Can you recommend a prickly hedge?

[Howie]

Our acreage backs onto a golf course and the problem is golfers - well, the inconsiderate ones. The fence is presently fairly basic, being three strands of barbed wire. This does little to deter some golfers from climbing through and retrieving any errant golf balls, so I'd like to install a dense, prickly hedge to discourage these guys from tramping around my lawn. The hedge needs to be able to flourish by mother nature alone. By this I mean that we have no water supply and must rely on rainfall for watering needs (not that this has been a problem this year ). Oh, our area is north central Alberta.

Any suggestions, please? Thanks.

[davefrombc]

I take it your hardiness zone is 3a or 3b. It does limit your choices of prickly hedge plants.. The only one I can think of offhand is roses, either your native wild roses, or one or more of the rugosa types. There are several rugosa cultivars with a choice of colours and most , if not all are hardy in your zone .

[DonnaZn2SK]

Hansa (rugosa) rose.

[B_BQ]

Oh yes! Rugosa roses. Find the ones that are hardy to your area. They're great - gorgeous perfume and prickly to-boot!

Barberry used to be a killer prickly shrub, but I think some of the prickles have been bred out of it. It's a beautiful shrub so well worth looking into.

~BBQ

[Howie]

Thank you all for your suggestions - roses it is, then. Now perhaps I can encourage some of these golfers to improve their game.

[Ian66]

Best choice that thrives in poor, dry soils (thorny but pretty too) is the variegated five leaf Arialia

http://plantlust.com/plants/eleutherococcus-sieboldianus-variegatus/

Ian

[Heidi S]

Hansa Rose hedge in full bloom

I strongly recommend Hansa roses, too. I garden along a public pathway in my neighbourhood, and since planting 7 Hansa roses, I have had no trouble with people cutting across my yard, which happened when we first moved here.

My roses are interspersed with some cedars for variety and interest and I do clip the roses down in the fall to about 2 feet, just to control how tall and leggy they get, but they are completely hardy and reliable in Zone 3, and smell wonderful in bloom! I have lots of comments from passersby about the rose scent. My place is 'known' in the area for smelling great.