Hedge for hillside

I need a quick-growing hedge for a hillside, poor soil, direct (very) hot sunshine in summer, snow in winter! Any ideas?

What about a Cotoneaster variety? Pretty much any will do. There are varieties you can make into a hedge and varieties that are more of a ground cover for erosion control.

Also, there is always Forsythia...

Do you have a pic? Do you want the hedge at the bottom or top of the hill? What is there now?

Any hedge, regardless of where it is to grow would require a lot of soil preparation to the soil, if you take into account that a hedge is to grow in the same soil for the rest of it's life, choice of hedging plants depends on gradient of hill, any run off water, how much sun per day, how easy will it be to maintain the hedge as in pruning / cutting when high enough, as mentioned also, how tall is the hedge to grow to at finished hight, how wide is the hedge to be as some plants grow taller with little side shoots to speak off, you need to take into account at plant choice for the winter snow, lot's of hedging plants cant tolerate heavy snow laying on the top for prolonged periods of time, any hedge that is to work as a wind break or privacy needs to be bushy enough to have the shape cut wider at the bottom and tapered narrower at the top, this is due to the taller hedge needing the support at the bottom or it will fall over especially when snow or high winds take a toll on it especially on a slope / hill.
If I were you, I would ask for some professional info / help in as much as asking a few garden /Landscape garden companies to come look at the hiss, they will know the winter / summer conditions you have in your situation and give you ideas, it's then up to you to have a list of questions to ask them to gain the proper info you need to make a real good choice of hedge, I assume you will have to look at the hedge every day so make the right choice as it will save you time. money and lots of disappointment.
Remember, you dont have to hire any of the garden companies as you can maybe with help do it all on your own BUT, you will gain lots of proper ideas to suit your environment and site.

Hope all this helps you make a good selection as a hedge can be costly to start with but getting the soil right saves heartach for years to come.
Best of luck and kindest regards. WeeNel.

I'm all about good soil but when you're planting a hedge it is entirely too time consuming to amend the soil for every plant that goes in. We planted 30 Pyracantha this spring and just drilled holes and stuck the plants in. Of course I threw Biotone in each hole but that was it. All of the plants survived the summer and are starting to get red berries and look awesome. While I think amending the soil is ideal, it's not worth the time and effort when planting an entire hedge row.

While your plants are fine (for now) Dgebuadze has stated that they have very POOR soil, HOT summer sun and add to that, SNOW in winter, Snow could mean anything from 1 foot to 6 feet, HOT summer sun could mean ferocious temps to a nice warming sun so best to cover the worst of conditions. Horse manure adds nutrients, adds air to the soil and helps retain some moisture long enough to allow the roots to take up water to sustain the plants in the hot weather, Mysel, I would add clear plastic juice containers between each plant, remove the bottom of container and set into the soil at root area thin neck end with cap removed downwards, then as you water for the first few years, fill the containers up a couple of times to allow water to reach the roots especially in hot summer AND on a slope.
As for soil amending, it all depends on the plants chosen for the job, but taking into account that it will be growing in POOR soil and HOT sun all summer them maybe heavy snow landing on the plants in winter, my money is on digging a deep trench, throwing in as much horse manure (well rotted) at least 3 inch or more in depth, and mixing in as you plant, add a handful of Blood-fish- bone meal for each plant as that is a slow release feed, the hedge will have the best start possible while in those conditions mentioned.
No you don't have to do anything to the soil if you don't want to, BUT I can only assume you have quite fertile soil and worked with plants that were pencil thin stemmed and little roots, NOT all hedging plants come like that depending on the plants, the cost per plant,or grown in pots have larger roots and been growing on for a few years so your paying for plants with a bit of growth to them
Also please take into account your Pyracanthus will be leafless in winter, the questioner has NOT said if he intends to plant evergreen or not so all in all, you have to take into account all these aspects when giving advice, maybe too much advice at times but better to be armed with helpful advice than just drill a hole and stick it in the ground.
Again MY opinion, and like all gardeners we have different opinions and methods that over the years we have adapted or used because of reliability and management of our gardens, gardening as you know is not rocket science but there are for sure, rules and guidelines that IF not adhered to within a few years, disaster strikes and a whole lot of time and money has been thrown on the compost heap, or people blame the company they got the plants from. It's all a matter of choice, plants, especially tree's are like people, all we need is a sound foundation, fed, watered and a little TLC, and we and the tree's thrive, neglect and you and tree's become sick, week and dont grow well with lack of the right treatment from birth LOL.
Wishing you best of luck and kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

To each their own sir. I wasn't discounting your advise, just stating that, while beneficial, it's not a requirement.

No offence or bad feeling taken as like you, I was given my own opinion, my own methods handed down over 3 generations and still used to this day, however if you read my reply, I did try as always to indicate all or most gardeners learn to adapt any info to suit their own needs and ways of doing things, but the basic's are of much importance as once you learn those, you can try many different ways to suit the amount of time you can give to the garden and also soil, light, time, plants to add a few things are all major factors too and NO 2 gardeners will have the same in that department.
Happy gardening and kind regards.
WeeNel.

When you use the word 'hedge', are you thinking about a formal line of shrubs to be pruned into a flat sided box or rounded row? Such as to line a driveway?
How tall to you want to keep it?
How wide?
How often can you prune it?
Is there irrigation? (or is there summer rain?)

If you are thinking about some other way of growing things (not a hedge) then describe what you want.
Perhaps a row of shrubs on a property line or along a fence that may not be formally pruned, but you want a certain size? Choose the right plant and you will minimize the pruning and other care. Choose the wrong plant, something that grows 10' when you really want 6', for example, and you are setting yourself up for a lot of work.

Soil prep has been going a couple of different ways in recent years.
The current idea is that if the right plants are selected then you want the roots to grow out into the native soil as soon as possible. But you still need a transition from rich, organic container soil to the native soil. This is where a blend of native soil and soil amendment is used.
Also, planting on a hill you need to generate some extra soil to build a berm around each plant to hold the water. By adding soil amendment to the soil used to back fill the planting hole you are making some of the soil that you dug out available to build a berm.

Obviously needed to give more detail:

The hedge would be for privacy, so needs to be thick, evergreen and at least 2 metres tall. It runs down the side of the hillside and then across.

HOT means really hot full sun, up to 40 degrees C temperatures in the summer and snow up to knee-deep in the winter, but not too cold (down to a maximum of -10 degrees C).

Also, of course, it needs to grow fast, be cheap and not require much attention (as we don't actually live there and only visit for holidays).

That's not asking much, is it???!!

Haha....all this time I was thinking you meant Georgia, USA...

Ha HA HA and all this time I thought I also had most things covered too, LOL, but never made allowances for not being there to care and water a newly planted evergreen hedge, as would be required for the first year or so, especially in the temps your talking about,
Need to get back to the drawing board for more ideas.
Best wishes. WeeNel.

How about privet? I had a beauty at my first house, hadn't been trimmed for years. Couldn't be cheaper, and needs no attention if you let it grow wild. Depending on how big the starts are, trimming the first season or two will help with density, but after that you can just leave it. I'm assuming this is not a formal garden...

Cold to -10C is not much of a problem, this is equivalent to USDA zone 8a. Oddly enough, Georgia USA has a band of zone 8a about through the middle of the state!
Heat to 40C can be quite a problem for a heavily leafed plant. It will need water to support that leaf mass.

If there is a high water table in the area, then a tough shrub ought to be able to get its roots down into the soil and tap into that water.
If there really is no water then even the toughest plants will have a hard time. Here is an easy way to tell: Are there plants in the neighborhood that are large and leafy without being irrigated? Then they are probably getting some underground water.

Privets and Cotoneasters are very good this way. Some will grow to 2m, but most get larger. They are dense, and make a good screen. There may well be other shrubs that will do the job. I have no idea what is available to you.
Double check if these will grow in your area (my lists are based on a somewhat milder winter)
Ceanothus- any of several species. California natives, and some are native to really hot, dry interior hillsides. No summer water, temperatures approaching 40C. Not as dense as some plants, but still good for screening. Can be short lived if over watered.
Nerium oleander- Fast, tough, nice flowers. Many varieties, so choose the size you want. They are poisonous.
Pyracantha- many varieties, so research the size. Showy flowers and berries. Has thorns that are no fun to deal with, so be careful planting them. Makes a good barrier.
Rhamnus- several species. R. californica is another plant native to the hot dry parts of California. R alaternus is another pretty tough shrub.
Teucrium fruticans might work.

These may get too big, but could work:
Dodonea viscosa- Big, billowing. Not as dense as some, but tough!
Cotoneaster lacteus (AKA C.parnyi)- Tall, arching shrub.
Rhus ovata- interesting fruit. Another California native, to the hotter inland areas.

Ligustrum ovalifolium and Chaenomeles are also pretty tough shrubs, but they are also deciduous. They are very densely branched, so would make a reasonable screen, even when out of leaf. Chaenomeles has many varieties, so select one that gets tall enough. Flowers in the late winter, so even if you just added in a few for color, I would try to use some of these.

Here is how I would do this:
Decide what plants you want. Make sure you can get enough of them. Probably be good to mix 2-3 species. That way some might tend to be more full higher up, and some are denser lower down, or spread a bit. Assume they might not get as big as some guides suggest because of the harsh conditions.
If there is ANY way to get irrigation to these plants, even a temporary drip hose, or anything, do it.
Prepare the soil in a minimal way. Dig the hole wider than the container, but no deeper. Do not bother adding much (if any) organic matter to the soil.
Plant, water them in, then mulch. A good thick layer of mulch will help a lot, in many ways.
If you can plant right now (end of summer, most of the heat is over, but it is not getting frosty yet) that would be the very best, and the easiest on you to care for the plants.
For the first year they will need water until the rains start, then next summer will need water through the hot season, a deep soaking every few days or once a week if the temperature is a bit milder. This is where an irrigation system on a timer would be really important. If you cannot be there, then the plants will get the water they need. If it regularly rains in the summer, then you might set up a hose or something if a neighbor would turn it on, but I would rather trust a timer.
For the second year they will probably need water about once a month when it is dry, maybe twice a month in the hottest part of the year. This would be a really deep soaking. You are trying to get the roots to grow as deep as they can to tap into ground water. They might not need any water if the temperature is under about 20C.
If there is no ground water then the plants will continue to need water every summer, but perhaps no more than once a month a really thorough deep soaking.

Thank you everyone -- you have all given me lots of interesting ideas and food for thought! There are lots of wild bushes on the hillside (in fact, I put them on the Plant Identification list but no-one could identify them!), so there must be some water around somewhere.

I will also have to see what is actually availalbe in the nurseries in Tbilisi!