I just planted an Irish Yew next to my front steps. I had Sky pencil elsewhere but it has proved a very poor grower for me. One went over in a snow storm. The nursery man told me that they have an underdeveloped root ssytem. The Irish yew is 6 foot tall and may be 9 inches wide. It appeared to need little if any pruning---I am a low maintenance kind of gardener. Not cheap, however. The ones in my nursery ranged $100 to $300 per. The person at the nursery told me that it could hit 10-15 feet. I would check into their suitability in the Georgia summer. An additional feature of this plant is that if you have other yews in your foundation plantings, the foliage in the Irish yew will be similar.

Rheum is also pretty wide, only very tall when in bloom I think. I agree with the Thalictrums and Aconitums though. I adore my T. rochebrunianum, whoes flowers look like 'pink mist'. I am also crazy about Monkshood, but many are not since they are so poisonous. Might I also suggest Foxglove (common but pretty) and Ligularia, which has great foliage and tall flowers. Martagon Lilies do fine in a shady area. My 'Robustissima' Anemone is in nearly full shade and does wonderful. It is about four feet tall and always has lots of blooms! CMK

Pumpkin, my experience so far with the running shoots is that the first week of June, and also the first week of September, they pop up in the lawn around my bamboo at distances of 2 to 4 foot from the outskirts of the original plant. I mow them off once, and they're gone. No problem. Nothing compared to my neighbor's dang seedless cottonwood. However, I am still in the learning stage with the bamboo. I think my original 3 had maxed out in height and strength at about how you see them in that post referenced earlier. Since they didn't seem to be getting any bigger, and would die to the snow line each winter, I decided to try covering one with plastic last winter from Thanksgiving to end of March...... and BOOM What a difference. That plant tripled in height and density. It now finally really looks like bamboo. It's about 8 or 9 foot tall, and you can't see that kids play castle behind the bamboo any more. So, now that the one plant has changed by an order of magnitude, I don't know what the runners will do this fall and in the spring. I'll have to wait and see. I'm really wondering what a 2nd winter of plastic cover will do to the thing! One thing I've found about Bamboo is it's an exciting and fascinating plant to grow. Just how close is that fence, and what is in that space between? What does the neighbor have growing on the other side of the fence? If you have 4 foot of lawn between the bamboo and the fence, then I think you'll be good. Usually I can see those runners sneaking out just under the thatch of the lawn, and could probably get most of them before they head sunward. If the neighbor just has lawn on the other side of the fence, they they can just mow as always, and nothing will come of it. But if they have a flower garden or something there, then it could be trouble, unless the neighbor decides they like the look of bamboo.

Most herbs should tolerate even intense heat without issue. Many are Mediterranean in origin and are accustomed to full-on sun, baking heat and lean soils. Rosemary, thyme, sage (Salvia officinalis), lavender and oregano all appreciate this sort of aspect and treatment. And since both the rosemary and sage are shrubby, woody evergreen plants, they can be used to screen/shade the more delicate or heat sensitive plants like the lettuce and other greens.