Hedge for blocking out road noise?

[Twofingertyper]

Hi all,

I have a small drive just off the road which is currently sheltered by blackthorn trees; I'd very much like to replace these with something more ever-green and better at providing a barrier between my house and the road (also, if it was less thorny that would be great when it came to trimming...)

I've been looking around online and wondered if there were thoughts on any of these three:
Shrub Honeysuckle
Portugal Laurel
Cherry Laurel

I have no issues with a prune every now and then, but ideally these plants will grow to around 6 foot and be fairly thick so as to provide a reasonable barrier and be low maintenance on the whole...

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
TFT

 

[Diyisfun]

I have just planted
COTONEASTER FRANCHETTI
I have a new beech hedge, this is in front of that. Its actually on the edge of the road (rural country rd)

 

[r896neo]

Franchetti is a great choice and the nicest hedge of common varieties in my opinion.

Common laurel will grow fast and is a good choice.

Portugal laurel is nicer and clips better but not quite as quick.

Lonicera forms a really tight hedge but they aren't as good when they get tall. They need to be pretty wide to get above 6 feet tall.

A soild fence is a much more effective sound barrier than any hedge though if thats the main reason. Sound is best reflected by a solid surface

 

[amfisted]

If you have any schools or off licences nearby and you live on a main road, you're likely to find that your hedge provides a handy repository for all kinds of cans, bottles and other rubbish.

Other than that and as already said, a solid structure will give you better protection from sound but won't look anywhere near as good as a nice hedge, although it will require far less maintenance.

 

[Twofingertyper]

Thanks all - to clarify that the hedge would be over six foot wide; and sits behind a three foot wall - obviously three foot isn't enough to stop people walking past having a direct view into my living room; so was looking for something denser to provide a bit of protection from prying eyes as well as road noise.

The road is not a main route, but busy enough - I doubt that the hedge will magically block out the boy racers/bikers that have excessive exhausts; but just a bit of protection and reduction of general road noise would be great.

Will look at the Franchetti as well; never really had to consider hedges before so I'm learning a fair bit (including that there's a hedge that alters the PH of the soil to stop anything else growing? There's a clever trick...)

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

laurel is dense and evergreen, but a pain to cut, and it looks messy after cutting as you cut the large leaves. Cotoneaster franchetti is my favourite, but I only learnt about it after planting a privet hedge. The latter is not always evergreen. I have some C. franchettii shrubs in the back garden, evergreen, pretty leaves, lovely red berries to feed the birdies, not so fast growing, easy to trim.

Whatever you get, the cheapest method is to buy bare root plants, typically ~£1 each, and plant about now I think at the latest!!!

 

[mikeey84]

a hedge will really not provide that much of a reduction in noise.

There are some really informative threads on here somewhere about noise abatement by some very knowledgeable people, and the key take out was that mass and height are the 2 most important things to consider.

If you want, I will try and find a link to one.

 

[big-all]

as an aside

high hedges and cover a burglars friend noisy gravel is not