Are Rhodies acid loving plants? I have been looking at rare find nursery. I do also realize that there will be some pruning involved. I have a Rhodadendron Bessie howell a few feet away from the spot where I want to put this hedge and its doing quite well. My concern is that the Rhodadendrons I have seen so far don't have the compact look that I would like in a Hedge. Granted I haven't seen many in real life having only recently taken up an interest in gardening. So I guess my questions are 1; You think that Rhodies will not do well near a foundation? 2; Are there types that provide compact growth as in a hedge? 3; Finally, are there any evergreen flowering alternatives in zone 5 to Rhodies for hedge plants? Thanks.

In Mass, you're going to want to choose BS resistant varieties and/or spray. Most of my shrubs that I regard as attractive and healthy have not been great repeat bloomers. Cinco de Mayo is almost never without blooms for me and has a wonderful shape and pretty foliage, but black spots like heck if not sprayed. New in my garden this year, and my most attractive new shrub, has been Lady of Shallot. It has a graceful branches, lovely foliage, flowered all summer with blooms that hold their color and shape. I expect it will get big though. Another 1st year Austin, Munstead Wood, is smaller and I hope it will stay so. IMO the shrub is not as pretty, bloom not as prolific, but I'd still rate it highly. My Austins have all gotten big, zone 5 has been no deterrent to that tendency. I had Graham Thomas planted in my front yard and had to move him because he wanted to be 10' tall. You mentioned Caramella being zone 6B, but I'd give that another look. On HMF, it's listed at zone 6B by default, but check out the Gardens tab and you'll discover people growing it in cold locations. I've chosen Caramella for 2014. Palatine rates it as zone 5, also Pickering sells it. They are both reliable resources for cold zone roses, also High Country if you're looking for own-root. Kordes has a good reputation for producing disease resistant roses and they have many cold hardy choices. Oh, and I've just ordered Ascot from Palatine thanks to Diane's frequent praise, crossing my fingers for cold hardiness!

It depends some on your dog, but I wouldn't count on a hedge to keep a dog in. At the least it will need a wire mesh fence in the inside of the hedge to keep the dog contained until the plants grow together. Even a well grown, mature hedge may have some gaps near the base which a dog could slide through, so it may continue to need a wire fence for the first two or three feet. This request may be a bit of a problem: "shaped like a box (not spherical and not pyramidal)" since in order to maintain dense foliage near the bottom of a hedge, you will need to taper it some so that the upper parts of the hedge don't shade out the lower parts of the hedge. To maintain a boxy tapered shape rather than a more rounded shape will require pruning to give you flat sides. Do you have deer? If not, there are forms of Thuja occidentalis that will stay shorter and will grow together to make a good hedge. I don't personally have experience with how they take to pruning since I like my plants unpruned for the most part. I have 'Sunkist' (green-gold) which will be easy to maintain in the 6'-10' range for quite some time based on mine as they seem to have slowed considerably at about 5'. I bought plants in the fall of 2007 at about 3'. As individual plants they are a bit floppy in heavy snow/ice situations, but that may be less of an issue with a hedge. 'Techny' is dark green and grows to 10'-15', and I have seen photos of it pruned into a hedge. I planted mine at about 4' in the fall of 2007 and they are about 6' now. I imagine that you can find other selections of this native evergreen that are dwarf in size compared to the regular species (which grows to around 40'.) If you have deer issues they aren't a good choice, but in my heavily wooded rural area, they haven't been bothered. spring 2010 From evergreen shrubs spring 2014 From evergreen shrubs Another possible choice to look into is a really hardy Rhododendron, though they will have a more rounded form and IMO don't look great pruned into boxy shapes and will make a more gently flowing shaped hedge. They will have the added benefit of spring flowers if you don't prune them. In really cold weather they don't provide a lot of sight privacy since the leaves tend to curl up, but most folks don't require a lot of privacy when the temperatures are below 15 degrees. The link below will take you to a search page from the American Rhododendron Society which allows you to put in height preferences. On left side of photoPJM rhododendrons in 3/4 shade (so not as dense as full sun,) about 5' at 6 or 7 years in the ground from >1' when planted. From evergreen shrubs You could ask this question on the shrub forum or the conifer forum for other suggestions beyond what you get here. It also might be worth visiting local nurseries (not big box stores which often have poor or inaccurate info and plants that may not be hardy here) to see what they have in stock that would fit your requirements. They could most probably order more to complete your hedge as it will take a rather large number of plants. Here is a link that might be useful: Rhododendron Plant Search

Oops sorry my intent was not to confuse or to incite "wonton lust" it was just pure ignorance. Mindy its good that you brought this up because I think I added the same frustration and confusion to the plant swap. Think I am going to move on to Mid Atlantic.just a square peg. Katy Mindy, Answering this one is like choosing which one of my three daughters is my favorite, which like every good parent I say is impossible. Then again if I had to chose right now as of this moment it is my oldest who is coming home next weekend for a non stop marathon in Excell instruction in the hopes that I will be able to combine records from junk drawers, sweat shirt pockets, ect. and put together a concise record and maintenance plan for the yard that extends beyond the present "Oh you mean the big bush in the front yard." Oops once again I digress here is my list of favorite shrubs as of November 6 at 10:00am. 1. Myrica pensylvanica I have fallen for the quiet elegance of this plant Zone (2) 3 to 6 suspect to 8 2. Ilex glabra compacta & shamrock I love how these shrubs work well in both full sun formal situations as well as shady woodland. Zone 4 to 9 3. Ilex koehne Wirt L Winn beautiful large leaf and great berries Zone 7 to 9 4. Ilex pendunculosa Zone 5 5. Ilex meserveae all blues??, and Nellie R Steven- Zone 6-9 6. Ilex Rock Garden Zone 6 - 9 7. Spirea pink flowering - what a color work horse Zone 4-7 (8) 8. Hydrangea macrophylia Altona great depth of color vivid blue/purple, good fall color, nice leaf, consistent bloomer. *** 9. Hydrangrea macrophylia Niedersachen great color and delicate petals. *** 10. Hydrangea Lilacina nice lacecap lavender petal blue center with added interest of great fall leaf color *** 11. Hydrangea quercifolia both Queen and Snowflake Zone 5-9 12. Vaccinium corymbosum Blue Ray Zone 3 to 7 (8) 13. Vaccinium angustifolium Zone 2 to 5 (6) 14. Clerodendrum trichotomum Zone 6 (7) to 9 15. Callicarpa japonica Luxurians just when I think all of the excitement has left the garden. Zone 5 to 8 16. Viburnum nudum Wintethur great fall color 17. Viburnum burkwoodii really formal shrub and the flower scent in spring is intoxicating Zone 4 to 8 18. Viburnum setigerum Aurantiacum wow the orange peach berries in the fall next to the burgundy leaves of Hydrangea Quercifolia. Zone 5 to 7 19. Chamaecyparis obtuse Nana Zone 4 to 8 20. azeala Polly Hills Yuka 0 to minus 10 degrees 21. Rhododendron Cunninghams White re-blooms in the fall - ? Check with your local nursery This is a great thread I have already added too many selections to my spring wish list. I am particularly lusting after the swamp azalea. Katy *** I grow more varieties of hydrangea macrophylia than I want to admit to either my DH or you and considered to the best of my ability what I thought was a special macrophylia that to date has been under used in New England.