Living hedge or fence: what to choose
A fence is ready at once, but a hedge only gets better every year. Comparing price, speed, privacy and care.
The fencing question comes up on every new plot. A fence and a living hedge follow different logic: one is a purchase, the other an investment that grows.
Speed: the fence wins
A fence gives full privacy a week after ordering. A thuja hedge closes the view in 3–5 years; deciduous species faster. Compromise: plant large stock from 1.5 m at once — more expensive, but almost immediate result.
Price: more complex than it looks
A good solid fence costs serious money per linear metre and needs replacing or major repair in 15–20 years. A hedge of young thujas is cheaper at the start and, with proper care, lives half a century. But add the cost of trimming twice a year: your time or a service.
Microclimate and noise
Here the hedge has no competition: it breaks wind without the turbulence of a solid fence, traps road dust, softens noise and gives shade. In summer it is noticeably cooler by a green wall than by a metal one.
Care
Fence: painting every few years. Hedge: trimming once or twice a season, watering in the early years, feeding. A neglected hedge is hard to restore, especially a coniferous one.
The combined option
The most practical solution for Estonia: a light mesh fence for the legal boundary and dogs, and a hedge along it for beauty and privacy. Mesh is cheap and the hedge covers it within a couple of years.
We bring hedge plants straight from nurseries and plant with a take-rate guarantee. We will cost both options for your perimeter free of charge.