Planting a spinney
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We're setting up an acreage in a zone 8 area and want to plant a grove of trees and shrubs at the bottom of the hayfield side of our property to screen looking at a neighbour's house. I'm hoping for a mix of deciduous and evergreen that will give colour in the spring and fall. We'll be a fair distance away in the house (log), so the general form is probably most important. The site is well drained and gets full sun all year. I'd love some ideas.
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(post #14296, reply #1 of 33)
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E Fishlock
Check out the Lust defined - Why Stacy need to plant.... thread. We are going alphabetically, more or less. Won't have everything yet, but we are working on it.
hmmmm instead of you hunting for it, I'll just add another plant to bring it to the top.
(post #14296, reply #2 of 33)
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I just noticed.....GAWD another newbie w/acreage!!
(SOB) It's NOT FAIR.
Welcome to Sprout Off.
(post #14296, reply #3 of 33)
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You crying, cussing, or both? LOL
(post #14296, reply #4 of 33)
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Both...worse and worse ZONE EIGHT!?!?!
I am now really depressed.
(post #14296, reply #5 of 33)
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My sis lives in Zone 10. Talk about depressing, she can plant just about anything down there!
(post #14296, reply #6 of 33)
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I knew, I totally absolutely knew, that this was going to incite Plantlust. I was just waiting for when.
E. Fishlock,
Which zone eight? Where in the country, roughly? You might want to spend some preliminary time finding out which trees native to your area attract you, and plant mostly them, then you would know that those would do well in your area. Then find out some more unusual ones that you like to add to the mix.
A good basic collection of ornamental natives would encourage your local wildlife ecology, and from an aesthetic perspective, would seem "right to the eye" in your local area. Then you dress it up with distinctive additions that really make it your garden.
(post #14296, reply #7 of 33)
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Actually, they're as limited as we are, just by heat and not cold. I have sent a lot of stuff to my dad that either melted out in the summer or never bloomed because it needed a cold dormancy.
(post #14296, reply #8 of 33)
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Well, that's true. I keep forgetting she has the exact opposite problem as us. I was thinking more of the tropicals she can plant and LEAVE in the ground. And she wishes she was back north to have spring bulbs!
(post #14296, reply #9 of 33)
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I'm the one with the spinney question. We're on the south coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We've had acreages before, but not with a need to "edit" a view quickly. As for attracting wildlife. . .my last garden,even with fencing, was ravaged by deer. We have cougar and bear in our area, so I'm not too keen on attracting too much wild life. I just am hoping to get a suggestion for perhaps something that someone else has had success with that creates an interesting grove of trees and large shrubs to screen a house from an otherwise pastoral view.
(post #14296, reply #10 of 33)
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Fishlock, I've been slowly planting a prickly hedgerow of barberry, wild rose and poncirus to discourage the deer from coming in my yard. The outer edge is consisted of the really prickly stuff and then I plan on more attractive prickles on the side that I'll actually view. This will include mahonia, aralia and hollies.
(post #14296, reply #11 of 33)
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I was looking for my 'Year in Trees' when this question initially came up and only just found it. Most of us don't ever get to plant for such a long view so I wanted to think a little about what I would do with something like this. There are lots of good deciduous choices, but the evergreen part is really important if you want the neighbor to remain screened year round. We have some strategically placed pines on our property that serve a similar purpose with respect to power lines. A southern magnolia (M. grandiflora) would be a good way to get uniform density over the entire height of the tree, it has a good overall shape, and the flowers are so large you could still get the impression of a blooming season even at a distance. There are some very nice pines out there too but I don't know which would do best in your area. For sheer drama, I have always wanted space for a golden larch (Pseudolarix amabilis), a deciduous conifer that has a fine texture and gold fall foliage. For rapid growth you could include one of the golden leaved Leyland cypress cultivars. I saw one at a local nursery this winter that was really stunning. A very different look from the standard Leyland screen.
(post #14296, reply #12 of 33)
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SQ, Gretchen and I saw some poncirus at the Arboretum that had a growth habit like Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. Even its thorns were curved. It had dropped all its leaves but was full and bushy, unlike mine. Very nice looking and I don't think that you could reach into the bush, let alone walk through it.
BJ
(post #14296, reply #13 of 33)
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Beej or Gretchen, which part of the Arboretum was this??? I gotta go see it!
(post #14296, reply #14 of 33)
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That would be the cultivar 'Flying Dragon'.
(post #14296, reply #15 of 33)
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Thanks, Karen. I really appreciate the thought you put into your answer. We've had a larch before and it was really dramatic, so one we'll certainly include.
(post #14296, reply #16 of 33)
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Thanks Shade Queen - I've seen some local hedgerows with lovely orange rosehips. I think they're wild species, but that might be part of the solution.
(post #14296, reply #17 of 33)
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I almost forgot -- on my side of the 'row I plan on planting rugosa roses. They get huge rosehips in the fall.
(post #14296, reply #18 of 33)
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Sounds cool!
(post #14296, reply #19 of 33)
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I'm glad you posted the cultivar Jeana. Somehow I had it in my head that it was "Jade Dragon" rather than "Flying Dragon". It was in the asian area. I've seen it in catalogs but it never really caught my eye. In person, it's so cool! I've got to get one, maybe more than one.
(post #14296, reply #20 of 33)
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Using the pagoda as a landmark, where in the garden is it, Gretchen? (are you getting tired of me asking this, that and the other???) I plan on going out there next Tuesday. Did you happen to go in the Japanese garden next to the bonsai house? Every February there's spires of white flowers in bloom. I've yet to identify what they are. Since it's a deeply shaded garden, I want anything that takes shade!
(post #14296, reply #21 of 33)
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Kathleen, if you're looking down the hill, they're uphill and to the left of the pagoda. With a bunch of camellias. It looked like a new planting. The poncirus were right along the path. Curly stems with big beautiful thorns. I don't think you'll miss them.
We didn't make it to the bonsai house or it's surroundings this time.
(post #14296, reply #22 of 33)
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Cool! I'm definitely stopping by the Asian garden. I gotta see this poncirus.
(post #14296, reply #23 of 33)
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Cait, we had walked through the camellia patch and down hill to the path. We turned right on the path and the two poncirus were past the camellias on the uphill side as we walked toward Asian Valley.
BJ
(post #14296, reply #24 of 33)
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I think Jade Dragon is the name of a euphorbia. I don't even know where you find Flying Dragon. If you get one, be *sure* you give it a nice wide spot to be planted in that's well mulched and it would be well advised to put preen under it. You don't want to have to be weeding around it.
(post #14296, reply #25 of 33)
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Good idea! I may become impaled and mumified!
(post #14296, reply #26 of 33)
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Thanks, BJ. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing happens Tuesday to prevent me from going out there. It's my day off and I plan on rambling all day there. I really love Fern Valley and Asian Valley. I've yet to visit the conifer garden. I may do that first since I always go to the knot garden first, then Fern Valley and then Asian Valley.
(post #14296, reply #27 of 33)
Leyland Cypress is a wonderful, fast-growing evergreen. We have them planted on our lot line to screen our house from our neighbor's house too. Bad Neighbor's and flies....God will have to tell us why either are necessary!
(post #14296, reply #28 of 33)
Forgot to add in my last post: in between the leland cypress, try white pampas grass. It's absolutely beautiful in contrast with the tall, solid struture appearance of the tree.
(post #14296, reply #29 of 33)
Sounds wonderful, and would provide even better privacy without taking up so much land. However, how much sun does Pampas grass need? the Leland Cyprus seems to make a part shadey situation along my tree line.
Eroomgardener
Eroomgardener, Zone 6 or 7 depending.
(post #14296, reply #30 of 33)
I have several pampas. They like full sun, but do brilliantly in part sun to even "dappled" sun. I have a pink pampas, bullrush, and cattails near my water feature. The pampas gets about 4 hours of direct sun and the rest dappled. It really does fine.
I have two white pampas in my front yard and they get morning sun only. They are beautiful in full bloom. The leylands shouldn't cast a complete shade if the grasses are planted in between. The leylands are planted at least 8 to 10 feet apart for a really dense block. If you feel you may want more sun in between for the pampas, you would still get a fairly good screening all year round if you planted the cypress 12 foot apart with the pamaps in between.
I need to learn how to do this picture thing better! I'll work on it!