Seeking advice for a Sandhills area in Lexington County South Carolina, the soil below the mulch is an acidic sandy loam that drains easily and the area gets blasted with full afternoon sun.
I’ve been dipping my toes into this native plant thing mostly in just a part of backyard or one side of the house because there was a very sad area of it that I wanted to improve and I’ve had limited bandwidth with my job so haven’t really put any effort in the front – I was kind of ignoring it because I don’t know shrubs from Bob. Today I had some more time to plug things at the front in iNaturalist and though I still have no clue what the shrubs in the back are it seemed pretty confident that these two smaller ones in the front are Heavenly Bamboo. 😭😭
Heavenly Bamboo is apparently not only invasive but yields poisonous berries that can kill birds so I want to get rid of these ASAP. But that’d leave a pretty good sized gap in this area so… thoughts on something similar-but-good to replace it with?
I want it to be something that I can mostly get away with ignoring and not watering at all once it gets established like how I haven’t paid these hardly any mind, and I want it to be some shrub or other plant of at least similar size to these that ideally is similarly compact.
Also if anyone knows what the other bushes here are that’d be appreciated… the only things I really kind of know here are the white clover at the bottom, the chamberbitter that was present before I mostly ripped it out and took the photo, and the buttonweed in the bottom left which may well be the only native thing in the picture (was actually going to rip it out before finding that out). I am going to give the bushes a trim tomorrow so pls no bully for the random stalks sticking out and things 😢
I’ve gotten these recommendations but photos are kind of all over the place and overwhelming for what they look like and how they turn out, how aggressive they are etc. so any words on experience with these (or whatever recommendation you have!)and if there’s something that would like of stay smallish but dense (maybe with some occasional trimming necessary) like the above would be appreciated:
Aesculus pavia (Red buckeye) (maybe would want more water & shade?)
Hamamelis virginiana (Witch-hazel)
Ilex decidua (Possumhaw) (maybe prefers more moisture?)
Lindera benzoin (Northern spicebush)
Lespedeza virginica (Slender bush clover)
Ceanothus americanus (New Jersey tea)
Yucca filamentosa (Adam’s needle)
I checked and it appears all of those are native to my county, at least from what Bonap has to say.
by Resident_Sneasel
7 Comments
Mapleleaf viburnum (*Viburnum acerifolium*).
I replaced mine with Euonymus americanus. Two years later, watching them fruit in the fall is really nice.
I don’t have a replacement but f those things. I’ve been trying to kill off one for 2 years.
Replaced mine with aromatic asters (*Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)* which might be a bit less tall but great for my spot.
The yucca sounds like the only plant you mentioned that won’t get too tall and would be easy to maintain, alternatively Eryngium yuccifolium might be nice as well.
You ever look into Carolina allspice or beautyberry? I just planted both so I can’t tell you much about my success. Otherwise look into something that loves sun and can withstand afternoon heat; some shrubs are more understory plants
I highly recommend coastal sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia). Planted them in the a nuked sandhill in nc. High precipitation area though. They did fantastic.
Check out [nc plant toolbox](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/find_a_plant/?). They have some good coastal recommendations.