Windbreak/Privacy Hedge with Narrow space - need advice

11 years ago

I would like to plant mainly a windbreak hedge on the West side of my house. I have a space where there is about 23ft between my house and the lot line but I don't want the trees/plants to grow over the lot line and we have a septic tank within this space.

I've been looking at some arborvitae and juniper and trying to figure out what to plant. Our soil is a decent top soil with clay a foot or so down. It is not a really heavy clay. I would love to be able to plant white spruce or something similar in this area but don't really have room for it. I tend to like arborvitae and juniper that look more like a pine tree than just a straight stick or a rounded bush.

I'm having trouble differentiating between the different types. Some that have appealed to me are:

Emerald Arborvitae

Juniper Virginiana, Mannhattan Blue

Hillspire Juniper

Medora Juniper

I struggle because when I look online sometimes I like the pictures of some of them and other times I hate the pictures of some of them. I don't know if I'm seeing the right kind of plant listed under these names or not.

Do you think that these would work ok with what I'm trying to do? Again, I would really like something that looks more like an evergreen tree (spruce or fir) than a shrub.

Will these possibly interfere with the septic tank that they will be next to?

Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
conifers are trees..

lets start with more fully discussing the septic issue..

how old.. how deep.. what type.. modern or old.. etc ...

and i dont understand a 23 wide spot called narrow .. please clarify that part ...

and how tall ...

ken
jlbartley
Original Author
11 years ago
The spetic is only 1 year old, this is a newly built house with no landscaping.

The 23 ft spot seems narrow to me for most pine trees. We're on a 3 acre lot and this is the narrowest part of the lot. There are only 23 feet of width between our house and the lot line for us to plant some sort of a windblock within. The septic tank sits within between the lot line and the house for part of the area that we need to plant a windbreak.

It's a single story house so I'm guessing approx 20 ft in height would be fine but would be good with taller as well.

I would love to do pine trees like spruce or something but if they get to be 20+ ft wide this does not seem like it would work for us. Any other ideas would be appreciated!
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Thanks again for very good advice. I will definitely try to be patient. I think just having any sort of greenery in there will help a lot. Now it just seems like a mass amount of wood. I think we will be okay if we plant it now, like War Eagle said. We had a nasty winter and the ground is finally thawed enough to dig. So long as we don't let them dry out back there, but in general, it is always moist and we will keep them watered generously over the summer. I have one more question - rather than extend our line of trees all the way across the back to the corner, i'm thinking of ending it at the corner of the pool, right before the waterfall that goes into the pool (which, right now, is a few two-by-fours that look like a football goal. We will eventually build a stone wall below it on that angle of the pool for visual interest.) That corner behind the waterfall is where we keep the pool's electrical box and heater. There is about a 5x5 foot space back there in that corner in front of the equipment. (see photo below). I wanted to plant something different that will contrast the Degroots Spire and be larger and grow above the waterfall. Could even be something deciduous as long as it's not messy over the summer when the pool is uncovered. We generally close our pool at the end of September before the leaves fall. Keeping in mind that back corner is moist, can you suggest something that can go back there (and that the root system won't mess with the pool's underground pipes too much? Or should i just run the Degroots all the way to the corner? Thanks again in advance! Denise
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Pierce, just be aware that you will need a male holly for every 5-7 female plants to get berries. Because you will be planting tightly, you might be able to stretch it to one per 10 females. Most of the male forms I know of are shorter growing than the females, in general. You could get around this by using 1-gallon males and planting in the same hole as the females/'Nellie R.Stevens' as you space them out - they can grow up and be available, but are 'hidden' among the mass of the females. I know 15 gal. 'Nellie R. Stevens' are available, but can't speak as to price. While the 'Nellie R. Stevens' are a good hedge plant, if you wanted to mix in another type of tree, the Thuja 'Emerald Green' (a.k.a. 'Emerald Beauty' or 'Smaragd') is another good hedging plant, growing fairly fast to 12-15', and about 3-5' wide. You can fairly easily find 5 gallon plants, at about 4-6' tall - and pay more for them than 1 gal. - so they might be good where you want immediate height. While running bamboos will provide a solid screen once they are established, they will also RUN!! I have pulled out runners that are up to 8' long, and about 6" deep, in the spring. As long as you mow faithfully, you can keep them in check. However, even asphalt won't stop them from coming up - cement MIGHT! You can buy barriers, but you need to make a 3' deep trench for the barrier to be effective, and even then, you will probably have to watch for escapees over the top. Clumping bamboos are much better behaved, and will expand, but stay where you plant them.
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mmajicmann
11 years ago
tough one to deal with online without pics...emerarld arborvites might have a shallow enough root system if strategically placed but are prone to winter burn without anti dessicant ... zone4? you will need to be able to access the tank so mark it in some way...how about something that will become wide enough yet can avoid septic tank location? i'm guessing 5 feet minimum away from tank for these... see link...google more info on them too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinus flexilis 'Vanderwolf's Pyramid'
skyjumper
11 years ago
if you get snow or deer, forget the emerald greens. plus they only grow 3 inches a year, and top off at 15 feet. I planted 25 of them and while they look really nice I have to constantly work to keep the deer off them, and to keep them from splaying in the winter.

if I were to do it again I'd plant Hetzi Columnaris Junipers. deer wont touch them and they have a strong single central leader to stand up to snow loads.
jlbartley
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you. I looked up the Hetzi Columnaris. Again, I find such inconsisitent pictures for what these actually look like when they're mature.

I found the link following link that had a picture of one and was wondering if someone could confirm if this is actually what they look like?

Here is a link that might be useful: Hetzi

Windbreak/Privacy Hedge with Narrow space - need advice

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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Windbreak/Privacy Hedge with Narrow space - need advice

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

jlbartleyOriginal Author

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