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Can you plant tall Cherry Laurels & Crape Myrtals close to a pool

11 years ago

I used to have wild stringy trees growing in a patch of ground by the corner of my pool (with a sidewalk in-between) but I cut it down so it wouldn't turn into trees and eventually become a problem. But, now I have no privacy and I miss having something tall in that corner. I'm thinking that the skinny trees wouldn't have been a problem for a long time and I wish I had left them. What is something tall and tree like ... (the trees I cut down were up to the tree tops but they were almost as thin as Cherry Laurels) ...

Anyway ... any suggestions?

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Comments (3)

truxtc102
11 years ago
hi Nicole,
I'm not a tree expert but I do love them! If you just want a tall, tree like without taking up too much space, I think some sort of evergreen like Italian cypress, lyland, etc..would be good. If there's a pool, a palm tree would be awesome. I have some neighbors who plant regular shrubs and let them grow tall and they did great to give their yard some privacy. Hope it helps!
lascatx
11 years ago
Only a fool would plant crepe myrtles near a pool -- and the PO of my home was a fool! ;-)

I have 4 of them across the end of my pool. My neighbor had them near a pool at a previous home and said never again, but we are living with ours. They will create some more work for you.

The problem is having a gazillion blooms followed by a gazillion seed pods and another gazillion or more seeds -- as well as tiny twigs and branches, sometimes strips of bark that peel off and can blow in. It's just a more high maintenance cleaning issue, and I have been known to put pantyhose over the skimmer baskets to trap those darned seeds and tiny twigs. Since we weren't the original builders of the pool, I don't know for sure if the filter grids we had to replace were due solely to age or if some fine twigs got through and made holes. I didn't want to find out the expensive way. Mostly -- it's just the blooms and seeds and a lot of basket cleaning.

It's all I know, and they are pretty, so I deal with them. I don't plan to take them out unless they are dead or causing damage, but I would say consider the most common wind direction in the summer (blows into our pool, so across the street they might not be such a pain) and your proposed placement and suggest that you don't plant a line of them. They might be worth it to you. Just know what you are getting.
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What USDA zone are you in? 6B? 7A? You can expect Red Rocket to form a vase-shaped plant about 15 to 20 feet tall. Unfortunately that will shade out anything planted below or in between them unless you plant them very far apart -- like at least 20 feet, but then that defeats the purpose of using them for a screen. It's not the fastest growing crape, but all of them are fairly fast. Tuscorora and Biloxi are likely faster, but taller. That said, I would definitely consider using an evergreen (conifer or broad-leaf) for your screen for year-round privacy. Not sure how high you want to go. Green Giant can get quite large -- like 10-20 feet in diameter?? Look it up and if so, plant it the proper distance away from fence. Cryptomeria is similar in shape and also grows fairly quickly. Some don't like the bronzy look of foliage in winter. If you want something closer to the fence think about whether you'll have to do maintenance on the fence and how much (if any) room you'll need for that. Many hollies like 'Needlepoint', 'Oakland', and 'Nellie Stevens' might fill the bill. Skip laurels -- Prunus laurocerasus 'Schipkaensis' (with extra moisture in droughts), Bright n Tight Cherry laurels are some more ideas. Also consider Osmanthus x Fortunei, and even smaller southern magnolias like Teddy Bear and Little Gem (although that can eventually attain large size). Some of those I mention may need shearing depending on your size limitation which you did not give. This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Mon, Feb 17, 14 at 19:28
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Thanks, Dave. That's good to hear about the cherry laurels. It may be that seeding is a more serious problem in warmer climes, but I have a lot of ground to cover and like topsiebeezelbub can use the free plants. I'm also glad to get Pterostyrax's and your warning about ice damage problems with wax myrtle, which I hadn't heard about. I'm concerned about possible winter leaf burn making them unattractive in winter here in 7A/B, but given their extremely fast growth rate and positioning within a shrub border (once one grows up), I don't think occasional breakage will turn out to be an unacceptable problem. I do like their soft look, which you don't tend to find among the evergreens from colder areas. Suckering will work too, especially if it helps keep roaming deer and dogs out of my garden, though I'm not pinning any big hopes on that one. Dave, I've also been meaning to go take a few snips of a particularly nice mature shrub down at the post office. I haven't identified it, but I figure that doesn't matter when I can see what it's grown into surrounded with concrete. Lisa, pineapple guava and pittosporum are a couple of the more tender ones alluded to--both need special protection here and can still be lost in bad winters. Once my house is built, tho, I'm going to try to find a protected corner for the guava as it is lovely. It's doing well on a masonry wall at Vines Botanic Garden in South Gwinnett. Pittosporum is planted at every gas station and McDonald's in California, so I'm not so in love with it, handsome and serviceable though it is.
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Ginnypenny, not cold hardy for Maine, but it's perfectly cold hardy in zones 8, where stuff is safe down to 10 degrees, and zones up. I'm in N.W. San Antonio. Where does your sister in law live? Maybe some of the small hollies or Indian Hawthorns would be good, but I can't heartily recommend what I don't grow. I tried Carissa holly, but it died before it got established, probably because I wasn't watching it close enough through the summer, but you might take a look at it. I see lots of Indian Hawthorns in commercial plantings. Another one I see that stays nice and rounded is the small version of pomegranate. Here is a link that might be useful: Carissa holly ...
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Larry - BLE is Broad Leaved Evergreen. In the States the word 'evergreen' appears to be generally used for conifers so they distinguish between them and other evergreens. This is partly, I imagine, because in many areas BLEs are not very common being generally less hardy than conifers. I had to learn this term on these forums since it isn't really used much over here. There are so many BLEs here and they are so much more popular in gardens than conifers, that 'evergreen' covers them.
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anonapersona1st
11 years ago
Make a sketch of the area and talk to a local nursery. They will know what grows in your area and the mature sizes of the shrubs and trees. Some plants like Leyland Cypress are nice evergreens but may be too wide for the space. Fast growers are often weak limbed. If there is a fence you can start with a tree that branches out at the fence height. Avoid all blooms and fruit and any seeds. You probably want evergreens but may be OK with deciduous trees if the screening is not needed in winter. Be aware of plants that smell, I think some of the junipers smell like dog pee and I find that repulsive in an entertainment area.

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