Guides · What it costs
What a hedge costs
A hedge is the cheapest boundary there is, and the only one that is worth more in ten years than the day it was built.
Compare it with the alternatives before you flinch at the plant count: a rendered block wall runs 350 to 600 € a metre, a good timber fence 90 to 180 € a metre and needs replacing in fifteen years. A hornbeam hedge planted bare-root costs a fraction of either and is a wind filter, a nesting site and a screen that gets better.
The one decision that moves the price is when you buy. Bare-root stock, lifted and sold between November and February, costs roughly a third of the same plant in a pot in May, and establishes better because it goes into cold wet ground with a whole winter to root. A hedge planted in May needs watering all summer and still ends up shorter in year three.
| Species | Plants | Each | Materials per m | Planted, per m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) | 3 per m | 6 € | 32 € | 46 € |
| Silverberry (Elaeagnus × ebbingei) | 2 per m | 15 € | 44 € | 58 € |
Ground preparation at 14 € per metre — a trench, compost and stakes. Planting labour assumes about 25 metres a day at 340 €. Prices are French retail, 2026, and bare-root stock in season lands well below them.
The four rules
- 01Plant between November and February, bare-root, and skip a third of the cost.
- 02Dig a trench, not a row of holes. A hedge is one plant community.
- 03Never plant a hedge tight to the boundary: you need to stand on your own side to cut both faces.
- 04Water the first summer, deeply, once a week. After that a hedge in the right soil asks nothing but a cut.
Check the mature height against your neighbour and your local rules before you plant a boundary hedge. A hedge that must be cut at two metres wants a different species from one allowed to reach five.