My first post here...
I'm in New Jersey (quite similar climate to parts of the UK) and have been wanting to cultivate sloes for many years with spurts and false starts of effort. Sorry to intrude into this UK specific forum but I believe that the folks here are going to know more about sloes than anyone else. The plant does apparently exist here in the wild according to a few government sources but I've never been able to find it. It is not on any restricted or envasive species list. Unfortunately, there are no nurseries that can provide me with cultivars in the US.

To be honest, my main goal is to be able to make my own sloe gin. I did this year after year while I lived in the UK and its delightful stuff and a great gift during the holidays. Sloe gin from any shop in the US has no relation to the real thing.

I have a need for a garden hedgerow and I'd like to include sloes in its composition. Its location would serve as privacy, security, and decorative landscaping. I'd really like to cultivate this hedgerow from a number of different species in a strategic effort to yield a continuous change of colours through the course of a year. I'm hoping that members of this forum would know of a number of plants that could co-exist and work together to create a unique structure.

This thread is getting long but there are a lot of different aspects to this adventure and its quite likely that the answers that I'm looking for will come from little bits of information from many different people -- or not.

The primary information that I can't get here in the US is how to grow sloes. In the UK, such a thing is hardly worth asking because the stuff grows naturally and little effort is needed to acquire what is often considered to be a nuisence plant -- who would want the stuff? I've tried many different ways to germinate from seed with no success. Recently, I found a source in the UK who can ship me 13 to 18" cultivars and the cost of these seems reasonable. Should I pursue this? When would be the optimum time to start these? What is the best way to plant them -- soil preparation, spacing, care and feeding... Can anyone recommend a better place to ask these questions?