Upright, narrow shrub for screen in zone 7b?

11 years ago

We had an agreement with our neighbors that we would plant some knock-out roses on their property (where they have never been able to grown anything successfully) and the advantage to us what that we would have a nice rose hedge just overhanging our property but not cutting into our small lawn very much. (I'll attach a photo showing when they were put in 4 years ago--doesn't look this nice anymore, esp. on neighbor's side to the left. Those are 2 separate/additional properties above.)

Neighbors were happy with the arrangement until recently: now they hate them and say they keep their vines (vinca) from growing. It's crazy, but we'll be taking them out. We're debating about putting up a 6-foot fence (about $2100) or saving money with a row of shrubs to make a screen.

Because I have since put in a raised bed garden not too far from this area, the shrubs would have to be somewhat narrow (3-4' tops preferably). As for height, 5-8 feet would be as much as we'd like. A local landscaper has suggested Brodie Juniper, but what I've read makes it sound like they're very prone to disease.

We currently have a row of podocarpus "maki" on the side of our house and I'm wondering if I should just do those--but they have become hard to find.

Any other ideas?

This post was edited by Bhamster on Wed, Mar 20, 13 at 17:25

Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
good fences.. make good neighbors..

suck it up and fence them out..

and all the better if the fence.. on your property.. shades out the stupid vinca ...

sooner or later.. they will start complaining that your shrubs.. on your property.. are affecting their beloved vinca ... so.. may as well be done with them now ...

ken
CJ Mac
Original Author
11 years ago
I'm with you, Ken, but I'm having trouble talking my husband into it...

The neighbors at one point blamed our feeding the birds for all the weeds in their yard. ;-)
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Iris GW
11 years ago
'Sky pencil' holly is another thought.
Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
11 years ago
I'm seeing like three property lines in this pic. Not sure where you are talking about. Are you talking about the foreground and to the left? Are those roses? And where are the vinca vines? Knockouts take too much maintenance for me. I removed mine!

So tops at 3 to 4 feet? I would probably do a row of Dwarf Burford hollies (although you'll have to keep trimmed a bit. 'Carissa' would stay lower and grow more slowly. Indian Hawthorns (unless deer are a problem) would work. As would a lower growing Abelia cultivar (needs trimming). Or low Dwarf Yaupon holly. Pittosporum if they're hardy in your area -- would be most attractive.
CJ Mac
Original Author
11 years ago
The green grass with drain and then up the hill is ours. The knockout roses are on the neighbor's property to the left. This pic is from 4 years ago and they hadn't planted the vinca yet. The vinca is doing fine, by the way, and entering our yard.

The problem is that there is run-off from our yard into theirs and what they really need to plant are some shrubs, not flowers and vines. The roses they hate so much are helping them but they don't realize it.

The hillside above our 2 backyards belongs to the houses above us--but those neighbors wouldn't plant anything to avoid erosion and run-off so we both had to spend a lot of money planting that hill. We used to be joined by a common...annoyance...of the neighbors up above. But now we are an annoyance to them too.

I like Indian Hawthorn but have only seem them about 2-3 feet high. Didn't know they got any taller than that. I'll look into them...