Ideas We Like: Dead Hedges

Volume 29 Issue 3, Summer 2024

by Jennifer Lumley

Do you have a brush pile? We Audubon at Home ambassadors love brush piles for the valuable habitat they provide to wildlife. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have enough space to allow brush piles to accumulate endlessly, and so some people may resort to burning brush piles periodically, destroying that habitat and releasing carbon into the air.

Recently, we happened on a way of managing brush that creates longer-term habitat, requires less open space, preserves carbon sequestration, and creates a structure on which native vines will happily grow.

What we are talking about here is a “dead hedge.” Creating one is simple: sink pairs of branches or posts into the ground a couple of feet apart to create vertical guides every 4 or 5 feet. Then, stack limbs of various lengths and thicknesses horizontally between them to create a dense wall of interlocking branches. The result is attractive in a rustic way and can be used to mark plot boundaries or transitions between more manicured and wilder parts of the same property.

My husband and I have been testing this technique on our property, and we are liking the results. The barrier looks as if it would be adequate for containing our dog if it were built in the shape of an enclosure with an added gate. We are going to transplant some Virginia Creeper and Red Trumpet Vine to the base of the dead hedge. These are vines that are too enthusiastic for the beds of native plants elsewhere on the property. That very enthusiasm, though, will be an asset on the dead hedge.

Our hedge is a pretty loose affair, but these structures can be built in a neater fashion if that is the look your property requires. They can be built taller, shorter, or wider. And just like real hedges, they provide welcome visual structure after the growing season has come to an end.

Jennifer Lumley is an Audubon at Home Ambassador and Virginia Master Naturalist.