Gardening and Landscaping
Plan for mature width before planting in a narrow side yard.
A young hedge may look small at the nursery, but its mature spread can crowd a fence, walkway, or house wall. Start your plan with the space each evergreen will eventually need.
Look up the expected mature width for the exact cultivar, not just its species. A narrow, upright selection may fit a side yard better than a broad, spreading shrub.
Use mature width as your starting point. For touching or lightly overlapping crowns, subtract the overlap you want from that width; for a visible gap, add the gap instead.
Growth rate affects how quickly a screen fills in, not how wide it will become. Choose a suitable cultivar and avoid planting far tighter than its mature spread just for faster coverage.
Measure the usable width from the house, fence, or property edge, allowing for mature spread on both sides of each plant center. Mark the centers before digging.
Crowded foliage can stay damp, compete for light, and thin as plants shade one another. In a shaded, humid, or poorly drained side yard, allow extra room where possible.
For a 6-foot-wide shrub with about 1 foot of desired overlap, start with centers roughly 5 feet apart. Then confirm the cultivar, site conditions, and room beyond each center.
Base hedge spacing on mature width rather than the plant’s nursery size. Small plants grow, and spacing them by their current spread can leave the row overcrowded later.
There is no universal overlap amount. Plan only enough for neighboring mature crowns to meet or lightly cross, and confirm the chosen spacing suits the plant and site.
If the row cannot accommodate a plant’s mature spread, select a narrower cultivar instead of forcing tight spacing. The right fit supports a connected screen with room to grow.
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