How to measure and communicate your Living Walls™ instant hedge dimensions with confidence.
When planning or ordering instant hedges, accurate measurements make all the difference. At Twining Valley Nurseries, we often find that words like height, width, depth, and length mean different things to different people — which can lead to confusion at quoting, ordering, or planting time.
To help make things simple, here’s how we define these four dimensions and how they apply to our Living Walls™ instant hedges and pleached screens. Once you understand the terminology, you’ll find measuring, ordering, and planting much easier — and your hedge should fit perfectly.
What it means: Height refers to the planted height of the hedge above the ground level — or, for hedges installed in containers or planter boxes, the height of the plants themselves.
We measure height from the top of the bag or soil level upward, not including the bag. This shows you how tall the hedge will appear once planted.
Example: A 1200mm Living Boundary instant hedge will stand approximately 1.2 metres tall once in the ground.
Transport note: If you’re arranging your own freight, remember to add the height of the hedge bag (which contains the root ball) to the hedge or screen height to calculate total load height.
What it means: Depth refers to how deep the trench or planting hole needs to be for the root ball to sit comfortably and securely. It’s a vertical measurement that goes downward from the finished soil level.
Each hedge size has a recommended trench depth — see the table below. For pleached screens, depth refers to the hole depth for the bag or rootball.
What it means: Length is the horizontal measurement running left to right (or vice versa) — the lineal distance your hedge will cover along your boundary or garden edge.
All Twining Valley Living Walls™ instant hedges are grown and sold in one-metre lengths — whole metres only. Each hedge is a complete, fully formed one-metre section ready to plant.
Example: If your boundary measures 15 metres, you’ll need 15 one-metre hedge units to create a continuous run.
Not every space measures an exact multiple of one metre — and that’s perfectly fine. If your total hedge length leaves a gap of less than 500mm, we recommend spacing the hedges per our planting guides and allowing a little room at each end for the plants to grow and fill the space naturally.
For gaps greater than 500mm, it’s a good idea to round up and order an extra metre of hedge. You can then separate one of the plants from the unit by cutting through the rootball between the plants to fill the remaining space.
Before ordering, measure the total length of your planting area carefully to ensure you order the right number of hedge units. Accurate measurements help ensure you order the right number of one-metre hedge units and avoid coming up short or with excess material. A quick double-check with a tape measure now will save time and adjustments later.
As you prepare your site, you may discover an obstacle — such as a pipe, post, or large tree root — that prevents planting in a short section of your trench. If this happens, please let us know before we dispatch your order. We can adjust the quantity to suit, saving unnecessary freight and ensuring your delivery matches the space available. Please note that once hedges are dispatched, we’re not always able to accept returns.
A note on spacing: Each hedge unit’s rootball is approximately 900mm long, with foliage that extends about one metre. When planting, allow around 100mm (10cm) between rootballs — one hedge unit per metre — so the foliage meets neatly but not the rootballs. This ensures your Living Walls™ hedge is spaced correctly. See the diagram below.
Pleached screens are also planted at one-metre centres to achieve a seamless line. With its framework, you can't plant a pleached tree closer than this but you can space them further apart, if desired. Just keep the distance between each tree equal.
Next step: For detailed instructions on preparing trenches, positioning units, and backfilling, see our Instant Hedge Planting Guides.
What it means: Width refers to how broad the hedge is from front to back — the measurement that gives your hedge its visual depth and fullness.
If you think of a swimming pool, you measure its length, width, and depth. The same applies to hedges: width describes the body of the hedge above ground, while depth refers to how far into the ground you dig.
At Twining Valley Nurseries, most of our hedges are trimmed on a gentle taper — slightly narrower at the top than at the base. This shape allows sunlight to reach the lower foliage, keeping the hedge dense and healthy all the way down.
When we discuss the hedge width, we’re referring to the base width — the widest part of the foliage. Similarly, the hedge bag width refers to the bulge at its widest point, where the rootball is most substantial.
Each hedge size has a characteristic hedge bag width (see below) that determines how much space you’ll need in your planting area or planter box.
Understanding and using these measurements correctly ensures that:
– Your planting space or planter box is correctly sized
– The right quantity of hedge units is ordered
– Freight and handling plans are accurate
– Everyone — from grower to designer to installer — is working from the same definitions
Getting your measurements right from the start makes everything fit — from your design plans to your planting trench. When everyone’s working to the same dimensions, the process runs smoothly, and your Living Walls™ hedge will look as seamless as it was grown to be.
