Does anybody have a shrub recommendation for us?
Here’s what we need:
a shrub/bush that will be about 6′-8′ and dense (a good natural screen) and tough and/or resilient to having snow sliding off a roof onto it.
We’ve considered and rejected privet, beauty bush and forsythia.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Shub Screen
I don’t know of a 6-8′ shrub tolerant of snow drop. Privet is probably the strongest.
Some other tough ones, thought not ideal screens;
Koreanspice Viburnum – a little loose for a hedge
Summersweet – very durable, only grows to 5′
Oakleaf Hydrangea – more rounded, grows to 6′
Lilac – decent, traditional option.
Highbush Cranberry –
Arborvitae – need pruning to maintain low height, tough, evergreen.
Beech Tree Hedge – Check out the house at the corner of Cedar and Western Ave. They have an awesome, super tough, dense hedge made of beech trees. Must be trimmed and maintained, but the dead leaves stay attached all summer creating a great barrier.
right plant right place
What’s the sun/shade exposure?
Evergreen or deciduous?
Keep the subject title in mind when selecting.
Tolerant of snow drop, you are asking alot. Maybe you should consider a fence.
@ AHubbard- Highbush cranberry? Do you mean highbush blueberry? great for fruit, underrated ornamental shrub.
Thanks
Thanks for the suggestions.
Not sure which way we’ll go, but it helps to have a bunch of options on the table.
Bamboo?
Is there any form of bamboo that would work? It grows pretty quickly and fills in nicely to make a wall. Might be a bit too much, though – I’ve heard that it likes to settle in and spread.
Bamboo Taboo
I would consider using a knotweed/bamboo screen, but the other decision maker in this process has the rabid form of bamboo-phobia.
To be fair, while I do not share this phobia, I do acknowledge that bamboo once planted is nigh on impossible to eradicate. It does not spread with anywhere near the ferocity attributed to it by the phobes, but if you need to get rid of it your options are as follows:
– dig up and sift out the roots of the soil to a depth of about 4′ where the patch was and extend also to 10′ beyond the known extent of the patch;
or
– put a parking lot, or a house on the spot.
Do not under any circumstances put a pond on the spot. Bamboo love, love water.
I have never tried round-up on it and don’t plan to.
knotweed invasive, bamboo not so much
First of all, ‘bamboo’ and ‘knotweed’ are two different types of plant. The terms are not interchangeable. There are types of cold-hardy bamboo that can do well here and are not invasive. Here’s some information about one genus:
http://www.bamboo.org/wp/nec/2011/09/24/non-invasive-cold-hardy-clumping-bamboos-the-genus-fargesia/
As for knotweed, specifically Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica), the science behind the invasive nature of this exotic species is quite sound and in no way constitutes a ‘phobia’. It’s been declared one of the world’s 100 most invasive species by the World Conservation Union
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_knotweed#Invasive_species
and the state of VT has also declared it an invasive exotic:
http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/waterq/lakes/docs/ans/lp_ansfs-fj.pdf
If anyone has any doubts as to its invasiveness, I suggest you have a look at the north bank of the confluence of the West and Rock rivers, for example. What was a diverse, ferny native community is now a giant patch of knotweed which has made its way down the Rock from a small clump about a half mile upriver in less than ten years. In fact, a visit to almost any waterway in the area is likely to reveal clumps of this species.
Call Me a Doubter
I’ve lived around this stuff since I was born. I’m 60 and I still call it bamboo, because that is what everybody called it – Japanese bamboo.
About 15 ago I saw it in a gardening book listed as knotweed – that was the first I knew of that name.
It does not spread where you can mow.
It does not grow in full shade (i.e. forest, which is 95% of VT).
It does not out-compete alder (a native invasive)in its preferred habitat.
There are a few edge situations where it can thrive and often does do, but in the process runs up against a gazillion other species that love edge niches and many of those grow into trees and over top and shade out the knotweed.
In short, knotweed will not take over the world, so relax already.
I have also been around people who have this phobia of which I speak. If you have not:
no one who has the phobia would think of composting any part of the plant.
There are those who will put the root on pavement for weeks to dry it out and kill it – then put it the trash – as if it could somehow grow up out of the landfill if it wasn’t killed first.
Others I’ve known have put the roots in boxes and stored them away in a barn to keep them from leaping into the soil or something. You’d think the plant was about to step into a phone booth and don a red cape.
That is what I mean by a phobia.
You are not a doubter....
You are just misinformed.
Japanese Knotwood has never been a bamboo, but rather a very invasive plant.
I imagine you will see lots of it growing in riparian areas in Vermont, wetlands and riverbanks, particular areas impacted by the floods a year back.
Its also very nasty when it gets into garden compost as it readily propagates. You only need a small piece to development adventitious roots and create a new plant.
And it provides no food for local animals as it is not native.
I have seen this plant’s rhizomes traverse under pavement, literally crossing” the road!
You might be able to mow it down in a lawn with regular maintenance, but once a thicket has been established, it is very difficult to remove it. Just google “Japanese Knotweed Invasive,” and you will get the facts, not phobia.
Impressive Phobe Following
I am continually impressed by the fierceness and pervasiveness of this bamboo-phobia (sounds better than knotweed-phobia and means the same thing).
You ignore key parts of what I am saying.
I probably have more hands on experience dealing with knotweed than any of you from all the years spent digging, pulling, and whacking it down and playing in it and etc.
The place I grew up in has been in the family for 80 years (1933-2013). It has had knotweed clumps here and there the whole time I have been alive and it is in fewer places now than when I was a kid.
It hasn’t and doesn’t threaten to migrate anywhere.
It just threatens to stay right the heck where it is and it does that very well.
It is not true that it provides no food for local animals.
Its nectar feeds a wide array of wasps, bees, and insects. The honey is said to be very good. Also I’ve heard that the shoots are edible (http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/wild-edibles-how-to-eat-japanese-knotweed.htm) as well.
Granted, it was a battle to get rid of it in the places where we did get rid of it.
You would never plant it anywhere without serious forethought.
On the other hand, you could say the same about privet (not native and invasive), trumpet vine (native to the south. Our bush used to send up sprouts 20′ out in the lawn), bittersweet (there is a native form, but the common attractive one used in wreaths is not native, is highly invasive and intractable), and euonymus, burning bush (not native and invasive – will grow in the woods).
At my place here in Bratt we have a little patch between us and the neighbors. The only reason it is an issue is because of the fence, left there by previous owners. We mow up to the fence on our side and they mow up to the fence on their side, which leaves just enough room for a few stalks to grow in between – unless I yank them – which I do.
The bigger issue on the fence line is Vermont’s biggest (native) invasive: the sugar maple. The one that started in the fence is now shading our vegetable garden.
The sugar maple seedlings sewn last year are everywhere around the house. They’re in amongst the lilacs and day lilies and etc and are going to be a pain to pull and if we don’t do it this year and get the roots it turns into one of those little monsters with a little clump of leaves above ground and a franken-root below.
BUT the real evil plant that we deal with here is:
Black swallow wart.
That’s a nasty piece of business that sends puffy seed clouds out over our yard every summer. And they constantly grow in tightly with roses or day lilies or irises so you can’t get your fingers on the root to pull it out – so it keeps coming back.
Additionally there’s a new menace in the last 5 or 6 years that appears to be a member of the geranium family. It has tiny white or blue flowers and is pushing out grass and taking over parts of the lawn.
little patch of knotweed
I left a confusing paragraph in the previous comment – a poorly defined pronoun.
The “it” between my house and the neighbor’s is knotweed.
the facts.
You are correct, Japanese Knotweed provides nectar for insects and provides the last significant nectar flow of the season for honey bees. It doesn’t provide fruit/berries and cover like native plants such as viburnum, ilex, etc. Native plants are certainly better looking than japanese Knotweed. Thats where I was coming from.
As for Sugar Maple being an invasive, it is not categorized as one, but I can understand them being a nuisance. it is its cousin Acer platanoides (Norway maple) that is an invasive plant
Perhaps you should check out this website, it will provide you with an education and facts about invasives plants.
http://www.vtinvasives.org
Nice Link
I printed out an order form for their VT Invasive booklet. There’s someone in my household may want one.
Personally, I’m really not as much “misinformed” as I am a believer that biologically speaking this is a tempest in a tea pot. Bigger fish ot fry, that sort of thing.
Mankind has certainly blundered repeatedly moving species across oceans with no clue what the fallout would be (e.g. rabbits to Australia; mongooses to South America; Eucalyptus to California), but all things considered this is a minor problem that I have little patience for.
good book
Well, mankind certainly has.
This book is a great read and makes a great case for native plant to enhance biodiversity.
Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy.
http://bringingnaturehome.net/native-gardening
Knotweed is for cupcakes
I wouldn’t plant knotweed, but I was suggesting bamboo. It would feed the invasive pandas, for sure.
For those who have lots of knotweed, consider eating it. Here’s a recipe and gorgeous photos of knotweed cupcakes.
Rn't You Glad...
Imagine if we had a problem with invasive elephants. Now there’s a problem!