SCREENING PLANTS FOR SHADIER SPOTS

I've been considering the entrance to our house lately. It's not pretty. We have a longish driveway so landscaping the areas that we don't regularly look at ourselves has not been high on the priority list. We also live on a private road shared with our neighbors so curb appeal is not a high priority.

But not making the entrance to the property look pretty because few people see it is a little like not having a nice bedroom because only you see it. At some point pride of ownership comes into play.

We're currently considering removing a few trees that are within a couple feet of the power lines. These are very large spruces that are generally unhealthy and not that good looking because they've been sheared on one side by the power company. It's not pretty, but it's better than weeds. What would be even better is a low-maintenance, deer-resistant garden that would look nice from the road and provide some screening so we don't have to see the cars drive by.

The area on the right side of the picture is where we are considering removing the tree with the yellow tape and planting some screening to make the entrance look nicer and the block to the view to (and from) the house a bit.

But this area is part sun, at best. And therein lies the problem. Because almost anyone can suggest evergreen screening plants for full sun, but when you get to shadier spots, the options decrease. And if you add in another requirement, like deer resistance, then you're really limited. And when you get to a situation like very dry shade, perhaps under a large tree, you're probably better off thinking about a fence or containers.

This is the view as you enter our driveway. Not exactly the most welcoming. The shed belongs to our neighbors and right now it's the focal point of the entrance (along with the scrubby looking tree). Removing the tree would allow us to make a small garden area with screening plants and a few other deer-resistant perennials to make it look a little more welcoming.

The other problem with choosing evergreens is that they never really stop growing, it's just a matter of how fast they grow. Most tags on evergreens list the size as "X feet in 10 years." Which means you can probably expect it to be double that in 20 years. And if you're looking for screening, you're looking for rapid growth, but it might not take long before your screen is too tall and you have to start from scratch.

In some cases, optimal conditions for a shrub or tree might not be possible, but you might still be able to grow it, so long as you understand it won't fully live up to its potential.

Here are a few evergreen trees and shrubs that can work for that most challenging of spots:

BOXWOOD

When it comes to screening, boxwoods have so many attributes in the "pro" column. Their dense, finely-texture foliage is beautiful and will provide a total block of whatever is behind it. They are also distasteful to even to hungriest and dumbest deer, and they are happy in part shade to full sun.

Sadly, though, the "con" list is equally long. In areas where very hardy varieties are required, even the largest varieties—'Green Mountain' and 'Winter Gem' to name a couple—only get to about 5 or 6 feet tall, so for screening they only work for unpleasantness that's lower to the ground (unless you plant them on a berm). Gardeners in warmer zones in which the B. sempervirens varieties will thrive can grow others that are said to get to 10 feet tall in 25 years, which is great but that's a long wait! They are also challenging on the budget, particularly if you choose large specimens, which isn't a bad idea because they aren't the fastest growers. To get a mature, tall boxwood, you're probably looking at spending hundreds of dollars. And there's one more issue with boxwoods: boxwood blight. This fungal disease is spreading through the U.S. (after decimating hedges across England) and how far it will spread is unknown.

There are many varieties, with varying characteristics, but they can be found hardy from zone 4 to 8.

YEW

'Viridis' yew

Yews have a bad reputation for turning into giant green blobs that eat houses, but don't hold them all accountable for that bad behavior. There are many yews available that can provide screening without becoming shapeless behemoths and a bit of pruning certainly helps as well.

Taxus x media 'Hicksii' (zone 4-7) is a columnar form of yew that can reach about 20 feet tall in 20 years, which is a nice height for screening without blocking too much light. More typically you'll see them in the 9- to 12-foot range. Although can grow happily in low-light conditions, they won't tolerate wet soil, so good drainage is a must.

Taxus x media 'Viridis' is very columnar, getting about 10 feet tall but only two feet wide, which can work for some partial screening, or screening as part of a larger planting.

Yews are generally not tasty to deer (and in fact some parts are said to be toxic), but don't count on that being a certainty. I've seen plenty of yews in our area chewed to nubs during winter when there's less food available for our local, hungry herd of deer.

HEMLOCK

'Geneva' hemlock

Hemlocks will be much happier in cooler climates, so those in zone 7 or warmer may want to consider something else. They are happy without afternoon sun beating on them, so a partly shaded spot is perfect. Tsuga canadensis can get enormous, so unless you're looking for that, a better option is some of the smaller-growing cultivars, including 'Geneva', which gets 8 to 15 feet high and wide. It does have a center leader but can often end up a bit more blobbish, which might be just fine.

This is another one that is said to be deer resistant, but take that with a grain of salt.

ARBORVITAE

You won't find a lot of Arborvitaes that claim to grow in part shade, but they will. Now, that doesn't mean they'll grow as quickly (one of the main reasons people like them) as they might in sun, but they do grow.

The main problem with them, as far as I'm concerned, is that they are irresistible to deer. Although some varieties like 'Green Giant' claim to be deer resistant no one has informed the deer of that and within a few days I've seen them turn nicely shaped trees into lollipops. That might not be so bad. You could always plant some truly deer resistant low shrubs and perennials to cover the bare legs of an Arborvitae and just plan on having the tree's foliage start at about the 6- or 7-foot mark, and there's plenty of this going on in my neighborhood. I've also seen people ressurect trees that have been decimated by deer browsing by protecting them with fencing in winter and giving them a few years to recover.

If there's a knock against Arborvitae other than the deer, it may be that it grows too fast. They can quickly shoot up to 40 feet, and then you may be back where you started from.

FIR

Some fir trees will do well in part shade, including Abies concolor. I've never grown this tree but in reading about it, it sounds finicky to me. Here's some information about conditions it prefers from the Missouri Botanical Garden: "Best grown in rich, medium moisture, slightly acidic, sandy/gravelly, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade." Oh, is that all? I thought maybe it would like me to bring it a cup of coffee every morning precisely at 7 a.m. too.

Still, they are beautiful trees, hardy in zones 4 to 7, and slowly growing to quite a large size, so it might be a consideration. Said to be deer resistant in most cases as well.

SPRUCE

Picea glauca 'Conica'

Many spruces will not tolerate anything less than full sun, but white spruce, Picea glauca (zone 3 to 6, generally), is more tolerant of less than full sun. I rate spruces high on the list of good trees to grow in my zone 5 because my property is full of them (one sure way to know that something will grow where you live is to look around and see what's been there for a long time) and I know the deer don't touch them.

But some spruces have that problem that is particularly challenging for an impatient gardener like myself: They tend to grow slowly (some only 2 to 4 inches a year). That means that you have to buy a pretty big specimen to get the screening you desire, and of course that's expensive, more challenging for the tree to get established and, frankly, a bigger hole to dig. These are another tree that will grow better in cooler locations and won't be happy in hot summers.

There are many great cultivars available, too many to list here.

There just isn't a perfect plant for this kind of tricky spot. That's why I like the idea of a mixed hedge of sorts, incorporating evergreen screening, with tough shrubs and perennials. Working with a variety of plant types can help make up for the shortcomings of less-than-perfect options.

A SNOWY WRINKLE TO A DRIVEWAY IDEA

Remember back in fall when I shared my idea to line the apron of the driveway with containerized trees? I wouldn’t say that the reaction from readers was enthusiastic.

I completely understand why. It’s not entirely congruous with the rest of the yard and several people had warranted concerns about the care that containerized trees would require, to say nothing of how much that whole scheme would cost. These are all good points and I’m very thankful for them. Were it not for the rather lukewarm reception to the idea, I might be out hundreds (or, ugh, thousands) of dollars in containers for this harebrained scheme.

I do this sometimes, have a random idea pop into my head and get so excited about it that I get almost obsessed with it, even if I know it’s not a perfect plan. There will be more of these (in fact I’m cooking up another weird gardening idea now but I’m not to the point where it’s real enough to bother mentioning).

A few people suggested doing some nice plantings along that edge of the driveway; perhaps something asymmetrical, but balanced, that would be more in keeping with the rest of the garden. That is an excellent idea, but I knew immediately that wouldn’t work.

Here’s why.

We got our first “real” snowstorm of the year on Sunday. I know it was considered real because it forced the cancellation of most of the flights at the Milwaukee airport. I know that because I was supposed to be on one and I was supposed to wake up Monday morning looking at palm trees and neither of those things happened.

And while the interruption to my travel plans was a bummer, it did allow me to snap a couple photos of the snow situation here, which I wanted to share to show you why permanent plantings won’t work along the apron. As you can see, massive piles of snow are dumped there when we have our driveway plowed. And while perennials seem to do OK buried (some years the pile has extended into the circle garden), no small tree would be able to tolerate that kind of abuse.

Here was a badly Photoshopped idea to illustrate my idea and a real-time photo after the snowstorm.

I haven’t made any decisions about flanking the apron with anything yet. To be honest I have mentally spent a good part of the plant budget for the year (disclaimer: There is no real budget but I have a general concept of when I’ve spent too much and given the potential cost of the containerized tree idea, there wouldn’t be a lot left in the kitty for anything else).

So, for not, that plan remains on the proverbial drawing board, along with several others that range from doable to completely outlandish but very fun.

DECORATION FOR THE DRIVEWAY

A few weeks ago I told you that I was contemplating adding some fence panels along a portion of our driveway. I'm still very much in favor of that happening, especially since the house next door recently sold. We don't know what the situation with the new neighbors will be, but odds are they will be around much more than our previous neighbors.

The other idea I've been tossing around in my head for several months now is something to dress up the driveway. You might recall that I was hesitant to have the gravel driveway paved. I looked into the cost of lining it with cobblestones or some kind of decorative edging but that was very expensive. As many of you predicted, I already love the paved driveway and I can't believe we waited 12 years to do it.

But it is a bit blasé. My mind usually goes to plants when I start thinking about how to spruce up an outdoor space and that's where I landed with this quandry as well. But whatever happens next to the driveway needs to be tough as nails. We get a lot of snow and ice in winter and plow the driveway, which pushes the snow well off of the driveway. There is no planting that will stand up to being driven over or plowed in winter that I'm aware of.

See what I mean? It's a little boring, right?

Snoozefest ... especially now that all the containers are empty.

More and more I've been craving symmetry in the garden. There is no one more shocked by this revelation than I am, I assure you. But what I love about our house and yard is that is casual and comfortable so formal symmetry has no business here.

And that got me thinking about a line of planters on either side of the apron, which also serves as the approach to our front door. At first I thought pleached trees (think of free-standing espalier where all the branches grow into one another to create a living, raised wall), but that won't work for winter. But cute little lollipop trees absolutely would work.

So imagine this: three large planters on either side of the apron, situated across from each other (possibly set in an alley of small riverstones or something to avoid having to mow between them, but that's up for debate). In each planter, a short tree with very densely packed foliage, preferably something that turns color in fall. I'm not thinking of anything that approaches topiary territory, for as much I like that look in some circumstances, that would never work in my yard. Rather, I'm envisioning something with a mostly round habit but a bit more free-form than a topiary ball.

I did a couple bad Photoshop mock-ups to better explain what I'm thinking of. Both are a bit out of context since the photos were taken in fall, but hopefully they'll give you an idea of what I'm contemplating.

Here's one with very formal topiaries and I think you can see what I mean when I say that's not right. Ideally I'd like the canopies of these trees to almost touch when they have grown for a few years.

 Here's another with the tree concept a little better represented (although I would want more trunk) with terra cotta pots that don't work at all and are rather distracting.

There are obstacles to this plan, which is why it's been rolling around in my head for several months with no action on my part. Six large planters are expensive. And I guess I've proven that we could build them, but honestly, I don't want to spend all winter building them when I know someone else could bang them out in a weekend. I'd probably call on Ryan who built our kitchen cabinets and the built-in in our bedroom for this project. I'd also have to solve the planter liner issue, because the steel box in the planter we built was a huge unexpected expense. I imagine staining the planters a soft gray, similar to the color of our deck underskirting.

I've contacted a local nursery about suggestions for a tree that might work and they very nicely came up with several suggestions, the most interesting of which is a small cultivar of hornbeam that would be appropriate for pollarding, which is what they suggest for the look I'm going for.

Caring for the trees would be no easy task. Obviously they have to be watered and tended to regularly. They would need feeding as well (something you don't have to worry about with a tree planted in the ground). Every three to five years I would have to root prune them, meaning they would have to be completely removed from their containers while dormant, cleaned of all their soil and pruned at the roots, similar to what you do with bonsai.

And in fall, they would be moved, containers and all, to the backside of the garage where they could winter in a sheltered area free from the ravages of the plow.

It's an expensive and arduous proposition, but I feel like it could completely change the feel of the yard and the entry to our house.

No decisions have to be made yet, but obviously if I'm going to do it, the sooner I can get Ryan working on the planters, the better. In the meantime, I'm just letting that idea marinate a bit.

I have a Pinterest board dedicated to this concept so if you're interested in a little inspiration, check it out here. 

PAVE IT BLACK

We didn't plan it this way, but this year has become the year of the back yard. Between the renovation of the gardens there and fixing up the garage, I think we're finally taking care of some of the things that have needed attention since we bought the house 12 years ago.

This is the before, farther down the driveway.

far the biggest change to the yard that we made was having the driveway paved. We've put this off for years for a few reasons. Not only is it an expensive project, I've also had some trepidation about the look of an asphalt driveway. I would have done concrete in a heartbeat, but we didn't even bother getting quotes for that because we knew it would be well out of our range. 

As an aside, this is a good reminder to get lots of quotes. The first quote we got to asphalt the driveway was more than twice the amount of the quote we ended up going with. I think the first company just didn't want the job so they purposely inflated the quote. 

A bigger concern for me was the look. I don't particularly love the look of a fresh black driveway. I think gravel is charming and more in keeping with our house and the area (our road, which is a private road owned and maintained by all the homeowners, is also gravel). And if I lived in an area where there wasn't much snow or ice, I think it would probably be perfect. But our driveway is big enough that it has to be plowed, and plowing a gravel driveway creates a huge mess. Every spring we'd have to scrap gravel out of the grass and the flower beds and the driveway sort of creeped into the lawn. 

To make matters worse, it was a huge ice rink that rarely thawed until late April. All in all, it was a pain. So, although I think I like the look of gravel more, the downsides were just too great. And I'll be honest here, Mr. Much More Patient really wanted it paved (far more than I did) and sometimes he has to get what he wants too.

This was taken at the end of the driveway last year when we had a couple of large spruces cut down by the electric company.

Anyway, the process of having the driveway paved was really simple. They came on a Saturday and graded our existing gravel, parked all their machinery there on Monday and were there at 8 a.m. Tuesday to pour the asphalt. They were finished by 2 p.m.

We will fill in around the driveway to level the lawn out with it, which will be a very nice improvement, and although I feel like it's a little black right now, I'm sure in a month I'll be saying I wish we had done it sooner.

We'll fill in the lawn up to the level of the asphalt so areas like this should look better in a couple months.

Even though we didn't really mean to concentrate on fixing up the yard this year, I might as well share the to-do list that has developed:

1. Re-roof the garage.
2. Paint the garage.
3. Install a pergola over the garage doors.
4. Have the driveway paved.
5. Regrade the lawn around the driveway to even it out.
6. Paint the garage doors (temporary solution until we can replace them in the future).
7. Redo side/back garden beds (partially finished).