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blondie_30

privacy screen??

blondie_30
17 years ago

I need a fast growing privacy screen (hedge or tree) to grow rapidly and about 20' high. The area is at the base of a mountain but will get part sun durng the day also.

also needs to be deer resistant.

any ideas?? I am in Pa

thanks,

chris

Comments (11)

  • maggiecola
    17 years ago

    Arborvitae is fast growing and deer resistant. There are claims it gets very high (50'to 60')--but I suspect that's the growth in the south, not up here in Pennsylvania. My parents had them planted in our Pittsburgh suburban yard and they over 30 years ago and they're height is slightly above halfway between the first floor and second floor of the house. In other words, they don't reach as high as the second floor roof. (They were planted on the north side of the house so they didn't get full sun all day.) I've seen claims on the internet that they grow 3' per year.

    Juniper's need full sun so forget them. Plus I just haven't seen as many lush junipters in PA as I have arborvitas.

  • dedtired
    17 years ago

    Try Leyland Cypress. I think some arborvitae grow faster than others, depending on the type. My friend's grew to 10 feet in just a few years.

    For really fast growth, try bamboo, but it is very invasive.

  • maggiecola
    17 years ago

    I just researched bamboo. There are so many varieties but only a few for zone 5 and 6. Apparently "clumping" bamboo is not invasive. So look for a "clumping" variety that is hardy. I'm actually interested in trying some bamboo now.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Bamboo

  • Pipersville_Carol
    17 years ago

    Deer eat arborvitae, at least where I live.

    Bamboo would work.

  • naturenut_pa
    17 years ago

    Deer DEVOUR arbortitae here in Bucks county. Some of our neighbors have planted it, and it looks horrible, because it's full at the bottom, completely eaten in the middle, then full at the top again.

    I have a few varieties of clumping bamboo. The best performer so far has been Fargesia Murielae. I also have Fargesia Dracocephela, which has done poorly. Fargesia Robusta would do very well, were it not so easily damaged by the cold.
    Also...Fargesias do require at least some shade. They do not tolerate sun/heat very well. They will thrive where they can get a little bit of sun during the day and cool temps at night.

  • lindasue
    17 years ago

    I, too, am looking for a fast-growing screen. I love the Bamboo and there is some in my town but it is the invasive kind. The clumping kind doesn't spread which sort of defeats my purpose, but the invasive kind can go nuts. I read you have to put a barrier deep into the ground, several feet even because the bamboo can go down under the partition and spring back up. A woman I talked to in town that has a beautiful screen of bamboo said it takes two weekends every spring to dig up the new shoots. She said bamboo can even spread under a street and into a neighbor's yard! Scary, but I still love the look!

  • kate0120
    17 years ago

    We have forsythia as a privacy screen in our front yard. We just moved here 2 years ago and it was here when we moved in. I'm not sure of the cost or how fast it grows, but I love it. Even in the dead of winter, it is dense and high enough to block our view of the neighbors.

  • quirkyquercus
    17 years ago

    Thuja 'Green Giant' is a better alternative to leyland cypress which has some disease issues which have come to light in recent years. It will exceed 20' in height though.

  • Pipersville_Carol
    17 years ago

    Invasive bamboo can be controlled by mowing or snapping off the shoots a couple times a year. I found that it required fewer hours of maintenance work than many other plants. For example, I spent much more time pruning my privet hedge. People get into trouble with bamboo when they let it grow unchecked.

  • PRO
    Kestrel Shutters & Doors
    17 years ago

    My parents have had an invasive type of bamboo for some 25 or 30 years now. Mowing does work just fine, is fast, and has kept it "contained". Every year it takes less and less time. In spring time you do get a short 2 to 3 week period (although this may vary with the variety) where little shoots pop up. They look like asparagus and don't taste too bad actually. This is the time to mow them down.

    For those root systems that pop up where you can't mow like flower gardens or amidst rocks then we found cutting the stalk and putting some roundup in the shoot worked wonders. A few would survive and end up coming up as bushy little plants that did not spread.

    In the areas where it was left to grow it developed into this dense forest that is beautiful. We cut a path through it years back and put in a flagstone set of stairs. It is really cool to just walk those stairs with the bamboo up and all around you.

    Another nice thing with the bamboo is that it is very flexible so that for all those ice storms we see the stalks would just bend way over to the ground. Then once the sun warmed them enough that some ice would fall off the stalks shoot up like a slingshot showering everything with ice chips. It's like a little wonderland to walk underneath the bamboo when they are bent over like that.

    Anyway, that's my experience with bamboo.

    Jim

  • Mike Larkin
    13 years ago

    The important fact is part sun. There are not many part sun plants that grow well as a tall screen. Hemlock may work, but they have troubles and eventually will grow large and very tall and wide. Bamboo - I have seen too many stands of out of control Bamboo, you are right on -- keep after it every year, But it does not easily stay in a nice row - to form a hedge - Sometimes a few plants closer to the house will block out an unwanted view rather than a row of shrubs that you want to grow quickly and then remain at a certain height.

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