Since you live on Whidbey Island, you've probably seen the hedgerows at Ebey's Landing, a National Historical Reserve.

I'm planning to plant a hedgerow this fall, and have found these two articles:

From the Washington Native Plant Society blog:
http://www.wnps.org/blog/how-about-a-hedgerow/

By Valerie Easton in the Seattle Times:
http://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/hedgerows-offer-variety-and-shelter-to-urban-gardens/

I am not too far away, on the Hood Canal in Poulsbo (Zone 7/8), with part sun in the area I planted a mixed hedge that will never need to be more than 6-7' tall in order to screen the view of the street (although greater height will work too).

For my "anchors" I used a combination of dwarf Hinoki Cypresses: Chamaecyparis obtusa Filicoides Compacta, Chamaecyparis obtusa Nana Gracilis, Chamaecyparis obtusa Thoweil, and Chamaecyparis obtusa Fernspray Gold and Sunny Swirl (both of which are more lime green than gold in the semi-shade). I also included Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), Camelias, Sarcococca ruscifolia, Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and Nandina Moyer's Red.

As a transition to the street In front of them, I planted Salal (Gaultheria shallon), Sword Ferns (Polystichum munitum), alpine water fern (Blechnum Penna-marina), Heucherella Sweet Tea, Autumn Ferns (Dryopteris erythrosora Brilliance), Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora) and Pieris Bisbee Dwarf.

All are essentially evergreen, although the Nandinas and the Autumn Ferns flag a bit in the winter. I have diverse foliage textures all year and, particularly in the spring and summer, I have a nice mix of salmon/bronze shades with lime and very dark green contrasts that I find pleasing.

That sounds incredible any pictures

I too would love to see an image of fernfarmer's hedge if it is established enough to see how these colors and textures were arranged to work together. How wide is this hedge? How far apart did you place the plants?

The hedge is in two parts, one on each side of our driveway. One section about 20' long. The other is about 30'. The low plantings are semi-established (they all had to be moved and then re-planted when the hinokis were installed). The rest of it is new this spring. Tomorrow I will take some pictures that should give you an idea of what I've done. It'll take a few years for everything to grow together since I was trying to be "reasonably" disciplined about spacing. More info mañana.

I meant to ask how "deep" the hedge is, rather than how "wide".

Pretty deep, all told, probably 14', including the ferns and salal. The "tall" part was done in two staggered rows, approximately 4' apart.

Gold Fernspray Hinoki is more lime in the part shade:

That's nice!
I like how you gave the street a good view. Most people would have gone the other way. You have plenty of space to do that.
Your 'hedge' blends in well with the native trees and shrubs.
Nice job!
Mike

Thank you. It's kind of you to say so. I had fun figuring out what I wanted, now I can't wait for it all to grow in a bit. Patience is not my strong suit!

Looks very good

One more vote for a very nice implementation of a hedge. Thanks for the inspirational photos. They encourage me to put more thought into color and texture, even though my "want" plant list is quite different.

Yeah makes me double think my selection of plants

As long as we're having fun with this, do you have some "must haves" for your hedge, or some color/sun/moisture goals? I bet there are a lot of us loitering around here who would have a good time making suggestions, on the condition that you share pictures of what you finally decide is right for your space and taste, so that we can incorporate your inspirations into our next projects.

My first objective was one main tree with two dwarf trees on each corner. Was thing thinking of a Laburnum and not sure what dwarf trees. Also the main tree was hoping no more then 20ft tall and with flowers.

Hi Sepluvd,

I love Laburnums. So, I will assume you have full sun (except where the Laburnum or other plants in your hedge will provide shade). If you want to have a mix of foliage, but stick with the yellow theme, two plants come to mind immediately: Mahonia and Kerria japonica. There are several types of Mahonia that will take both full sun and part shade. Mahonia aquifolium (tall) and Mahonia repens (short) both have holly-like leaves, yellow flowers and purple/blue berries and will take full to part sun. The Mahonia reopens has a bit of a blue cast in the mature foliage, which could be something fun to build on. Perhaps with a Split Rock Hinoki? There are also a number of Mahonia cultivars that are quite attractive, like Soft Caress, but they may need to be planted in the shade of another plant. Kerria japonica does best when shielded from afternoon sun but will take full morning sun and, like your Laburnum, will be deciduous, but it would fill the understory during spring-fall and have a massive yellow flower display in spring when mature.

I will assume that you don't need 12-month screening from your hedgerow, since your first pick is a deciduous tree. Does that mean that you don't really need much screening, or that you only need screening in summer?

Do you have enough depth in your planting area to include shorter plants, like I was fortunate to have, or are you only looking for taller things?

Personally, I like white, blue and blue/green contrasts with yellow, but silver/grey can work quite well too. Do you have a preference?

This is fun, and waaaaay cheaper than adding plants to my own garden!

Fernfarmer

I've been hesitant to use Kerria in my garden because I've seen the way it spreads with underground runners. Oh, and the winter dieback on the growing tips. Whenever I have encountered Kerria it seems to be out of control. I suppose a hard core gardener would keep it in bounds.......or get rid of it.
Mike

Good to know!

I really don't need a screening in the yard since my windows are covered with 6 rose bushes. It's mostly just wanna add something unique to the front yard. I was looking mostly for some good colors. It's gonna be 30 ft long and 10 ft deep. I would love different colors. I was looking at different evergreens for ground cover like bunch berry dogwood. Stuff like that don't have a real concept

When you're ready, I think it would be a good idea to start another thread for folks to respond to. If it were me, I'd pick a title that did not suggest you are looking for hedgerow ideas, since that doesn't seem to be what you are actually interested in. It would be really helpful if you included information about your light and soil conditions (Laburnums and bunchberry require very different conditions, so you must have a wider spectrum than folks would guess). In your new thread, it would be really helpful to your potential helpers if you mentioned that you don't need screening, as well as some of the colors, heights or other criteria on your wish-list.

Good idea, fernfarmer.
I have yet to see Bunchberry dogwood establish itself strong enough to be a good groundcover here in the PacNW. Has anyone? My experiences with it is rather limited. The few plants I've had over the years just disappeared. Faded away, I guess.
mike

I have been told that it does best if there's a lot of rotted wood in the soil, but my experience is the same as yours. I have a tiny patch of it that has survived for several years, but it's not spreading and it's rather sparse looking.