The Biohedge

By Chuck Martin, Dow Gardens Horticulturist

Probably not many of you readers, (both of you) have heard of the word biohedge.  In fact when I googled  biohedge, the computer thought I had misspelled the word.  I recall that it was a few years back when I first heard of the term.  A master gardener called me and asked if I would give a talk on biohedges at a seminar.  Those who are familiar with me know I love to give my opinion.  Besides this would give me an opportunity to make a fool out of myself on a topic I knew nothing about.

The first step in my research was to look up biohedge in the dictionary.  Webster hadn’t even heard of the word. I decided to look up the word hedge and make sure that Webster knew that word.  I found out that a hedge is: “a row of closely planted shrubs or low growing trees to form a fence or boundary.”   I was feeling more confident now since I know a little about shrubs and trees.

Next I decided to look up biology and found out that Webster’s definition is:  “the plant and animal life of a specific area.”  

Combining these two definitions I came up with my own definition for biohedge. It is the planting of shrubs or low growing trees that encourage plant and animal life of a specific area to form a fence or boundary.

Feeling like I knew more than Webster, I thought I had better have an expert back me up on my definition.  In reading Ken Druse’s book “The Natural Habitat Garden” I notice he used the word biohedge a couple of times.  Since he used the word I decided to email him to find out his definition.  After a few emails with him, I believe I was on the right track of biohedges.  I was able to talk about biohedges and not make too much of a fool out of myself.

The first thing you need is a locale that needs to be blocked off.  This could be an old shed, your neighbor’s fashion faux pas, or that old car that hasn’t been driven since 1949.  Hedges can also be used to lead you into an area.  If you have an area that you want your friends to wander into, hedges can pull on people’s curiosity and encourage them into an area. 

Plants are a must for a biohedge.   Since we are encouraging plant and animal life of a specific area, the plants that are selected should be native of that area.  Planting natives should encourage the natural wildlife of the area.  Animals such as birds, mammals and insects are familiar with the vegetation of an area and are more apt to utilize those plants.  Some of the non native plant fruit, such as the buckthorns, can actually cause our wildlife to become ill and weak.

Plants help provide animals with their basic needs of food, protection, and nesting.  In order to encourage animal life to our hedge we need to keep these three needs in mind.  Besides using natives, the plants chosen should produce fruit fit for animal consumption, and create a sense of security.

When pruning a biohedge we throw the hedging shears out the window or re-gift them at Christmas.  Hedge shears give hedges a formal appearance that won’t be as inviting to the wildlife.  I don’t know if animals aren’t into formality or it’s the thick branching habit of a formal sheared hedge that isn’t conducive to their life style.  Shearing hedges will also diminish the flowering of the plants, which reduces the fruiting.  The denser branching of a formal hedge is harder to fly in an out of. 

The more diversity there is in the biohedge the more diverse the wildlife that is attracted to the hedge.  By mixing up tall shrubs and short shrubs not only do you encourage wildlife diversity but also create more aesthetic interest.  Monocultures or minimizing the number of plants used can be monotonous which leads to boredom. There is nothing worst than bored wildlife.

The paper’s editor will only allow me to write a certain amount each week.  It is something about me wasting ink. Since I have wasted enough ink and your time, I will add to this topic by giving a list of plants suitable for a biohedge or plants that will encourage wild life in mid-Michigan.