Ok. This is a bit of a tricky spot but I’m hoping y’all can help. SO. My main focus right now is where the fatsia is but I want your thoughts on the whole bed. Even though there’s the fence, where I’m standing is the door to my kitchen. My neighbor right on the other side of the fence’s house is mirrored so about 5 ft behind the fence is the door to his kitchen too and we can peek right through the cracks and be pretty visible at night in our kitchens lol. Not too worried about it, cause I could get curtains and but I like the option of having it open, plus who doesn’t want more plants? Anyways, to the meat!
I’m hoping for something evergreen in that fatsia spot. Ideally about 8ft tall or higher so it actually reaches privacy height. I saw some eastern red cedar & thuja occidentalis at the native nursery two minutes from my house so those seemed like good options since they’re tall & somewhat skinny but I’m worried they’ll get too wide in that center spot. I put my Christmas tree around the bed for some visuals cause it’s around the same height and width as what’s at the nursery and I kinda like those as options for the corner spot where the yucca looking plant is now. There’s more room for something a tad wider there and the spruceyness of them seem like good anchors. In the center seems wonky. Was thinking maybe a Virginia Sweetspire in the center? What other options might y’all put there?
The second pic describes what I already have in green text and what I want to do in black and white text. Also this area is mostly shade, but gets a tiny bit of morning sun and about 1/3 of the bed on the right hand side gets full baking afternoon sun in the summer. This seems very chaotic but hoping it makes sense. Thank youuuuu!!
by mari_pos_a
4 Comments
I’m no designer, but… I’d go with a holly for the evergreen. The Thuja and cedars will get big. Holly will get tall, and is very prunable. There’s also a small Magnolia grandiflora out there in the nursery trade. My neighbor has one and keeps it cut to a weird hedge, so I think it would work for you. There’s also semi evergreen Sweetbay Magnolia but it’s pretty thin and not a good screen. Not evergreen but arrowwood viburnum makes a nice thicket and would fit in that scale.
Ostrich or cinnamon fern, Rudbeckia lacinata, Scutellaria incana, Actaea racemosa, and sweet Joe pye weed (E. purpureum) seem like some good options to me for the perennial layer. Blue-stemmed Goldenrod (S. caesia) and some woodland sedges to fill in the base.
OP, you’ll need to r.eove those evergreen trees and nix the idea of planting any trees that close to the fence. Bad idea.
Arborvitae specifically can get 12′ across at maturity.
Is that on south, north, east or west side of house?
What about *Vaccinium arboreum* (Sparkleberry)? It’s a blueberry with a tree-like habit that gets 10-20 feet tall and is semi-evergreen. It’s endemic to the Southeast and has super high wildlife value, on top of being edible.