Native hedges connect our gardens with the wider landscape. These ‘linear habitats’ offer beauty, food and vital pathways for wildlife, helping birds, hedgehogs and pollinators move safely between gardens, parks and green spaces.

What are linear habitats?

Linear habitats are natural, wildlife-friendly barriers that act as living borders instead of fences or walls. They’re green corridors because they help wildlife move, ensuring their survival and enriching our green spaces.

Some good examples include:

• Native hedges or hedgerows
• Dead hedges
• Willow structures

They’re practical, sustainable and brilliant for wildlife. They blend naturally into your garden or community space, change with the seasons and offer food, shelter and nesting space for countless species.

A dead hedge is alive!

Dead hedges are one of the easiest linear habitats to build. Simply collect woody garden waste like branches and twigs and pack them tightly between upright stakes to form a barrier. As the material breaks down, you can top it up with garden waste like twigs and branches, forming a bug hotel.

These natural borders are ideal for sectioning off compost areas, borders or driveways. They also embody a key permaculture principle: reusing what you have instead of throwing it away.

Dead hedges are amazing when positioned near a pond, as frogs, toads and newts will shelter in it when they leave the water. Birds, beetles and hedgehogs will move in too, making the most of this ever-changing, life-filled border.

Native hedges are full of life

If you’re replacing or adding a boundary in your garden, consider planting a native hedge instead of a fence. Hedges offer nesting sites for birds, nectar for bees, berries for autumn food and safe passage for hedgehogs and other small mammals.

They’re practical too, as hedges reduce wind, absorb noise and create privacy, all while looking far more natural than wooden panels. Over time, they’re cheaper to maintain than fences and far better for local biodiversity. Put the trimmings into a dead hedge!

Native plants to hedge your bets

Grow Wilder has a rich mix of native hedges, trees, dead hedges and log piles all around the edge boundaries. These linear habitats provide colour, scent and structure year-round, feeding pollinators in spring, birds in autumn and sheltering insects in winter.

You’ll find plenty of fruiting hedges - apple trees, cherries, plums and damsons. Native hedges are better suited to support our wildlife - their leaves, flowers, berries and seeds match the needs of local wildlife perfectly.

Recommended species for a healthy, wildlife-rich hedge include: hawthorn, blackthorn, wild rose, dog-rose, holly, hazel, honeysuckle and elder. 

Small changes, big impact

Even the smallest garden can make a huge difference. A short hedge, a log pile, or a dead hedge can become part of a network of wildlife corridors that link gardens and parks across your neighbourhood.

By choosing living, natural barriers over artificial ones, you’ll be giving wildlife a helping hand and a home.

Learn more with Team Wilder