Hi GRM, I need some landscaping help.
I have about 136 foot of white vinyl privacy fence that I installed a few years ago in my backyard. Buried in front of it are the five graves of my beloved cats. I'd like to install something attractive, easy to grow and very low maintenance that will also discourage anyone from accidentally digging up the graves in the future. I think that visually a 4 foot high plant would work well, but higher is fine.
Considering my options, I think that I want some kind of ornamental grass. The area is shaded in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. There's maybe 10-12 inches of topsoil and then clay underneath. There's a lot of mature trees behind the fence, so I'll have to contend with roots. I live in zip code 15010 in Western Pennsylvania which is a 6b growing zone.
Because I want some immediate coverage, I fell like I'm going to have to use around 60 plants which could be costly.
What do I really want here? And what's a good place to buy that many plants? I used to get mail order plant catalogs filled with stuff like this but I think that the internet killed them off.
Things like grasses and hostas get overgrown and the right thing to do is split them in the spring.
So, with that said, do you know anyone with grasses and hostas that are getting overgrown? If yes, cut theirs in half. The half that remains will grow back to their last years size and the new half taken to your house will easily transplant and grow at your place.
The following spring, half yours and spread them out along your fence row
So, start with a few free half plans and then by halving them every year, in a few years you'll have a full fence row.
We removed overgrown shrubs from the front of our house and replaced with hosta (green leaf plants) all gotten for free from wife's friend by splitting her plants. Tall grass at the end was also a split and transplant
Sandusky, OH (Cedar Point) should be your same climate.
Pampas grass? Not exactly low maintenance, but not tough either. Cut it short in the fall and it comes back in the spring.
Euonymus can grow tall or can be pruned to remain a shrub. Not native, if that's a thing for you.
Creeping Juniper or creeping Yew. It makes a dandy place for rabbits to nest and is super hardy.
How about a Shrub Rose? Trim it before the spring thaw. Beautiful flowers all summer.
I'm not worried about a plant being native or not.
I'm mostly worried about having to trim 136 feet of plants a few times a year. My last house had almost 100 feet of shrubs along the curb and it took an entire day to cut them and clean up. I am not looking to do that again.
I'm not interested in anything like hostas or a similar ground cover. I want something that covers part of the fence.
I like the pampas grass. Looks nice but will probably be expensive in the quantity that I need.
Keep the ideas coming.
Not directly answering your question, but I planted a tree on my kitty-cat's grave. Just a little sapling of a sawtooth oak, no more than a foot tall.
That was over 20 years ago, and we sold the house in 2010... but the tree is 30' tall now and I can drive by and see it from the road. Which I do, from time to time.
In reply to bludroptop :
That's a great idea but we already have quite a fee mature trees behind the fence. Plus I want some sort of uniform plant that's along the entire length of the fence.
84FSP
UberDork
2/25/24 12:12 p.m.
I like the idea of a combo of grasses, hostas, and evergreens. WOuld give you a nice balance of height and color. Also pretty idiot proof with really low maintenance.
I forgot to mention that I have a lot of deer in the area so whatever I plant needs to be unappetizing to them. Pretty sure that they love to eat hostas.
The left is Japanese Spurge, but Pachysandra (low, tight, has small purple flowers) would work also; on the right.
jimbob_racing said:
I forgot to mention that I have a lot of deer in the area so whatever I plant needs to be unappetizing to them. Pretty sure that they love to eat hostas.
Yeah, deer do eat hostas.
Just want to say your zip code made me really want Oram's and Mario's. Went to Geneva at the turn of the century.
No Time
UltraDork
2/26/24 5:53 p.m.
Forsythia will spread easily, but will probably need some maintenance annually to keep it from becoming overgrown.
My preference is something functional, and blackberries, raspberries, or blueberry bushes could give you the height you want without needing much maintenance, beyond pruning back annually to avoid spreading beyond what you want.
Rhododendron or hyacinth could also be options, but like most options will require a bit of maintenance pruning to prevent overgrowth, but not shrubbery level maintenance.
In reply to No Time :
I like the idea of berry bushes. Blueberries are great, though they don't spread by themselves. We have wild blackberries, raspberries, and wine berries, and they do self-spread as far as you let them. They are also easy to mow down where you don't want them. Plant enough berries and even the deer won't be able to eat all of them.
The problem with berries is the birds that eat them. And then poop on my white vinyl fence and my wifes white car. I am not a fan of cleaning those stains off.
I had a different sort of GRM Landscaping in mind when I read thread.. usually a result of trying to push the braking zone 10 feet too far...
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
I wish that it would be that easy.
Whoever recommended blackberry bushes is a real masochist. Pruning those is like '6th circle of hell' bad...
We have forsythia and it could be a nice option for you. It's a great natural barrier between our 'lawn' yard and our 'playground/pine stand' yard. Minimal maintenance, hardy, and they will get pretty tall if you let them! They're typically pretty even when green and not flowering too.
Some deer love evergreens, too. My arborvitaes didn't make it because the deer ate every bit of green off of them.
Boxwood?
Azaleas? Short blooming period, but lovely shrubs.
I still think shrub roses are the way. They're not overly expensive and they grow relatively quickly.
Pampas grass can be found for free if you know where to look. It's one of the grasses that some people think needs to be separated and thinned, but they really don't. For that reason, there is likely someone on FBM who has a small truckload of pampas balls that you could steal.
golfduke said:
Whoever recommended blackberry bushes is a real masochist. Pruning those is like '6th circle of hell' bad...
We have forsythia and it could be a nice option for you. It's a great natural barrier between our 'lawn' yard and our 'playground/pine stand' yard. Minimal maintenance, hardy, and they will get pretty tall if you let them! They're typically pretty even when green and not flowering too.
They make thornless blackberries. We have some.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
Some deer love evergreens, too. My arborvitaes didn't make it because the deer ate every bit of green off of them.
Boxwood?
Azaleas? Short blooming period, but lovely shrubs.
I still think shrub roses are the way. They're not overly expensive and they grow relatively quickly.
Pampas grass can be found for free if you know where to look. It's one of the grasses that some people think needs to be separated and thinned, but they really don't. For that reason, there is likely someone on FBM who has a small truckload of pampas balls that you could steal.
Funny, we got arborvitae becuse they're supposed to be deer resistant. But, they also grow pretty tall. We have some 15' high.
Boxwood are small and slow growing, so that could be a good option. We have Azaleas, and they are gorgeous when they bloom, don't get overly large like Rhododendrons do (IIRC they're the same family) and like part shade. A whole row of azalea wold look great.
Forsythia are great, bloom beautifully, but do need to be trimmed if you want them to be a certain size. We have a row of them as privacy, and don't trim them, so they're ~10 feet high and bushy.
Deer seem to like them in the winter/spring. The sap starts flowing and they're a good green source for them until the sap starts turning really "pine-y" in April/May. Summer and Fall they are a pretty safe bet. Mine up at the lake in Canada never stood a chance. Mom and dads in PA are big enough that they survive with a beltline of foliage chewed off.
I don't think Azaleas are expensive, but they also don't grow very quickly, which means he'll need a lot. Simply lovely and beautiful bushes, just wish they would blossom longer. You're right, by the way. Azaleas, Mountain Laurels, and Rhododendrons are all Laurels and closely related. Mountain Laurel is PA's state flower, and looks like you just shrunk a Rhododendron by 20% and made the blooms white. They also share the family with Bay, Sassafrass, Cinnamomum, Camphor, Spicebush, and (not surprising) Avocado.
In reply to golfduke :
Mrs. VCH is a landscape architect. I learn all sorts of non-car-related stuff from her by osmosis.
