Blackthorn hedge plants

Blackthorn hedging (Prunus spinosa hedge plants) description

An abundance of small white flowers blossoming along the thorny branches of the Prunus spinosa are a welcome sight in early spring. The dense Sloe Berry tree features bright green oval shaped leaves and bears distinctive dark blue-black sloes come autumn. This native hedge plant is very popular with wildlife, attracting a host of birds and bees.

Best uses for Blackthorn hedging

A low maintenance hedging plant, Prunus spinosa is suitable for planting in most soil types, with the optimum being moist, well-draining soil in full sun. The Sloe Berry tree combines well with other native hedging and is ideal for creating the English country garden style (although equally suited to coastal situations thanks to its resilient nature).  Featuring thorny branches, Blackthorn hedge plants also make an excellent intruder deterrent hedge.

Combine Blackthorn with

While striking planted as a single species, Prunus spinosa also combines very well with other hedging plants, such as Beech and Field Maple varieties, for a unique and interesting garden. View ourmixed hedging packs for some readymade bundles we’ve selected.

Growth rate of Prunus spinosa hedge plants

Blackthorn hedging has a fast growth rate of around 40-60cm of growth annually. A hedge height of between 1 to 4 metres is ideal for Sloe Berry tree hedging.

Care advice for Blackthorn hedges

An easy to care for hedge plant, we recommend trimming Prunus spinosa hedging once the sloe berries have been harvested (or during late winter). More information can be found on our Hedging Care Advice page also.

Suggested planting density for Blackthorn hedging

We have included planting density guidance for Prunus spinosa (and for each individual species/root type) in the ‘No. Per Metre’ column in the above product table.

Best4hedging have Blackthorn hedging plants available all year round as both Pot Grown and Cell Grown Plants. From November through to May you can also purchase Sloe Berry tree in bare root form with cold-stored plants used approaching the end of the season.

At best4hedging we pride ourselves on supplying the highest quality Blackthorn hedging, grown in the UK by our hands-on experts.  Very occasionally, we may source Prunus spinosa from overseas but only once stringent quality checks are met. Quality and affordability are always key priorities for us at best4hedging – so you can order your Blackthorn hedging online assured of the very best service and quality every time.

• Orders £85 & over (ex. VAT) to mainland UK are delivered FREE* (Exceptions apply - see below for Scottish Highlands etc)
• Orders under £85 (ex. VAT) to mainland UK £9.95
• At an additional cost, we can deliver to Scottish Highlands & Islands, which we classify as including AB (Aberdeen) and DD (Dundee) postcodes, as well as Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Isle Man. The exact delivery cost is order specific and will need to be quoted by one of our team, so please contact us on 01257 261 243

*For some plants that are too heavy or too tall to be packed in cardboard boxes we use pallet deliveries. In these circumstances, we require a minimum order value of £200 (ex VAT) for free delivery, or you can make a contribution towards the delivery cost. Look out for the information on product pages which explains this further where applicable and if your order is for less than £200 (ex VAT) please call or email us to agree upon a delivery contribution. This requirement only applies to those plants where it is clearly indicated on the product page

Pallet deliveries are always undertaken on an 18-tonne vehicle (similar in size to a standard refuse vehicle). If for any reason you require a smaller vehicle please contact our sales team who can arrange this for you. There will be an additional surcharge applied for small vehicle deliveries

Delivery Timescales

99% of our orders are dispatched within 3 to 7 working days of receipt and most the day after the order is placed. We can do “next day delivery” on many of our products for an additional £12 (incl VAT) but please call on 01257 494 491 before placing your order to check.

We can also deliver on a specified date to suit you. Please indicate the date you would like to receive delivery in the notes section of the checkout (or place your order by phone) and we’ll do our utmost to meet that date.

Occasional hiccups can occur (such as broken down vehicles) and although we are very experienced in logistics we cannot be held liable for costs incurred or inconvenience due to late deliveries - see terms and conditions for more information.

You will receive an email or telephone call confirming the dispatch of your order 24/48 hours before it arrives with you.

Exceptions to our quick turnaround timescale

Pre-orders - if you have placed an order that includes products on pre-order, then they will be dispatched to you as soon as they are available. If your order includes pre-order bare roots or root balls you will be notified once they are being dispatched (root balls from mid to late October and bare roots from early to mid-November).

Root balls - lifting root balls involves the use of complex, heavy machinery, this lifting is carried out twice a week in the root ball season so we do still have a prompt turnaround timescale but if your order has just missed one lifting, it will be a few days before we lift again. We are always happy to confirm when we can deliver to you before you order. The benefit of this method of supplying root balls is that they are always fresh and therefore have a higher success rate than root balls that are stored out of the soil.

Weather conditions can affect dispatch - bare root and root ball plants are not lifted if the ground is too cold (it damages the roots) and the delivery of all plants can be affected if the water supply is frozen (because we water all plants before packing). Extremely hot weather can also be challenging and occasionally we hold backorders for species that are particularly vulnerable. We ask our customers to be mindful of bank holidays when couriers are not active.

We'd like to stress that although there are exceptions, the vast majority of our orders are dispatched extremely quickly and we are proud of our logistics developed over many years of delivering plants to tens of thousands of customers.

Returns

We inspect plants carefully before dispatch but accept that very occasionally things may go wrong. 
You can return your plants (within 14 days) for a refund or replacement (we’ll help with the process of returning). If your plants arrived damaged then returns are free of charge. However, we ask that you inform us as soon as possible. If you’d like to return your plants because of a change of plan or if we do not agree that the plants are significantly damaged (the loss of a few leaves in transit or a loose pot on arrival, for example, wouldn't be harmful to the plants), then we may ask you to pay the full or partial return costs if you still wanted to return them. We’re very reasonable and always aim for complete satisfaction as demonstrated by our amazing Feefo customer reviews which can be viewed here.

Should you wish to return any products that you have over-bought, no longer require or purchased in error you will incur both a return cost (different charges for pallets and Boxes) and the original cost of delivery incurred by Best4hedging. Please contact the Service team for charges and/or to organise a return. Plants will be subject to a quality control check from our Nursery upon return before any refund is authorised and processed.

Please note that in the case of damaged plants, if you have not notified us of a problem within 14 days of delivery, we consider you to have accepted the plants and Best4Hedging has no further liability for them should they fail.

You can read more about our returns policy in our terms and conditions here.

You can buy with confidence from best4hedging.

We accept all major credit and debit cards. We have also partnered with PayPal to provide a further, secure payment option.

You can order online or over the phone by calling our dedicated Sales & Advice team. 

If you have any further questions in regards to payment, please do get in touch. You can read our Terms & Conditions here.

Call our Sales & Advice team on 01257 261 243

Email us at [email protected]