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Looking to put some kind of natural privacy screen/barrier up in our backyard. Someone recommended Leyland Cypress, but upon further research, I think it would be too high and prone to disease. What kind of alternatives are out there? Thinking we want something no taller than 15 feet and would not shed leaves in the winter?
EDIT: I'm in zone 8a and looking to screen about 20 feet...
Last edited by MrAllGood; 12-01-2013 at 10:46 AM..
"Nellie Stevens holly are undoubtedly the most popular holly used as a living fence and justifiably so. Their relatively fast growth rate,lustrous green leaves and red winter berries (if pollinated) make a stately and highly effective privacy screen option. Nellie Stevens are readily available in a wide variety of sizes and are often the most economical of the hollies. They are moderately wide at maturity and easily pruned.
Nellie R. Stevens Holly
(Ilex x "Nellie R Stevens")
Mature Height: 20-25 feet
Growth Rate: Fast
Growth Habit: Broad, Pyramidal
Foliage: Glossy, Dark Green
Fall Color: Dark Green, Red Berries"
1. Osmanthus - These smell great, like acidic soil and partial shade. Mature plants can tolerate full sun. These bloom with VERY fragrant flowers (I think the flowers are also edible, but don't quote me.) in FALL and WINTER. Evergreen. Osmanthus fragrans and cultivars, but there are also other fragrant osmanthus.
2. Yaupon holly - Native. Evergreen. Shade, salt and drought tolerant once established.
3. Spartan Juniper - Fast growing, salt tolerant and disease resistant. For full sun.
Thanks for the suggestions! Will take a look at each one...wife just went to a local nursery and they recommended Emerald Green Arborvitae...anyone dealt with that type before?
As a side note, we don't have to worry about deer where I am at.
Thanks for the suggestions! Will take a look at each one...wife just went to a local nursery and they recommended Emerald Green Arborvitae...anyone dealt with that type before?
As a side note, we don't have to worry about deer where I am at.
Yep. I have emerald green arborvitae in various locations. It is a cultivar of a native plant and is beautiful.
1. Slow Grower - Maybe 5 or 6 inches a year. It is not too bad, but buy tall plants and stagger them for the privacy screen. i e don't just plant them in a line.
2. Boughs Separate Under Snow - This may not be a big deal where you are, and it actually is not for me. I just shook the snow off of the boughs, but there are other cultivars of arborvitae that the nursery can order from a tree farm which apparently do not have this issue.
3. Not Salt Tolerant - I planted my first bunch right by the road way! GREAT privacy, but they got salt burn. Arborvitae should not be planted near a road or driveway that is salted.
4. Like Full Sun - I actually grow these in shade and partial shade. Bad me. As a native, they're apparently adaptable, but the ones in shade grow a lot thinner and more slowly.
5. Like Alkaline Soil - If you planting near a sidewalk or in an area where you know the soil is "chalky," these are a good choice.
A lot of nurseries stock EGA, and they're a great and beautiful plant IMO...but you can ALWAYS get the nursery to order the best plants for your situation from a wholesaler. Do your research. Sometimes they'll try to sell you whatever they have in stock so they can get rid of it.
Another option is a fence. The cost is comparable and you don't have to wait for plants to grow. You can then plant whatever you want inside and outside the fence.
Looking to put some kind of natural privacy screen/barrier up in our backyard. Someone recommended Leyland Cypress, but upon further research, I think it would be too high and prone to disease. What kind of alternatives are out there? Thinking we want something no taller than 15 feet and would not shed leaves in the winter?
EDIT: I'm in zone 8a and looking to screen about 20 feet...
Leyland Cypress are very overplanted in may areas now. They can get humongous and overwhelming in small yards or close to structures. I rarely would recommend them for anyone.
Do you want something as a solid screen (a living fence) or as something that just forms a boundary along a property line? Several suggestions given would not fulfill the privacy screen need because of their shape and very slow growth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by luv4horses
Check these out:
"Nellie Stevens holly are undoubtedly the most popular holly used as a living fence and justifiably so. Their relatively fast growth rate,lustrous green leaves and red winter berries (if pollinated) make a stately and highly effective privacy screen option. Nellie Stevens are readily available in a wide variety of sizes and are often the most economical of the hollies. They are moderately wide at maturity and easily pruned.
Nellie R. Stevens Holly
(Ilex x "Nellie R Stevens")
Mature Height: 20-25 feet
Growth Rate: Fast
Growth Habit: Broad, Pyramidal
Foliage: Glossy, Dark Green
Fall Color: Dark Green, Red Berries"
The fact that they are deer resistant is a plus.
This holly was my first thought as fitting all the needs the OP mentioned, too. Nellie Stevens are wonderfully strong, grow fairly quickly and can be pretty with some care initially. It wouldn't take long for them to fill in spaces, reach a manageable height and become a great bird habitat to boot. There are other similar holly varieties you local nursery might stock as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrAllGood
Thanks for the suggestions! Will take a look at each one...wife just went to a local nursery and they recommended Emerald Green Arborvitae...anyone dealt with that type before?
As a side note, we don't have to worry about deer where I am at.
I have several of those, too. They tolerate the heat and sun of more warm zones, but are not really rapid growers. They do stay dense and upright when they are treated well from the start, with water, fertilizer and given full sunshine. They can make a good privacy fence if planted correctly. You will need quite a few to cover a 20 foot long area. An alternative is a more rounded cousin to it the oriental arborvitae: Platycladus orientalis
It looks like you are looking for something that stays evergreen and live in a warm enough zone to have some camellias, which would be evergreen with flowers as a bonus. Camellia japonica They make dense mounds that can get as high as 15 feet depending on the variety.
While not as dense as the shrubs you have mentioned, but a wonderful small tree, another choice would be the "Little Gem" dwarf magnolia. It is typical of magnolias in that it keep branches fairly close to the ground. The flowers are pretty and bloom on and off most of the summer.
Southern nurseries will often have southern waxmyrtle that would be another fairly dense growing shrub to look at. Eventually it can get as high as 25-30 feet so it may be slightly taller in the long run than you wished.
There are lots of other shrubs out there, and even dwarf trees, but many are deciduous which means no leaves to give privacy over the winter. If you want those to add to your list let me know. To make your choices easier I tried to stick to shrubs that are usually available at good sized nurseries or through landscaping companies.
The emerald green arborvitae is a great privacy screen, and post 5 gives a great description. It's foliage is dense and I always liked the way it dampened sound as well. It is the East coast's answer to the Italian Cyprus of CA. However I would also emphasize #1 that it is sloooow growing. Even in the areas where I have it in full sun by a road, they seemingly haven't grown much in years. They can also form double leaders that can create a twin peak effect if you don't stay on them in their early formative years. Birds sometimes nest in their dense foliage as well which I enjoy.
I love the Southern Magnolia as well. Personally, I prefer the larger, mature cultivars with their majestic, sweeping limbs and the low branches make great climbing trees for kids too. But these are far too large for your purposes. The suggestion of Little Gem as a privacy screen is a good one, although it too is very slow growing. I like its frequent flowering and because of its small size, the foliage is necessarily denser than the larger varieties.
Now one suggestion that i hadn't seen up here was Lugustrums. They are fast growing and have nice little flowers during the spring and summer. These do attract some bees however, but I get along well with them so no issues there. About five years ago I planted many one gallons sized plants along a border where a neighbor had a particularly unattractive structure and now the lugustrums are 18 feet high or so. Their upper branches now meet the lower branches of that neighbor's Pecan tree and Dogwoods so they are now sealed in a lovely wall of green. The lugustrums are evergreen and did suffer some branch breakage during a heavy snowfall a few years back but quickly rebounded. If you do choose lugustrums; once they're established you'll want to prune them strategically to maintain the desired shape and coverage.
P.S.- Camelias were mentioned, and some of those cultivars bloom in winter (one is Yuletide i believe) which is a nice touch to an otherwise bleak landscape. However they might not provide the dense foliage i would prefer in a privacy hedge for quite a few years.
Mrgoodall,
Don't plant all of the same shrub or tree anyway.
That way if a disease is hitting a shrub or tree, it won't wipe
your privacy out.
Stagger it. It looks nicer too.
You have 20 ft to work with, so for 6 ft per tree or shrub,
you could plant one wax myrtle, one tea olive, then a holly, and a
magnolia, and then plant them staggered, they will look nice.
I wouldn't recommend an Emerald Green Arborvitae, only because it grows
sooooo slow, if you want privacy within the next 10 years, go with a faster grower.
I have one out front planted about 8 feet from the corner of my house, and boy,
it looks great in the winter, so nice dark green, but its really small. LOL!
Camellia japanica likes a little afternoon shade or it might burn, they are
understory trees in China.
Good Luck!
That is an excellent suggestion too! How far do you plant those apart?
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