Design and Landscape Garden

Hi all, first time poster so please be kind
I've recently moved into a house with a large garden, it's very exposed to the main road and I want to do some sort of hedge, preferably colourful, low maintenance and fast-growing! My long term plan would also include patio areas, raised flower beds etc etc but for now I just want to get the hedge started.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good gardener in the Laois area? I would be happy to pay to have the full plan drawn up now, although finances won't permit much more than the hedge to happen this year....
Thanks a lot,
Caroline

This is a good site for hedging, shows the progress made with whips(tiny trees) in four years.

http://images.google.ie/imgres?imgu...R2GPEA_en&sa=N&um=1&ei=Pa9dS_neDsj-4Abv-e30BA

Sorry for the long link!
Have you an idea what kind of soil you have? If you have heavy soil and you like beech, hornbeam can be a good substitute, looks similar but much happier in clay.

Escallonia is everygreen and stops growing at about six foot, it has flowers too.

There's loads of options depends on what effect your after, e.g. natural, formal, etc.

Thanks for that link Moneygrower - v interesting site! I have no idea what kind of soil I have - I'd guess slightly boggy and damp but I couldn't be sure. Am thinking I would like a very natural shrubbery-type thing, with high and low bits but don't know the names of anything, which is why I need help! Do garden designers bring something akin to sample swatches for curtains???!lol

Please edit your thread to include the location prefix.