We just installed a hurricane fence on our house we purchased...and have 3 dogs! I would like to plant something around the perimeter of the fence that is fast growing, will live year round, and provides privacy. Either a shrub or a vine (that is not ugly or poisonous) Please help!! Thanks!!!
2007-08-30 03:57:11 · 4 answers · asked by Bunintheoven 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
I would plant PHOTINIA. It's an evergreen (leafy) shrub that grows 10-15 ft and has beautiful white flowers when it blooms.
I just happen to find a nice site with some info and a pic.
http://msucares.com/lawn/garden/msgardens/04/040405.html
2007-08-30 05:03:06 · answer #1 · answered by Perennial Queen 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I assume this is also called "chain link" fence. Beware with vines on this fence. I put honeysuckle and am sorry. The vine wove between the spaces and filled in nicely but then the old stuff inside is stuck in there! Very hard to remove and ugly if left. I cut it all down but the older vines "welded" themselves to the wire and can't be removed short of burning them off. Big OOOPS!
In one small section I have a native creeper.....like Virginia Creeper or Boston Ivy but without any aerial attachements, just twiners.............but I learned! Every winter we cut it back to the ground! So for winter it is naked, but by early summer completely filled in!
So don't put a twining vine on it unless you are willing to remove it for winter.
Similarly I have euonymus shrub on another section. This is better and it doesn't weave up the mesh fabric. When pruning I either pull it back through the wire mesh or to to the other side and trim.........but be careful, year after year you develop callus and the stem will grow around the wire, thus welding itsself onto the wire. Before that happens I have to put it off and cut it way back.
My favorite is where I put fast growing shrubs about 6 feet from the wire. The dogs love to go back there and bark at the neighbor's dogs and I can take my hedge clippers and make a straight run in the back keeping the shrub several feet from the fence. Dogs happy, I'm happy and tough if the neighbors are seeing a shaved side. The other side I prune by hand to keep healthy and happy. Most of all, no plant material clogging the fence.
Another warning, don't put wooden or aluminium slats down the fabric for privacy! The wood looked OK, but our winter winds blew up against those slats and even tho there is air space between them, the wind pressure was enough to start bending the upright posts! I was out in 60 mph winds pulling those slats out as fast as I could.
So I recommend putting shrubs and trees at least, at least 6 feet in front of the wire fence....make the trees small growers, nothing monsterous..and then smaller shrubs underneath. If the shrubs underneath are evergreen such as euonymus, cotoneaster, juniper or whatever grows in your area, then the upper story, the trees can be deciduous. It is amazing just blocking the lower section of the fence make the upper part somewhat disappear if you have those trees to cut the "geometric" nature of the wire fabric. It's all illusion....you don't have to have a green wall.
2007-08-30 11:25:09 · answer #2 · answered by fluffernut 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Call your state conservation office. They will have native plants for sale some time. They will grow fast, stay pretty, and don't require much maintenance. What is a hurricane fence, for those of us in a different area.
DON'T USE EUNOYMUS. Its an invasive species, and outlawed here in Missouri.
2007-08-30 11:26:06 · answer #3 · answered by peter s 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
why not plant vegetables, they live all year round and will be of great contribution to you.
2007-08-30 11:03:31 · answer #4 · answered by Jewel 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋