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toronado3800

Picea in a screen suitable for St Louis / juglone tolerance?

My plan is to use two spruce cultivars, perhaps a Picea punges 'fat albert' and Picea orientalis 'skylands' as part of a visual screen to hide a corner of my property which must be left weedy.

The spot is midway up a long hill.

Clay base soil but thanks to the hill it drains well

zoysia grass taking over...

Two 25 ft walnuts growing up through the weeds so juglone tolerance is necessary

A pair of 8ft attractive redbuds growing in the front of the pile. They are loosing their lower branches though and no longer providing screening.

Invasive Honeysuckle and annoying Grape vine in the weeds on my neighbor's side so I have to leave a 4-6 foot path for my mower to pass between the screen and the "weed pile"

To oversimplify:

East is up, south to the right, west down, north left

So my questions are:

1 - Can I expect to grow both these Piceas here? I understand the Skylands might benefit from more shade so perhaps it should swap spots with Fat Albert?

2 - I'll take random shrub suggestions. Otherwise I love barberries (Berberis amurensis), a freaky variegated Holly (ilex) and viburnum.

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