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Defensive plants, shrubs and trees (shrub fences)

Spiny shrubs and trees have been used for many hundreds of years to create defensive barriers; either as hedging, to pen livestock into their fields, or by using a plant's climbing and defensive properties to improve an existing boundary, such as a timber fence or prevent graffiti being applied to a plain wall. The only problem with using nature's evolved defensive arsenal is that we have to be a little patient for the results. But when these plants have reached maturity they can present the most formidable barriers.

Over the past four years my neighbour has trained an old English rambling rose over the entire back fence of her garden. It’s now so well established that there is no way on earth that anybody is going to be able to get into her garden over that fence. The thorns are vicious and copious; it’s simply impenetrable. The nice thing about it, of course, is that during the summer she is rewarded with abundant, fragrant flowers. There is a slight downside to this living barrier, which is the fact that she does have to prune it from time to time to keep it tidy and to stop it invading her neighbours’ gardens. But, if given the choice I’m sure we would always choose a prickly shrub over barbed wire or razor tape.

When my friend and colleague Heather Alston (Essex Police) and I wrote our crime prevention book, Home Security – the complete handbook , we were fortunate to get some help from Writtle Agricultural College in Essex. They produced three tables of plant species that could be used for crime prevention purposes. The first two tables below list prickly/spiny plants, which can be used for hedging or climbing onto a wall or fence. The third table lists a number of trees including many whose growth characteristics enable them to be used in circumstances where views through the trees and shrubs are necessary. I have since updated this information, but remember that the examples given are just a sample of the many thousands of plants that you can use for practical crime prevention. If you have your own favourites, let me know about them and I’ll add them to the lists.

Shrubs

Please note that the effectiveness of these plants will wholly depend on how you use them. Ground cover pricklies are used to keep people away from things or make people walk along a particular route, some are shrubs/small trees that can be used for hedging barriers and some are for growing over walls and fences to make climbing impossible or at least very difficult. Do also bear in mind that there are thousands of injuries in the garden each year and some of these are eye injuries caused by weeding around and pruning spiny shrubs. So do wear goggles in these circumstances and put covers on the top of supporting sticks – another cause of eye injuries.

Examples of defensive plants

KEY		GRADE
D	Deciduous	1	Extremely effective
E	Evergreen	2	Very effective
SE	Semi-evergreen	3	Effective

KEY	GRADE	GENUS		SPECIES	CULTIVAR	DEFENSIVE PROPERTIES	HEIGHT (m)
		Berberis		All Berberis are spiny and make excellent barrier hedges. Many of the deciduous varieties have good autumn colour, flowers and berries
D	3	Berberis group		carminea	‘ Buccaneer ’	Rounded shrub	1.2
D	3	Berberis		x ottawensis	‘ Purpurea ’	Purple-leaved upright shrub	1.8
D	2	Berberis group		carminea	‘ Pirate King ’	Erect dense branches, difficult to penetrate	1.2
D	2	Berberis		thunbergii	‘ Atropurpurea ’	A vigorous, purple-leaved shrub	1.2
D	2	Berberis		thunbergii	‘ Red Chief ’	Wine-coloured foliage on upright branches	1.5
D	3	Berberis		thunbergii	‘ Rose Glow ’	Mottled purple-, pink- and white-leaved shrub	1.2
SE	3	Berberis		wilsonea		A semi-evergreen, dense shrub	1.2
E	2	Berberis		darwinii		A popular and very thorny shrub	2
E	1	Berberis		gagnepainii		A large thorny shrub with razor-sharp leaves	1.5
E	1	Berberis		julianae		Long, three-armed spines and sharp leaves	2.7
E	1	Berberis		x stenophylla		Virtually impenetrable thicket of arched, spined branches	1.8
E	2	Berberis		verruculosa		A sturdy shrub with spiny leaves	1.2
D	3	Chaenomeles		speciosa	' Jet Trail ' (Japanese Quince)	A thorn-bearing shrub with white flowers that is often wall trained	2
E	1	Colletia		paradoxa		A very thorny shrub, with scented white flowers	1.5
SE	3	Corokia		cotoneaster		From New Zealand, a tangle of branches	1
D	1	Crataegus		monogyna (hawthorn)		Native to Britain this shrub or tree is ideal for a hedge barrier. White flowers	7+ (tree)
D	2	Crataegus		oxycantha (Syn. laevigata)	‘Pauls Scarlet’	Similar to monogyna with double red flowers. Commonly grown as a tree	9+ (tree)
D	1	Crataegus		prunifolia		Grown as a shrub or tree with very strong and abundant thorns	3.5 (tree)
D	1	Elaeagnus		augustifolia	‘ Russian Olive ’	A fast growing, spiny shrub with scented flowers	2
E	2	Elaeagnus		x ebbingei	' Limelight '	A dense evergreen shrub with fragrant flowers	2
E	3	Elaeagnus		pungens	‘ Maculata ’	Less vigorous that x ebbingei, but variegated gold and green leaves	3+
SE	2	Genista		hispanica (Spanish gorse)		A low-growing dense shrub with yellow flowers . Requires dry soil and sun	1
SE	3	Genista		aetnensis (Mount Etna Broom)		Taller than hispanica, but less dense with yellow flowers	1.4
D	1	Hippophae		rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn)		A wind- and salt-tolerant dense shrub. A good deterrent plant for poor soils	2
E	3	Ilex		x altaclarensis	‘ Golden King ’	Ideal for defensive hedging with gold-edged leaves, but no berries
E	2	Ilex		aquifolium (Common Holly)		Native to Britain and ideal for barrier plantings. Grows on most soil types	2
E	3	Ilex		aquifolium	Argentea Marginata	A slower growing holly with good berries	1.5
E	3	Ilex		aquifolium	Golden Queen	Male golden-variegated holly, but no berries
E	3	Mahonia		aquifolium	' Apollo '	A low growing shrub with spiny leaves	1.2+
E	2	Mahonia		x media	‘ Charity ’	A relatively taller hybrid with sharper leaves and better shape	1.5+
E	3	Olearia		macrodonta (New Zealand Holly)		A useful shrub for exposed sites, with silver-toothed leaves and fragrant flowers	1.5
D	2	Poncirus		trifoliate (Crown of Thorns)		Slow growing impenetrable shrub with scented flowers. Prefers good, dry soil	1.8
D	1	Prunus		spinosa (Blackthorn, Sloe)		Native to Britain, this is an excellent dense defensive shrub or small tree. Produces sloe berries	1.8
E	1	Pyracantha		coccinea (Firethorn)	Many varieties	Bushy, spiny shrub with orange/red berries	Up to 2.5
E	1	Pyracantha		coccinea	‘Mojave’	A bushy, spiny shrub with red berries	2.5
D	2	Rhamnus		frangula (Alder Buckthorn)		Native to Britain, a vigorous growing shrub ideal for wet, peaty soils	1.5
SE	3	Ribes		speciosum		A dense, spiny bush with fuchsia-like flowers	1.2
D	3	Robinia		hispida	‘ Rosea ’	Sparsely-branched, but thorny shrub, which is good on walls. Pink flowers
		Rosa		There are over 400 varieties within the Rosa family. The following listed shrub varieties are most suited for defensive planting. Not all climbing and rambling roses are suitable as some are thornless, e.g. R. ‘Zephirine Drouhin’.
D	2	Rosa	R	officinalis		The Lancaster rose. Red flowers	1.2
D	2	Rosa	R	moyesii	‘ Geranium ’	A very thorny tall shrub rose with pitcher-shaped hips and red flowers	2
D	3	Rosa	R	moyesii	‘Ballerina’	A ground cover rose. Pink flowers
D	2	Rosa	R	moyesii	‘Dunwich Rose’	A very vigorous ground cover rose. White flowers
D	2	Rosa	R	rugosa (many available)	‘Blanc de Coubert’	Very spiny stems with large flowers. White flowers	1.5
D	2	Rosa	R	rugosa	‘Frau Dagmar Hastrup’	Very spiny stems with large flowers. Pink flowers
D	2	Rosa	R	rugosa	‘Sarah van Fleet’	Very spiny stems with large flowers. Pink flowers
D	2	Rosa	R	rugosa	‘Emily Gray’	A vigorous rambler with double scented flowers. Gold flowers	3
D	2	Rosa	R		‘ Albertine ’	A vigorous rambler ideal for growing on south facing walls and fences. 3m spread	5
D	2	Rosa	C		‘Guinée’	A strong climber. Scarlet flowers	3
D	2	Rosa	C		‘Leaping Salmon’	Ideal for climbing pergolas, arches, along fences. 1.8m spread Medium pink flowers	3
D	2	Rosa	C		‘ School Girl ’	Disease resistant. Orange apricot flowers	3.6
D	2	Rosa	C		‘Allen Chandler’	A vigorous climber. Dark red flowers	9
D	2	Rosa	C		‘Breath of Life’	2.2m spread. Apricot pink flowers	2.8
D	2	Rosa	C		‘High Hopes’	2.2m spread. Pink yellow flowers	3
D	1	Rubus		cockburnianus		Tall, spine covered, whitewashed stems forming a wall of thorns. Quick to establish on most soils
E	3	Smilax		aspera		A prickly climber for walls and fences, however quite rare
E	1	Ulex		europaeus (Common Goarse)		Native to Britain this is a superb barrier shrub, which will grow well on poor dry soils	1.5
E	1	Ulex		europaeus	‘Plenus’	As above, but with double yellow flowers

Source: Updated using information kindly supplied by Writtle Agricultural College Chelmsford Essex, which first appeared in ‘Home Security- the complete handbook’ by Calvin Beckford and Heather Alston, published by New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd © 2005 The Crime Prevention Website © 2011

Top ten climbers

Writtle Agricultural College listed the following ten climbers because they are very prickly, have exceptionally vigorous growth and are immensely suitable for growing against old trees and for covering walls and fences. Do some more research before you buy one to ensure that the one you get is suitable in terms of soil requirements and aspect. Think very carefully before you allow a rose to climb over a shed roof as the spines can puncture the felt and cause leaks. (My neighbour’s rose did it to my shed!)

Top ten climbing and rambling roses

NAME	GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS	FLOWER CHARACTERISTICS	ONCE or REPEAT FLOWERING	HEIGHT (m)
American Pillar	Vigorous tough growing rambler with numerous long and slender branches	Non fragrant pink with white eyes in large clusters	Once	6+
Compassion	Vigorous growth, disease resistant and generally an easy rose to grow	Very fragrant large double pink to apricot blooms	Repeat	4+
Danse du Feu	Vigorous growth and ideal for North facing wall or fence	Non fragrant bright orange-scarlet	Repeat	4
Iceberg	A popular vigorous growing climber	Slightly fragrant clusters of white blooms	Repeat	4
Ginger Syllabub	A vigorous growing climber	Very fragrant golden apricot flowers	Repeat	3
Golden Showers	A vigorous growing climber	Quite fragrant light yellow flowers	Repeat	3
New Dawn	Vigorous disease free growth	Very fragrant medium sized silvery-pink double flowers in large clusters	Repeat	4
Wedding Day	A very large vigorous rambler requiring plenty of room in the garden	Very fragrant single white flowers opening from yellow buds. With prominent orange stems	Once	6
Handel	A popular vigorous growing climber	Quite fragrant creamy white double flowers flushed with pink	Repeat	3.5
Marigold	A vigorous growing climber	Quite fragrant bronze and yellow double flowers	Repeat	3

High hedges and Social Nuisance

Do be careful with high hedging as you might seriously annoy the neighbours. If you are thinking about planting a high hedge that might affect your neighbour’s amenity do look to see if you might need planning permission or if you might fall foul of any legislation and also speak with your neighbours to discuss your plans.

In England and Wales, Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (High hedges) created new procedures to enable local authorities in England and Wales to deal with complaints about high hedges. There is similar legislation in Scotland.

Whilst the nuisance caused by Leylandii has been reducing Bamboo has become the latest screening hedge to become a social nuisance. Some species of Bamboo grow quickly to great heights and form a very dense hedge, sprouting new, sometimes invasive growth, on the sunny side of the hedge.

As with any inappropriately planted high hedge, they can provide screening for burglars and garden thieves to work unseen. As the High Hedges Act excludes grasses (the botanical group for Bamboo) it cannot be used to settle disputes between neighbours.

If you are being adversely affected by a bamboo screening hedge you are advised to contact your local Member of Parliament and ask them to pursue some action to amend the Act.

Further information about nuisance hedges can be found on the website of Hedgeline

Hedgeline is the support and lobby group who successfully campaigned for control of hedge nuisance in the UK. Since they closed their active campaign in May 2013 they are not quite as active in furthering their aims but they do maintain this very useful website.

Further information about hedges can be found at the website of Naturenet and from the following publications produced by HM Government:

Over the garden hedge

Hedge selector

The last document provides a table of alternative hedges for the garden (that’s alternative to Leylandii by the way; the source of many problems between neighbours)

High hedges and natural surveillance

Growing a tall hedge in the front garden of a property is not a good idea if you want to prevent burglary.

During my time in the police service I attended countless burglaries where the presence of a high hedge was used to a thief's advantage.

In one memorable incident during a hot summer in Acton a male suspect, who was arrested at the scene, had climbed through a wide-open sliding sash window situated behind a very high hedge, whereupon he sexually assaulted a young woman who had simply been sitting on her couch watching TV.

Fortunately a neighbour heard the poor lady's cries for help and me and my colleague were litereally around the corner when we recieved the call. The high hedge was removed the following day!

Trees

You must not make the mistake of thinking that you cannot have large trees and shrubs in your garden for fear of giving cover to the thief. Your enjoyment of your garden must come first! With careful planning I think you can have both a beautiful garden with lots of horizontal and vertical interest and one where a thief will worry about being seen. The trick is to select the right trees and shrubs for the job. Try to avoid mass screening using very high hedging, unless of course the screen does not affect your security.

The trees shown in the table below are of three types:

Columnar (fastigiate) trees can be used to provide a bold vertical point of interest in the garden without blocking all lines of site of a building.

Open aspect trees provide opportunity for looking ‘through’ a tree from, say, a first floor window (US: Second floor) and the ‘tall trunk before branching’ trees (when mature) allow views of and out from buildings at ground level whilst still providing interesting foliage above.

Thorny trees can be used to form a defensive hedge or can be used singularly to prevent a vulnerable part of a wall or fence from being climbed. Frankly their uses are only limited by your imagination and don’t forget this is just a sample of the many hundreds of species that you can use.

Trees with crime prevention characteristics

KEY
1	Columnar/Slender shape
2	Open aspect/tall trunk before branching
3	Thorny/Spiny

KEY	GENUS	SPECIES	CULTIVAR	GROWTH HABIT	HEIGHT (m)
1	Acer	platanoides (Norway Maple)	‘Columnare’	A slow growing deciduous tree with good autumn colour and a compact oval habit of growth	15+
1	Acer	saccharum (Sugar Maple)	‘Temples Upright’ or ‘Pyramidale’	Deciduous columnar tree with very good autumn colour. Susceptible to salt damage, so avoid planting near highways	14
2	Acer	henryi		Deciduous spreading tree with very good autumn colour.	8
2	Acer	negundo (Box Elder)		Fast growing deciduous spreading tree with round crown	9
2	Acer	rubrum	‘Scanlon’	Medium sized deciduous oval tree forming a conical head of branches with stunning autumn colour	16
2	Betula	papyrifera (Paper Bark Birch)		A vigorous deciduous open-branched tree with attractive peeling white bark and pyramidal shape	15
2	Betula	Pendula (Swedish Birch)	‘Dalecarlica’	An elegant open-crowned narrow deciduous tree with deeply serrated leaves on weeping branches. White peeling bark. Suitable for cold exposed sites	16
2	Betula	utilis var. Jacquemontii (Himalayan Birch)	‘Silver Shadow’	A deciduous tree with striking white bark after four or five years. A slender habit of growth	12
1	Carpinus	betulus	‘Columnaris’	A small narrow variety of the common hornbeam. Yellow leaves in Autumn	10
3	Crataegus	monogyna (Hawthorn)		A small thorny deciduous tree, or tall hedge, of dense spreading habit	8
3	Crataegus	crus-galli (Cockspur Thorn)		A very thorny tree that is similar to Hawthorn with excellent autumn colour and attractive fruits	8
3	Crataegus	pedicellata (Scarlet Haw)		A wide spreading dense tree with long strong spines	9
3	Crataegus	prunifolia		A small compact deciduous tree with thorns and good autumn colour	8
3	Gleditsia	aquatic (Water Locust)		A small shrubby tree with spiny branches and trunk	10
3	Gleditsia	caspica (Caspian Locust)		A small tree with formidable thorny branches and trunk	8
3	Gleditsia	delavayi		A rarer form of the locust tree with enormous spines	7
3	Gleditsia	triacanthos (Honey Locust)		A very vigorous large tree with a thorny trunk and branches which tolerates air pollution	20
3	Maclura	pomifera (Asage Orange)		A spiny open-crowned tree with large unusual fruits. Good on well drained chalk soils	8
1	Populus	alba	‘Racket’	A deciduous narrow poplar with decorative silver foliage. Do not plant close to buildings due to strong invasive roots	16
1	Populus	x canadensis	‘Eugenei’	A very tall poplar. Do not plant close to buildings due to strong invasive roots	30
1	Populus	nigra	‘Italica’ (Lombardy poplar)	A very fast growing tree with long male catkins. Do not plant close to buildings due to strong invasive roots	30
3	Prunus	spinosa (Blackthorn)		A dense small and bushy tree	8
1	Quercus	robur	‘Fastigiata’	A deciduous upright Oak with dense branches	16
3	Robina	pseudoacacia (False Acacia)		A fast growing elegant tree with spiny shoots, which is good on polluted sites	25
3	Robina	pseudoacacia	‘Frisia’	A golden leaved smaller version of the False Acacia	10
2	Sorbus	aucuparia	‘Joseph Rock’	A deciduous upright tree with good autumn colour and distinctive yellow berries	9

Updated February 2015

Updated August 2015

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