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linnea2

Shrub report. Long.

linnea2
16 years ago

Not sure this will be useful for anyone besides me, but I need to record it

for what it's worth.

I don't mind spraying the egg/pepper stuff on tulips and lilies,

but I've decided I will NOT coddle shrubs, wrap them in burlap, build

chicken wire cages or generally worry about them off-season.

Here's my list:

Dead and gone:

Arborvitae, 2 varieties (2, deer)

Itea Virginica (2, not happy?)

Kerria Japonica (1, poor drainage???)

Rosa 'Westerland' (1, deer)

Four other Rosa, forget which.

Sand cherry, (2, deer)

Japanese maple (1, deer)

Sambucus nigra (4, exposure?)

Pieris 'Dorothy Wyckoff'

Gotta go:

Euonymous alata and all its kin (13,rabbits)

Ilex crenata 'Sky pencil' (3,desiccated)

Sumac 'Tiger eye' (1, rabbits)

Fothergilla (2, rabbits)

Lovely but questionable:

Pieris 'Mountain fire' (4, partial chronic windburn)

Cytisis, 2 varieties, (4, rabbits) (OUCH! I didn't know)

Dwarf Alberta spruce, (10 total, 2, spidermites)

Mugo pine, (7 total, 4, sawfly larvae, mostly picked off)

St.Johnswort, 2 varieties (6 total, 2 dead, 3 ailing, unknown)

Rosa 'Julia Child' (frost, rabbits)

Rosa 'Brass band' (-"-)

Deutzia gracilis (don't know what's ailing it. Sulking.)

Probably past danger:

Viburnum 'Burkwoodii' (2, 1, rabbits first season)

Japanese Quince, (1, deer first season)

Cotinus coggygria, (5, rabbits on 3 newly planted)

Weigela 'Wine and roses' (5)(small specimens vulnerable to deer, rabbits)

Willow, almost white/pink foliage, smaller one got chewed,

large one untouched.

Doing great:

Boxwood 'Green mountain' (4)

Buddleja, 6 varieties (8 or more total) One died, 'Honeycomb', but it was rootbound and dry in the container (Augustine)

Hydrangea (climbing) (2)

Hydrangea 'Limelight' (2)(favorable locations?)

Variegated Dogwood shrubs (3)

Calycanthus floridus (1)

Lilac, 5 varieties (45-50, all thriving)

Rose of Sharon, blue variety (1)

Hardy Hibiscus (6)

Clethra alnifolia (7 or more) One died, soil too dry.

Rosa 'New Dawn' (4)

Rosa 'Popcorn' (1)

Hinoki cypress (1)

Juniper, one dwarf 2 topiary

Red osier Dogwood (2)

Spirea 'Goldsturm'(?)(1)

Caryopteris (4)

Mock orange (1)

Russian sage (6)

Those are all I can remember right now.

Seems worth it to get larger specimens, the little ones get eaten.

I'm planning a large area with many Boxwood, Miscanthus, Yucca and golden Catalpa.

Any flowers from Clematis only.

Would be nice if it could just be mowed, not a whole mulched bed.

What do YOU do with "shrubberies"?

Any comments, suggestions or questions welcome!

Comments (3)

  • oldroser
    16 years ago

    When it comes to the roses, I mound with dirt or mulch which not only protects them from cold but also from rabbits.
    When it comes to trees or large shrubs I provide a woven wire collar 32" high and a foot across which protects from rabbits and mice and gives (very limited) protection from deer. I see lots of trees and shrubs surrounded by plastic fencing - the kind used at construction sites. My local hardware store sells the hardware cloth in 1/2" mesh in 3' lengths, just right for making the collars so I don't have to do any cutting. They are wrapped in soft wire which I unhook and use to weave the edges together after placing it around the shrub or tree. And I usually drive in a fence post near the tree so the wire doesn't rub against the tree bark. My own feeling is this is a one time effort and expense and it saves me the cost of the original plant so it's worth it.
    Spice bush (lindera bensoin) in bloom right now is a native shrub not eaten by anything. Lilacs do fine, also mock orange. Some junipers do OK - some don't. I've grown kerria in well drained soil and it does fine and is not eaten. Nothing eats iris psuedacorus, daffodils, hyacinths, snow drops, glory of the snow, squills (highly poisonous) digitalis, lily of the valley, monkshood, - the list goes on.
    I grow heptacodium (large shrub or small tree with fragrant blooms in August) but protect with wire collar as above. It soon grows away from the deer. And nothing seems to eat spirea prunifolia.

  • jayco
    16 years ago

    Very useful list, thanks! I have been struggling with this same problem. My general solution has been to cover the few shrubs/small trees which I love (several Japanese maples, my fothergilla, a few others), and let the rest sink or swim.

    I am surprised deer have not eaten your hydrangeas! Are they close to the house?

    Here's my list of what has done okay without protection:

    Spirea
    Quince (they do eat new growth but quince is tough!)
    Viburnum (a few varieties; again, new growth is often eaten)
    Clethra
    Magnolia (flower buds get eaten if not sprayed)
    Beautybush

    I don't understand why people haven't yet realized that the deer overpopulation is harmful to the local ecology -- it goes way beyond our gardens. They are decimating many varieties of hardwood trees, and I wonder what our forests will look like in fifty years. Not to mention other animals whose food sources have been eaten by the huge numbers of deer.

  • linnea2
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Well, the Sumac and the Fothergillas are coming back.
    I guess I'll try the cages...If I make them all slightly different
    diameters, they could mostly be stored nested in each other.
    Thanks for reminding me Oldroser. I wonder if the 1x2 mesh would suffice
    rather than the hardware cloth (I have some), we're talking adult rabbits
    wintertime. The voles all come from below.

    I'm moving the Euonymous to a strip of grass between two
    parking areas close to my buildings, I doubt the rabbits
    really dare come dine there.

    I planted six new Spirea, 'Magic carpet' and fire something,
    and cleaned Lowes out of Boxwood 'Green mountain'in the 5 gal. size.
    Reading up on the (widely varying) clipping information for box balls.
    Anyone have experience?

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