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Large shrub #890077

Asked November 20, 2024, 10:38 AM EST

I need to plant Native shrubs for permitting purposes. I would like a shrub that would be trimmable like a hedge. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you.

Queen Anne's County Maryland

Expert Response

We are happy to offer some suggestions, but will need more information about the site conditions first. For example, how much direct summer sun does the planting area receive? (Full sun is 6-8 or more hours of sun a day.) Does the soil drain well, tend to stay soggy after rain, or get dry quickly due to root competition or a high sand content? What is the preferred size range (height and width) for the shrub when it matures, without relying on pruning? (You can trim to tweak the plant's shape if you want, but it should not be relied upon to keep a shrub smaller to fit a space, and not all shrubs will tolerate that degree of pruning.) Hedges can be trimmed or untrimmed, and made out of a wide variety of plants, so information about the minimum size needed to serve as a visual screen or accent, and the maximum size it can grow before becoming an obstacle, is going to help us narrow-down the options.

Does the planting need to be evergreen (keeping leaves all winter)? If so, there will be few options, as we don't have many native evergreen shrubs that are also amenable to being grown in the style of a hedge.

Lastly, do deer visit the yard to browse? If so, using plants less appealing to them will greatly narrow-down the candidate list as well.

Once we have these details, we can share a list of some shrub species to consider. Hedges are also best made from more than one plant species, so that a potential future issue with pests, disease, or weather stress (like drought) won't affect the entire planting equally severely.

Miri

Thank you I appreciate the help.

  • The planting area is in full sun. The soil is high sand content so drains well.
  • I would like evergreen, but I am not opposed to other types.
  • We do not have deer browsing in the area. 
  • The size I would prefer is 6-8ish feet in height and 4ish feet in

I appreciate any information.

Thank you,

Betsy 

The Question Asker Replied November 20, 2024, 3:44 PM EST
Thank you for the information. Below are a few ideas, though it's not an exhaustive list. Plants described as "semi-evergreen" can range from nearly evergreen to nearly deciduous, as individual plant genetics in combination with weather conditions impact how many leaves they retain any given winter. Some species on the list might not be a perfect fit for all of the criteria, but could still be suitable, especially if some cultivars are a better match than others for this use.

Evergreen and semi-evergreen options include:
  • Bayberry / Waxmyrtle (both local species can go by either name; Myrica or Morella cerifera and M. pensylvanica) -- fragrant foliage when crushed or cut; female shrubs can produce small waxy gray berries, but only if pollinated by a male, and the two are very hard to tell apart if not labeled as to sex; dwarf cultivars exist but might be harder to find, and some might be denser but a bit shorter-growing than you prefer; semi-evergreen
  • Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra) -- spineless leaves, and female plants can produce small inky black berries if pollinated by male inkberry, though the latter are hard to find; naturally not nearly as dense as other hollies, especially with age, so they provide more minimal privacy screening; given their lack of foliage on branch interiors, pruning should be limited to only what is necessary to remove errant branch tips or tweak mature size by a small amount (otherwise, the plants will become more bare over time because older wood normally sheds leaves and becomes bare)
  • dwarf cultivars of Eastern Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis; non-dwarf types are too big), though most dwarf cultivars are either shorter and rounder than you want, or taller and narrower, and they should not be heavily pruned as that can lead to bare spots over time; some cultivars have golden-yellow foliage
  • dwarf cultivars of Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) if any part of the planting can be shorter and wider, as the mature size of typical options like the blue-gray cultivar 'Gray Owl' is more like 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide
Deciduous options include:
  • Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), either a weeping cultivar like 'Cascade Falls' or a dwarf upright cultivar like 'Peve Minaret' -- an unconventional use for the former, but it could be shaped as needed by training the leader or main branches to either side so they form a curtain of foliage that hangs down as the screen during summer; either cultivar might be hard to find
  • Bushy St. Johnswort (Hypericum densiflorum) or Shrubby St. Johnswort (Hypericum prolificum) -- the former will probably be closer to the mature size you want than the latter, which might be shorter; between the two, prolificum is a bit more tolerant of drought
  • Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) or Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) -- both have the potential to sucker (produce new stems arising from roots, expanding the clump), but suckers are easy to cut down if unwanted (and might be useful for filling-in the length of a hedge between plants); overall, red grows taller than black, but there are also cultivar differences in mature size
  • Arrowwood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) and Witherod Viburnum (Viburnum nudum) -- they both prefer evenly-moist soil versus handling drought, but average drainage and moisture should be fine, especially if they can be monitored for watering needs during dry spells; decorative berries are produced if plants are pollinated by a different individual or different cultivar of the same species (the exception is cultivar 'Brandywine' of Viburnum nudum, which should more-or-less pollinate itself)

Miri

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