Stop Thief! Prickly Plants to Stop Intruders

A living boundary that is strong enough to keep the undesirables out yet also looks good enough to earn a place in the garden is a valuable thing. With the right care and attention it will last a whole lot longer than a fence and take on a different look through the seasons.

Stop Burglars

Thorns, spines and prickles are top of the list, because these are the things that are going to stop people from passing through. Evergreen foliage is also desirable because it’ll also stop prying eyes from getting a good look at a property – but even if a hedge loses its leaves in winter its thorns will remain, so should still be considered.

Best Berberis

Berberis are the first thorny subjects on many gardeners’ lists. Many, but not all, are evergreen, they have attractive flowers and fruit, and some (even some of the evergreens) put on a great autumn show when the leaves turn brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red.

B. x bristolensis is one of the best evergreens, with some vicious spines not only on the stems but also on the leaves. Yellow flowers are produced in May and tiny blue fruits in summer, while the leaves often redden during the winter months.

Garden Hedge

For a taller hedge Berberis x stenophylla AGM (Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society) is just the ticket; it grows to 8ft. (2.4m) tall and an impressive 15ft. (5m) across, although it can be pruned to shape (trim after flowering). This hybrid throws out long, arching stems which are smothered in bright yellow flowers in spring and blue fruit in summer, and works really well as a hedging plant.

Coconut-scented

It may seem a little too wild for the average garden, but gorse’s almost continuous flowering habit, especially in coconut-scented double Ulex europaeus ‘Flore Pleno’ form, makes it ideal as a thief deterrent. Gorse thrives on poor, free-draining soils in full sun, and can be pruned back every few years after the main flowering season in spring.

Growing Blackthorn

After a dense, thorny hedge? The blackthorn, with its single white flowers in early spring and damson-like purple fruits in summer has some really quite frightening thorns and would work best on land that borders a field, for example, as it can spread far and wide (to 12ft./4m), although it can be pruned back after flowering.

Pyracantha and Ilex

The firethorn, pyracantha, is a blackthorn relative that’s commonly grown up a wall but works equally well as a thick, freestanding hedge. As well as clusters of attractive flowers in spring and red (‘Mohave’, P. x watereri), yellow (‘Golden Dome’, ‘Soleil d’Or’) or orange (‘Orange Charmer’, ‘Orange Glow’) berries that’ll last several weeks, the foliage hangs on all year round. Also consider the many cultivars of Ilex aquifolium, most of which have very spiny, evergreen leaves.

Planting Blackberries

Not all berries are merely ornamental, though – plant a blackberry and you’ll be able to pick your own fruit in late summer. Most modern varieties are thornless, and therefore useless as a thief deterrent, so go for the original, often sold as ‘Thorny Parsley Leaved’. However, it’s extremely vigorous, so keep on top of the pruning – tackle canes as soon as they’ve finished fruiting but leave new shoots.

Orange Blossom

King of the thorns has to be Poncirus trifoliata. The Japanese bitter orange bears clusters of sweetly scented white flowers in spring and summer but take care when sniffing them: the thorns will stop any burglar in his tracks – they really are something to wonder at from a safe distance. It’s a deciduous shrub that’ll reach 15ft. (5m) and the flowers are followed by small inedible oranges.

Other Ways to Make Your House and Garden More Secure

• Consider laying paths and driveways to gravel, which is noisy when walked on.
• Secure sheds with a decent padlock (such as a Neulock) and install a roller blind to stop prying eyes.
• Buy a steel shed to store garden machinery in if the shed can’t be secured
• Security-mark (stencil or UV marker) equipment with your postcode.
• Consider a rootball anchor if planting an expensive mature specimen.
• Install motion-sensing security lights and dawn to dusk lights around the outside of the house.
• Buy a wireless shed alarm.
• Make sure your home insurance policy will cover items in the garden.
• Have a security bollard installed at the end of your driveway to prevent vehicles gaining access while you’re away.
• Fit a randomly activated timer in at least two rooms indoors and attach them to table lamps.

Combine hard and soft landscaping successfully in the garden and the opportunistic thief will head off in the opposite direction, in search of easier prey – get planting now!