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Need fast growing shrubs

6 years ago

Any ideas for fast growing shrubs to add to my foundation garden (UNDER the TRIPLE WINDOW) to cover up my 1970s brick? The three boxwoods pictured are sooooo slow-growing. I've had them for three years, and they're still tiny little squats. I am thinking maybe hydrangea or knockout roses interspersed between the boxwoods? But maybe I need more evergreens instead?

I'm in zone 6b. Lots of deer. Morning sun. Afternoon full shade, except on corner of house, where it stays sunny.

(For the side of the house, between the garages, I have two rose bushes--just can't see them in this pic, since it's winter. I'm open to ideas for that spot too--that side gets full sun.)

Thank you in advance!!!

Featured Answer

c t

6 years ago

Deer at my house eat almost everything. The only side of the yew they didn't eat was the side they'd have actually had to climb the porch steps to get to. Barberry; maybe it's thorniness will deter them, though it's been listed where I live as an invasive shrub and will soon be illegal to purchase. Rugosa roses come to mind.

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Comments (9)

promise37
Original Author
6 years ago
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mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
6 years ago
Where are you? Not a zone, a place.
promise37
Original Author
6 years ago
Northern New Jersey :-)
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
6 years ago
The roof overhang may be causing issues because of the lack of rain. If that is true, then anything in that bed will need watering to grow well.

Boxwoods are about the only evergreen my deer won't touch. I'm assuming you have a type of English box. I have some sort of Korean box that grows fairly quickly, and may be worth seeking out. Green Mountain is a Korean hybrid that fairly quickly reaches 6 ft.

The roses won't like the lack of sun, and I don't like the look of hydrangeas in the winter.
promise37 thanked mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
laceyvail 6A, WV
6 years ago
Deer will enjoy both the roses and the hydrangeas. Appropriately chosen grasses would hide most of the brick and are deer resistant, but you'd have a period every early spring when they'd be cut back and you're waiting for regrowth.
Embothrium
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Fence out the deer or you will always be limited by the pressure they exert. Even kinds that they don't eat may sometimes be mauled by bucks trying to get rid of velvet.
kitasei
6 years ago
Look at the great Rutgers website rating deer resistance. It’s especially useful for you in NJ. The other best intelligence can be gathered from your own Neighborhood. See what does well. Deer herds seem to have very localized palates. Also you don’t have to fence your whole property. There are examples of unobtrusive fencing around foundation plantings. Sometimes it only needs to be in the winter. We wish you luck and pray that your boxes don’t succumb to the blight that’s doomed them too. (Sorry to inject that sad news..)
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I have a garden in NJ (Zone 7), and DEER. I have the following plants that the deer have ignored over the years (given your location of partial sun):

Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) and holly species (though I HAVE SEEN them nibble on them under heavy snow conditions, still, I find it a relatively fast grower, mine seems forever out of control anyway.)

Cherry Laurel (it's a pretty fast grower too but flowers will attract bees)

rhododendrons

boxwood (so far, I have seen no evidence of blight)

Fargesia bamboo (its' a clumping species, NOT a spreader)

In sunnier areas, I use ornamental grasses, crape myrtles, butterfly bush (which is semi-deciduous many Winters), and Lilacs.

P.S., my grounds were hedged with barberry but I HATE that plant and ripped them all out..., thorns are awful!

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