Hi j-g,

In some of the new construction here (in Switzerland, believe it or not) they use a 1.5' wide bed of Bamboo for the length of area needed. Bamboo can quickly get out of hand if not bedded right, I think, and grows REALLY fast.

If you plant the bamboo between your shrubs (move them forward into your yard a foot or so) and let the shrubs slow-grow, the bamboo will have room to power-grow. Eventually the shrubs will grow into the bamboo's area and the bamboo can be thinned out or gotten rid of. The bonus: If your neighbor does not control his side of the bamboo, he will not have room for his junk!

Just an uneducated idea on what a friend did!

Tschuss!
B

No bamboo hardy in USDA 4. Lilacs won't like the shade and can be seen through all winter. Arborvitae probably best bet. If these grow thinly try to see about removing some of the taller trees and getting more light in. If they grow slowly review mulching and irrigation situation. If they are not mulched much better response can be expected after they are mulched (just don't bury the crowns with mulch). If they are new and came balled in burlap check inside rootballs for dryness due to differences in soil texture between rootballs and surrounding soil.

We have a similar situation here and have had great success with buddleia - I just checked and some will be okay in your zone. We give ours fertilizer spikes every March and they grow significantly taller than their stated average (one reached 20' last year). If I knew how to post a photo here I would do so!

There's some more compact varieties too if you want that layered appearance. I found a link for you that I also found interesting!

Here is a link that might be useful: decidious shrubs

Thanks for your help. I'll check out your ideas.

Butterfly bush is not hardy in USDA 4. Since they concentrate the material into a column instead of spreading it out through the entire rooting area fertilizer spikes are an ineffective way to fertilize. You are also paying extra to have the granular fertilizer formed into an inefficient spike shape. Butterfly bush is not a particularly likely shrub to need regular fertilization under local conditions, where it has in fact become a pest species. 20' tall specimens (without fertilization) are not rare here, I have seen multiple examples myself.

bboy, the information I provided indicated certain strains of buddleia will survive zone 4. That's not my opinion, it's information about them from those who know. The best advice is always to consult with a reliable local nursery/horticulturalist before purchasing/planting.

I disagree with your opinion that fertilizer spikes are an ineffective and expensive way to fertilize buddleia. Possibly where you are? Certainly not here. It depends what you want,I guess. We want - and now have - a 20' tall, full, reliable screen that produces countless deep purple 1-foot-plus-long blooms all season and is also a hummingbird and butterfly magnet. In the wild (without fertilizing) they look weed-like with sparse, small blooms.

Considering the fertilizer spikes we use are 20 cents apiece (we use five of them) and we have a 100% privacy screen covered in blooms to block an unsightly yard across the road, I don't feel that is either expensive or ineffective.

BTW, we live rurally and the specimens I'm talking about were dug up for free(with the owner's permission) from a lot about to be bulldozed to build a house. They grow wild here and we like to naturalize as much as possible . I wouldn't dream of putting them in my rose garden or other more cultivated areas. As a perimeter screen, they have worked perfectly. I guess what constitutes a "pest" is in the eye of the beholder.

Best wishes,

Sue

Keep the arborvitae where they are, put groups of lilacs in the corners and other deciduous shrubs (mockorange, physocarpus, weigela, spiraea) in front of the arborvitae - try to avoid an orderly row and have shrubs of different mature size. I'm guessing you'll need the most privacy in summer, or am I wrong?

I agree with Westcoast Gardener Butterfly bush is hardy to zone 4. I have it growing in my back yard (thanks for your imput). Timbu, I've considering the idea of putting lilacs in front of the arborvitae. My only concern is blocking out the arborvitae with too little sunlight. Yes, I need the most privacy in the summer. Unfortunately this is a neighbor that never stops complaining & staring so he's really difficult to be around. That's why I've considered moving the arbors and going with a tall row of lilacs for fast privacy.

Timbu beat me to the punch a bit - here in this part of the world where the "brown season" might be the week between the first killing frost and the first snowfall, bare branches can go a long way in filtering unfriendly views.

I was just going to add to the list for layering or mixed borders - flowering almond, burning bush, alpine currant, viburnum, Northern Lights series of azaleas. The only problem I see with lilacs close to the fence is that ultimately they will arch over the fence into the neighbor's.

Look into some of the other types of conifers; some of the newer cold hardy boxwood. Drawbacks would be relatively slow growth or, in the case of some of the conifers, potential monsters down the line.

People who don't live here will find something lacking in any type of plant material that posters mention, but oddly enough, much of it works when at least zone appropriate and succeeds despite sun/shade conditions, etc. thought to be less than ideal - not to mention a backdrop of limbed spruce (old Norways?)

While I live in gardening Eden at this time in my life I grew up in eastern Canada and am all too familiar with bitterly cold and very long winters. I smiled at duluthinbloom's description of the "brown season".

In agreement with duluthinbloom's suggestion regarding viburnum - my parents' garden (eastern Canada) had a privacy screen that was a beautiful combination of lilacs and "snowball bush". It is hardy to zone 3 and was a lovely companion to those lilacs, for height, contrast and a season (berries and foliage) that extends beyond the blooming season.

Maybe check out (if you haven't already) the Minnesota Gardening forum; some have had success with certain types of bamboo in your zone. Don't forget there are two types of bamboo: clumping (non-invasive) and running (highly invasive). Also for some foliage interest/contrast there are some ornamental grasses that you can also consider and there's a forum for that on gardenweb, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Viburnum opulus 'Roseum'

"Over the past few years, the Teaching Research Extension (TRE) nursery at the University of Minnesota has trialed a few buddleia cultivars to establish whether any of them could tolerate Minnesota winters. What we have established is that, indeed, there are no reliably root-hardy Buddleia davidii cultivars for us"

Here is a link that might be useful: Yard & Garden Line News