I'm finally getting around to tearing up the fence row to do some pretty things.
Longer story: (skip to the end if you want). About 5 years ago, I cut down two huge (dying) maples on the fence row between me and my neighbor. The fence row had some vegetation in it, but it was pretty - A holly bush, some laurel saplings, and a grape vine that sometimes produced. Fast forward to this spring, and it's Sumacs, pokeberry, poison ivy, english ivy, raspberries, rose of sharon, maple saplings, and all of the trash and debris that the wind decided to deposit there.
I'm about 80% of the way through gutting it. I pulled most of the saplings with a chain behind the tractor, but some needed to get hacked off and then I used the backhoe to dig up the whole area and get rid of the root balls and stumps.
The plan was to leave the grapevines and build a "clothesline" for them, but A) I'm not sure they'll make it after I destroyed half of their roots, and B) I can't really dig for 4x4 posts right beside them without further disturbing the roots. I'm tempted to rip them out as well and plant something else that might work. They will also be a bit of a pain to trim with the weed whacker, but not bad.
TL;DR - I'm replacing an overgrown fence row with a natural, easy-maintenance boundary. The primary "fence" will be blue point junipers (tall and skinny) that I will be able to just mow between, and likely nothing will grow under a juniper to make it annoying. It's approximately 60-70 feet, and if I buy enough junipers to put one every 8', I'll go broke.
I want things that are easy. Weed whack and mower, with possibly a hedge trimmer being a thing for a once-a-year haircut.
Here is what it looked like two years ago:
Here is what it looks like now: Along that red line, I will put the Junipers (or something similar tall and skinny). I need something along the yellow line to A) offer a little privacy between me and the neighbor, B) Look really pretty for curb appeal, and C) the important thing is that is be easy maintenance when it comes to mowing. So, possibly a vining blossoming plant that I can grow above the ground on a lattice or a clothesline type thing, or a shrub/bush that doesn't prevent mowing around/beside it. Think boxwoods, but taller.
And for reference, this is what the junipers often look like: See how easily it would be to mow around/in between them? Other suggestions welcome, although I did a thread last year on that.
