The best hedge plants for Moreton Bay are lilly pilly for tall privacy screens, murraya for a fragrant 1.5 to 3 metre hedge, viburnum odoratissimum for fast dense screening, photinia for colour, westringia and Syzygium 'Resilience' for low-maintenance natives, and buxus or Japanese box for low formal borders. Match the species to the height you want and the trimming you will actually do.
How do you choose hedge plants for South-East Queensland?
Four questions settle which hedge plants suit a spot. How tall does it need to be at maturity? How fast do you need it to get there? How much sun does the spot get? And how often will it actually be trimmed? The last one is where most hedges go wrong. A vigorous screen that needs cutting four times a year is a great choice with a regular hedge trimming schedule and a disaster without one. Soil matters too: sandy coastal soils around Redcliffe and Bribie drain fast and need mulch, while the heavier soils inland around Caboolture and the Somerset valleys hold water and can waterlog in a wet summer.
What are the best hedge plants for tall privacy screens (2 to 5 metres)?
Lilly pilly (Syzygium australe 'Resilience', Acmena smithii 'Minor')
The default privacy screen for a reason: fast, dense, glossy, native and happy in sun or part shade. 'Resilience' resists the psyllid that pimples older varieties. Expect a metre of growth a year once established and plan on three trims a season. Best for boundary screens in Narangba, Burpengary and North Lakes where you want privacy from a two-storey neighbour within three years.
Viburnum odoratissimum ('Dense Fence', 'Emerald Lustre')
Possibly the fastest dense screen available in Queensland, with large soft leaves and very forgiving of hard cuts. It needs water in dry spells and three to four trims a year to stay tidy. Excellent where speed matters more than a fine formal finish.
Photinia 'Red Robin'
Grown for the bright red new growth in spring and after each trim. Handles frost better than lilly pilly, so it suits Kilcoy, Esk and Toogoolawah. Watch for leaf spot in humid, shaded spots on the coast.
Bamboo (clumping only: Bambusa textilis 'Gracilis')
For a narrow, very tall screen in a tight space. Choose clumping varieties only and never running bamboo. Maintenance is thinning old culms rather than trimming, once or twice a year.
What are the best hedge plants for a medium hedge (1 to 2 metres)?
Murraya paniculata
Glossy, dense, fragrant white flowers several times a year, and tolerant of both hard pruning and humidity. It is the most reliable medium hedge in Moreton Bay and suits formal front-garden hedges in Morayfield and Caboolture. Trim after each flowering.
Duranta 'Sheena's Gold' and 'Geisha Girl'
Fast, bright and cheap, which makes them common in new estates. They need frequent trimming and can look tired after a few years. Good for colour, less good for a low-maintenance garden.
Syzygium 'Cascade', 'Bush Christmas'
Compact lilly pilly cultivars for a native hedge at 1.5 to 2 metres with fluffy pink flowers and bird-attracting fruit. Two to three trims a year.
Westringia fruticosa ('Grey Box', 'Zena')
Native, drought-hardy, salt-tolerant and unbothered by coastal wind, which makes it the pick for Redcliffe and the bayside. It will not reshoot from bare wood, so it wants light tip-pruning every couple of months rather than one hard cut. Superb low-maintenance hedge if trimmed little and often.
Which hedge plants make the best low formal hedges and borders (under 1 metre)?
- Japanese box (Buxus microphylla var. japonica): the classic tight formal border. Slow, so fewer trims, and it tolerates the heat better than English box.
- Dwarf lilly pilly ('Tiny Trev', 'Little Ruby'): native, colourful new growth, 60 to 90 centimetres.
- Dwarf murraya ('Min-a-Min'): all the murraya virtues at knee height.
- Dwarf westringia ('Mundi', 'Aussie Box'): ball hedges and low borders on the coast.
- Coastal rosemary and Lomandra: for a soft, unclipped border along an acreage driveway.
Which hedge plants work as windbreaks on acreage and Somerset properties?
On larger blocks around Wamuran, D'Aguilar, Woodford and the Somerset region the hedge is usually a windbreak, a screen from the road, or a boundary planting that gets trimmed once a year from a ride-on with a hedge trimmer on a pole. Lilly pilly 'Resilience', Acmena 'Minor', Photinia and Callistemon 'Kings Park Special' all cope with frost pockets and infrequent trimming. Space them at 1 to 1.5 metres, mulch heavily in the first two summers, and keep the kikuyu away from the base while they establish.
Hedge plants to avoid in Moreton Bay: English box (hates humidity), running bamboo (spreads under fences), and Cocky Apple or Golden Cane palms as ‘hedges’ (they are not hedges and they never look like one).
How much trimming do these hedge plants really need?
| Plant | Growth rate | Trims per year | Reshoots from old wood? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lilly pilly 'Resilience' | Fast | 3 | Yes |
| Viburnum odoratissimum | Very fast | 3–4 | Yes |
| Murraya | Medium | 2–3 | Yes |
| Photinia 'Red Robin' | Fast | 2–3 | Yes |
| Duranta | Very fast | 4 | Yes |
| Westringia | Medium | 4–6 light tips | No |
| Japanese box | Slow | 2 | Yes, slowly |
| Conifers | Medium | 1 | No |
If the number in the third column is higher than the number of Saturdays you will genuinely spend on it, choose a slower plant or book the trimming in. The best hedge plants are the ones that are actually maintained. For when to make each of those cuts, see our guide to the best time to trim hedges in South-East Queensland.
Key takeaways
- Tall screens: lilly pilly 'Resilience', viburnum and photinia are the fastest dense hedge plants.
- Low maintenance: westringia, Japanese box and compact syzygium are the easiest hedge plants to live with.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fastest growing hedge plant in Queensland?
Viburnum odoratissimum and lilly pilly 'Resilience' are the fastest dense screening hedges in South-East Queensland, each putting on around a metre a year once established. Duranta is quicker still but shorter-lived. Fast growth means more trimming: budget for three to four cuts a year to keep any of them tidy.
What is the best low-maintenance hedge for Moreton Bay?
The lowest-maintenance hedge plants for Moreton Bay are westringia for coastal and sunny sites, Japanese box for low formal borders, and Syzygium 'Resilience' for a native screen. All three need fewer or lighter cuts than viburnum or duranta. Westringia must be tip-pruned little and often, because it will not reshoot if cut back into bare wood.
Which hedge plants handle frost in the Somerset region?
Frost-hardy hedge plants for the Somerset region include Photinia 'Red Robin', Acmena smithii 'Minor', Callistemon 'Kings Park Special', Japanese box and most westringias cope with the frost pockets around Kilcoy, Esk, Toogoolawah and Lowood. Young lilly pilly and murraya can be burnt by hard frost, so plant them in spring and protect them for the first two winters.
How far apart should hedge plants be planted?
For a dense screen, space hedge plants such as lilly pilly, viburnum and photinia 80 centimetres to 1 metre apart, murraya 60 to 80 centimetres, and low box or dwarf lilly pilly 30 to 40 centimetres. On acreage windbreaks 1 to 1.5 metres is fine. Closer spacing gives a solid hedge sooner but costs more and needs more trimming.
Do you plant hedges as well as trim them?
Green Estates Gardening focuses on trimming, shaping, reducing and maintaining existing hedges across Moreton Bay and Somerset, along with garden bed preparation and mulching. For new hedge plants we are happy to advise on species and spacing during a quote, and we take over the trimming schedule once the hedge is in.
Got hedge plants that have outgrown their owner?
Green Estates Gardening trims, shapes and reduces every species on this list across Moreton Bay and Somerset, on a schedule matched to the plant. Send a photo for a fixed price.
About Green Estates Gardening
Green Estates Gardening Pty Ltd is an owner-operated lawn and garden business based in Wamuran, Queensland, run by Hamish Baggley with more than 13 years of hands-on experience. We provide lawn mowing, acreage and ride-on mowing, hedge trimming, garden cleanups and weed control and mulching and minor tree work across the Moreton Bay and Somerset regions, including Caboolture, Morayfield, Burpengary, Narangba, North Lakes, Redcliffe, Woodford, D'Aguilar, Kilcoy and Esk. Call 0439 550 850 for a fixed-price quote.
