Part IV - Living Walls - Borders & Hedges: Yews and Hemlocks: Hi Rebecca, welcome to Gardening in Shade. Why don't you use

» 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