full to part sun, and smaller varieties reach 3 to 4’ high.
While this list contains 5 of our favourites, we have lots more to offer in the garden centre. Come by and take a look! Discover how growing small shrubs in containers or small spaces adds beauty and texture, enhancing your garden bed, patio or balcony.
TIP: April and May are the best months to plant shrubs in Southern Ontario.
The much-loved boxwood hedge has been a classic for centuries and is widely used in gardens worldwide. Neatly trimmed and manicured boxwood becomes the framework for containing everything from roses to riots of perennial blooms. From extensive estate gardens to small and modest yards, boxwood is a versatile shrub that earned its place by being easy to care for and prune.
Unfortunately, this staple shrub has trouble brewing, which impacts its leafy lifespan.
Since its first appearance in Ontario in 2014, the Boxwood Blight has become a significant concern for gardeners. However, the University of Guelph is not sitting idly by. They are actively researching this issue and working hard to find solutions to protect beloved boxwood shrubs.
Sometimes, being popular isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Because Boxwood is a widely planted favourite, a new pest attracted to it, the Boxwood Moth (from Asia), has easily spread and is infecting shrubs.
Beautiful Boxwood Alternatives
Boxwood Blight and Boxwood Moth do pose severe threats to Boxwood shrubs, but here's the good news—many shrubs make great alternatives! Using a similar shrub is one of the simplest solutions to Boxwood's issues. You have lots of options to protect and diversify your garden.
Inkberry Holly
The closest Boxwood lookalike is the Inkberry holly. It naturally grows in a rounded evergreen mound, can be trimmed like a traditional boxwood hedge, and has other enticing bonuses! Not only is it native to North America, but unlike boxwood, it blooms. In the spring, Inkberry holly is covered in showy white flowers, making it a standout alternative to boxwood. Here at Eising Greenhouses, look for Gem Box Inkberry Holly.
Upright Junipers
Blue Arrow and Moffat Blue Junipers make beautiful hedges and stand-alone accent trees. Both have an elegant upright form, striking blue evergreen foliage, and silvery blue berries from late spring to late fall. If that isn’t enticing enough, add drought tolerance to the list of features!
Showy Shapes and Standards
Consider a standard evergreen or a dwarf variety that has been pruned and sculpted to become a piece of art if you want to add something even more unusual. What’s a standard? It’s usually a single trunk with a plant at the top, like a compact evergreen shrub.
Standards and shaped dwarf evergreens can make a bold statement or add wonderful whimsy to your garden. We have lots to choose from, but here are a few examples to get your imagination going!
When it comes to replacing boxwood, there are many creative solutions and beautiful plants to choose from!
For more information:
Landscape Ontario - Boxwood Blight and Boxwood Moth
Toronto Master Gardeners - Rethinking Boxwood
Canada.ca - Box tree Moth