Part IV - Living Walls - Borders & Hedges: Yews and Hemlocks
Read the article this discussion is about
- Cottage_Garden
- Marge_Talt
- RebeccaH_5
- Marge_Talt
- dugong
- Marge_Talt
- wedeln
- Marge_Talt
- Garden_Gal
- Marge_Talt
This archived discussion is "read only".
For the corresponding "live" discussions, post in the active topic forum here.
» Cottage_Garden - Hi Marge! Do you have any suggestions for planting in that dark
Hi Marge! Do you have any suggestions for planting in that dark shade underneath old and scraggly hemlocks? These poor trees were planted years ago as a hedge. They were eventually left UNsheared and are now tall and bare at the base. They were planted to block the view from the road and no longer do the job! (This is on moist acid soil in zone 6. They are really healthy.) Thanks for pointing out that they won't sprout from old wood the way yews can! Barbara Martin-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Marge_Talt - Hi Barbara, Do you want something that will fill in where you
Hi Barbara,Do you want something that will fill in where you can see through the base or just something that will grow under them. I take it they have now assumed a tree form. What kind of space do you have for planting something else and will it get any sun at all? How tall are they now and about how big around at the base?
Marge
-- posted by Marge_Talt
» RebeccaH_5 - I'm in the midst of trying to decide what to do with the side of
I'm in the midst of trying to decide what to do with the side of our yard; Evergreens? Deciduous? Edible landscapes? Natives? The choices are staggering and I feel overwhelmed!I originally planned on evergreens to block the view of 2 of our neigbors houses but the choices are limited and I'm very big on the idea of creating habitat for birds (including hummingbirds). This means creating a thorny (ground) barrier to discourage visits from neighborhood cats, probably in the form of ground-cover roses along a steep bank (aka: ditch) that rolls away from the area I'm planning to plant. The side yard is about 50' long and faces south-east. The only plants to stay are a white birch which is just about in the middle of this stretch, and a mature Holly, which is at the far (easterly) end of this site. The winter winds can really get roaring and this area will get hit the hardest. I'm also limited to a maximum height of say 20' or so because of powerlines. Im in usda zone 6 or 7 I think (Western Washington). Do you have any suggestions on pleasing mix-matches for this type of site? I'd like it to be a bit "wild & woodsy". Maximum depth will be from around 6' at the easterly end, curving down to around 4' or so at the west end (near the house).
-- posted by RebeccaH_5
» Marge_Talt - Hi Rebecca, welcome to Gardening in Shade. Why don't you use
Hi Rebecca, welcome to Gardening in Shade.Why don't you use some of each?
This would give you a more natural look than a straight line of one species. Deciduous woody plants will give you a screen in summer, if not in winter and even their bare branches will help to deflect and slow down wind.
Birds love the cover provided by conifers and one of the narrow, columnar Junipers would give them that as well as provide you with some windbreak and permanent visual screening.
Hemlock would not be a good selection for your site as they don't do well in windy areas and really prefer light shade; and the same for Yew -- they don't tolerate high wind well, although T. 'hicksii' would work from a size and shape standpoint as it is a narrow column by nature. Pines and spruces get way too big for your area, but the Junipers, like J. chinensis cultivars 'Columnaris', Columnaris Glauca', 'Fairview' and 'hetzii columnaris' remain narrow and upright. Also J. virginiana has cultivars that are narrow in habit like 'Glauca', 'Nova' and 'Skyrocket'.
You could group a few of them in the most strategic location to block the view of your neighbor's houses from a point you select ( a window you look out of a lot, a deck or patio area).
Then, why not consider some deciduous flowering shrubs like Lonicera morrowii, which gets 6' to 8' tall and wide and has spring flowers and fall berries eaten by birds. Or one of the Viburnum tribe that berries well.
The brambles provide berries that birds eat and some (Rubus odoratus cvs.) are quite attractive in flower. Or, if your soil is acid, blueberries are very attractive and the bird's will beat you to the berries every time! Prunus besseyi, the Western Sandcherry, whas white flowers and sweet fuits that I'm sure the birds would like.
I think your groundcover roses sound a good idea, both from the standpoint of nice flowers in summer and discouraging cats from prancing about!
You might also consider some of the tall ornamental grasses which make seeds eaten by birds and can create a seasonal hedge for you for all but the early spring months when they need to be whacked down. They also provide shelter for birds. Arundo donax, for instance, can get 10 to 25 feet tall in one season and makes a great screen or windbreak. There's also a variegated cultivar.
Shorter, but still making lovely arching fountains around 5 or 6 feet tall is Miscanthus sinensis gracillimus; there are numerous Miscanthus cultivars, some with striking white variegated foliage.
Those are just the tip of the grass iceburg! There are a lot of them out there. Check out some of the links in my "Ornamental Grasses for Shade" articles, especially the last one, as they list grasses for sunny conditions, too.
Since the area you describe is relatively narrow, you will only be able to use two or three larger shrubs (and they may trespass over the edge). I would suggest selecting a few larger specimens you like and massing them at the wider end, Then, perhaps grouping some columnar conifers together , faced down with smaller shrubs and then creating a hedge from one of the tall grasses at the narrow end, faced with smaller shrubs or large perennials and cover your ground with the roses (what ground there would be left to cover).
50 feet sounds like a lot until you figure that a large shrub can take up a circle 8' to 10' in diameter.
Another thing you can try to discourage the cats is laying chicken wire on the ground - they don't like to walk on it and plants could grow up through it...just a thought.
Do any of these suggestions strike your fancy? I know how difficult it is to decide what to do with a large area! It might help if you break it up into three sections and attack them one at a time. Since you already have two trees (the holly and the birch), you might also use them as starting points and work outward from each of them, if you see what I mean. It's that large blank space that is so intimidating! Like trying to come up with a design or a piece of writing when faced with a nice white blank piece of paper!
It's interesting to me that you should pose this question, since the next set of articles I'm planning are about encouraging and living with wildlife in your garden!
Marge
Gardening in
Shade
-- posted by Marge_Talt
» dugong - Daniel Fischer My wife & I planted a wall of Hemlocks on the fa
Daniel FischerMy wife & I planted a wall of Hemlocks on the far side of our property for privacy. They are growing very well. We would like to encourage them to fill out. I
would like to prune them in height but want to make sure it is the correct time of year. Is it best to prune them now while all the new growth is showing or should we wait until fall? Also, can they be pruned more than once a year?
-- posted by dugong
» Marge_Talt - Hi Daniel, welcome to Gardening in Shade! I don't know where
Hi Daniel, welcome to Gardening in Shade!I don't know where you're gardening, but if you have cold winters it is best not to prune woody plants in fall because pruning generally induces new growth and it doesn't have enough time to harden off before winter.
I've pruned my hemlocks about this time of year, as new growth hardens; in very late winter/early spring before new growth starts and sometimes as late as July when I couldn't get to it before then. So, if you want to head them back now, I should think you can do it.
Do make sure to taper when you prune so that the bottom of the plant is wider than the top. This way light can hit the entire face. If you prune straight up and down or so that the top is wider than the bottom, the plants will tend to die out at the bottom when no light reaches the branches.
Marge
Gardening in
Shade
-- posted by Marge_Talt
» wedeln - What would make the best hedge for my needs?
Hi,I have just built a new home in Bedford, NH and my house sits 10-15 feet higher than the other homes in my back yard, and I would like to grow a hedge to give us some privacy as there is nothing growing between the yards at this time. What would grow well for my climate and give me a hedge 15-20 ft tall? Also how close would I want to plant them to each other to create that solid wall as I have approx 200 ft to plant?
Mike B
Bedford NH
-- posted by wedeln
» Marge_Talt - best hedge
Hi Mike, Welcome to Gardening in Shade!Well, did a look up and you are in USDA zone 5, minimum temperatures:-20 to -10°F (-29 to -23°C), according to the zip code for your city. Your particular property may (and probably does) have microclimates that could vary a zone colder or warmer.
Think we need to chat a bit about your property. How large an area are you wanting to hedge? I know you said 200 lineal feet, but how deep is the yard/garden between the proposed hedge site and your house?
Do you know what kind of soil you have? Is it clay, sandy, rocky, poor, dry, wet? Does it drain well?
You say you are at a higher elevation than surrounding houses - does this mean you get a lot of wind whistling through?
Have a lot of questions:-)
Are there any existing trees on your site?
If you are above your neighbors, do you really want to surround your property with a solid 15' high wall of the same plant? It seems to me that all you would really require for privacy is something about 6 or 8' tall...you're neighbors would be looking up 16 or 18 feet to the top of it, if they are 10 feet lower than you are.
Is there a particular reason you want a solid hedge as opposed to a mixed tree and shrub border?
Tell us more and we'll see what we can come up with for you.
Actually, wrote this reply 2 days ago, but have not been able to get on the Suite since:-) Glad to be able to get back here.
-- posted by Marge_Talt
» Garden_Gal - Upright divergent evergreen shrub
Please - I need help! I constantly see an evergreen shrub widely used in commercial landscaping. It has a feathery appearence and it has an upright divergent habit. It is usually planted in groups of three, five, seven, etc. Can someone name it for me please?-- posted by Garden_Gal
» Marge_Talt - Upright divergent evergreen shrub
Hi Jean, Welcome to Gardening in Shade!Wow! That's a good one. Some form of Chamaecyparis or possibly Juniper is what hit my mind first.
Then, got to thinking that where you are might make a difference, since it could exclude some conifers, plus some areas tend to use a lot of the same plants. Around here, it's the ubiquitous white pine. So, are you in the north, south, east, west, central, tropical, temperate or what?
-- posted by Marge_Talt
Please follow the guidelines set forth in the Suite101 Posting Etiquette when adding to the discussion.