Jokie,

I've thought about this for a couple of hours and I don't have a lot of answers for you. If you had sun instead of shade, then there are a lot of heirloom own-root roses that would give you a fragrant plant that occasionally flowers and has enough thorns to serve as a barrier. The shade is a real deal-breaker. Anything I can think of that has flowers + thorns + fragrance won't do well in shade. I can't think of anything that has thorns, fragrance, flowers, grows in shade and can handle our winters.

The plant that would best meet your needs would be a holly, and most hollies have teeny-tiny flowers that are incredibley fragrant but almost invisible to the naked eye. There is one shrub that comes to mind that might meet all your requirements, except it doesn't have thorns. However, it does have very, very prickly spiny leaves. It isn't a holly, though, even though it has the word holly in its name. [If I ran the world, you know, I'd give plants names that make sense because I happen to have a Desert Willow tree, too, that is NOT a desert plant and NOT a willow.)

Although it does not have thorns, Oregon Grape Holly (Mahonia) has lovely, glossy, prickley leaves that will tear up anyone trying to climb through the shrub. In the spring, it has lovely yellow flowers and, on some of the named cultivars, the flowers have a lovely scent. The flowers are followed by clusters of dark blue berries that are marginally edible, although I wouldn't eat them. I think Oregon Grape Holly is what I would plant under the window and under the redbud, UNLESS it is a southward-facing window or (God forbid) a westward-facing window. If that side of the house faces south or west, I'd only plant it if the shade is fairly heavy. If it is still a youngish redbud that does not make a lot of shade yet, I'd search for a part sun/part shade plant that can take southern/western sun late in the day in Jun-Aug. In those circustances, on the southern edges and western edges of our woodland, we have prickly pear cactus that does surprisingly well in part shade, although it doesn't bloom as lavishly in part shade as in full sun.

Dawn

Thanks Dawn!

I'll give the Mahonia a shot. That area never sees the direct light of day. Even though it is on the south side of the house, it's also between my neighbor's house and mine. Plus, it's a full-grown and very full red bud.

Thank you very much for the advise.

-j

You're welcome. I meant to attach a link so you could see Oregon Grape Holly. It is very attractive while young and only gets better looking over time.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Mahonia aquifolium

I had to laugh when I read this post....and no doubt you ladies are serious!

If you are really, really serious, cut down the redbud and plant the worst, thorniest rose with the sweetest smell possible. A Seven Sisters rose bush comes to mind. It isn't particularly beautiful, it isn't the most aromatic, but the thorns! The size! I'm trying to picture myself at 17 or 18 years of age trying to climb past it and I think the Seven Sisters would win!

That would be my choice if it were my daughter!

P.S. When our daughter was 17 we lived on the 32nd floor of a high rise in San Francisco, so we didn't have to worry about the knuckle heads coming from that direction....

Robert

Too funny! All of my stories are before the common use of cell phones.

I never had to worry about my daughters going out the window but I did have a few occasions when the guys came to the window to talk.

The worse one though was when we lived in base housing and the Colonel's son just across the alley from us would throw eggs at the 2nd floor bedroom window to get my daughters attention. My DH noticed this nasty looking window screen and asked my daughter about it. She told him the story. So he looked out of her window and couldn't see eggs on his window, but did notice an awful mess on the roof below. She said, "OK, so Randy is a better shot than I am."