I am thinking of planting rhododendrons in a 20 foot long row between my home and the neighbors, as a privacy screen to block the view of all the junk in the neighbor's yard. The space is fairly shady though it does get partial sun. Moisture, as is typical in New England, is variable....we sometimes have very wet weather and sometimes very dry, any time of year. The soil is not waterlogged or particularly sandy, as far as I can tell.

The local garden center has the common variety Roseum elegans, which seems like it may work, since I can buy fairly large plants to begin with and the maximum height is listed among the larger ones available.

Please let me know if there are other varieties of rhododendron that may serve my purpose better, be more aesthetically pleasing, grow faster, etc, or if the R. elegans is a good choice. Or if I would be better off with plants other than rhododendrons.

Thanks.

English Roseum and Nova Zembla are the two varities I grow now, but they do take a long time to get to the height where they would provide privacy for you.

Have you ever thought about Aborvitaes? They create a great privacy screen and if you purchase them at about 5 feet, they should grow faster than the Rhodys. They will also provide privacy in summer and winter, just like the rhodies will. It's all a matter of what you prefer.

Linda

The problem with arbor vitae, from what I have been told, is they need more sun to thrive. I am considering pyramidal yews for the same reason....they tell me they need less sun.

I've got a 'Boursault' rhododendron that seems to have done fairly well so far - It's a Catawba hybrid, so it should be fairly hardy.