Shrubs/weeds/fences
Lizzy
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
My neighbor just put up a tall white vinyl fence only about 12 inches away from our tall shrubs. There isnt enough space for me to weed behind them. What can I do to keep the area (which is technically their property) from getting huge weeds? There is already a crazy vine that started in their property and took over our plants. Their fence will be blocking all the weeds from their view! I have worked really hard to maintain the crazy vine, but now it will be near impossible!
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Fencing Decision, Including Neighbor / Weed Overgrowth Issue
Comments (18)I don't know whether you plan to have lawn all the way up to whatever fencing you use, or garden bed, but if you do use plantings in front of the wall or fence, you could plan to maintain a sort of "DMZ" between plantings and wall or fence. So your actual garden soil would not be mounded up right up to the wall, but you might have a narrow stepstone pathway between it and the wall. This might not be as necessary if you followed the suggestion of concrete block. But with a wooden fence, it keeps the dirt and moisture off the fence, provides a little path for you to get behind shrubs or perennials for upkeep, and makes a less hospitable environment for spread of weeds, plus more options for weed control. I encountered this when I made a planting bed in front of part my wooden privacy fence. I needed to go right near the fence in order to have room in front for a seating area. I used an edging and airspace barrier a couple of inches from the wooden fence so the fence is less in danger, but the greatly improved soil (and watering) right near the fence line made the neighbor's vinca major and ivy very happy so it started coming up in the bed, whereas it had not been doing that before. So while I want to extend the pre-fence plantings to more of the fence, in these other areas I mainly want to break up the fence monotony, and I have several feet of depth I can use, so in my next iteration of this I plan to just leave a strip of the existing gravel and poor clay soil at the fence line, and plant farther out from that, using the little hellstrip to discourage weeds, and the ornamental plantings to hide this little pathway. Roundup (on occasion) is still my friend....See MoreTree? Weed? Shrub? Who knows, maybe you.
Comments (17)As I understand it, many mulberries in the US are hybrid crosses so all the talk about specific species may not be appropriate: http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/mulberry.html. At my house, we love our mulberry trees. Yummy berries all summer long. We have some two venerable trees and added two young trees ("Wellington" and "Illinois Everbearing"). Great pies and fresh out of hand. FataMorgana...See MoreZone 9b California Evergreen Shrub Recommendations For Fence line?
Comments (46)https://homeguides.sfgate.com/landscape-italian-cypress-43140.html Plant Italian cypress trees instead of installing a privacy fence. The plants can be planted as close as 2 to 3 feet apart to form a privacy barrier. They don’t take up much more space than a wooden fence and make a much more attractive natural barrier....See MoreGot a 4x4' raised cedar bed, next to a 6' privacy fence. Shrub ideas?
Comments (10)Without a general location (GA zone 7 is different than Cape Cod zone 7 or WA zone 7) panicled hydrangeas like those you listed will do the best in zone 7 with much sun of the various hydrangea species. Most of the other hydrangea species need afternoon shade or all day dappled shade since they naturally grow in the understory and are much needier of constant moisture. I love panicled hydrangeas, and in my cold zone 5 they color up well. Fom what I have read they may not do that in zone 7 unless you have cool late summer and fall evenings and nights. In your case, I would ask around to see how they behave in your area. If they don’t color well and just go from white to tan without the late summer reds, consider a type where the fall pink tones aren’t a big part of the appeal like Limelight or Little Lime which are both lime green and white, or White Diamond that stays very white almost until frost here. In the area where you have the box, I would remove the landscape cloth under it. That will allow the plants’ roots to grow into the soil under the boxes. The hardware cloth and gravel won’t be an issue for the roots, but the landscape cloth will interfere with movement of water and any deeper roots. And IME gardening in an area where voles are a constant issue, they don‘t seem to bother panicled hydrangeas at all. I have 5 of them in several gardens where other more succeptible plants have been killed while the hydrangeas have flourished....See More
Lizzy
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoThank you everyone!
@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 Yes, it is the black bindweed or the Fallopia convolvulus! I feel defeated!
@Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL that is exactly what I was telling my husband! We need to just move!
@cecily 7A I like the idea of putting pavers back there, but I am thinking the weeds will just take it over! Maybe it can keep it down though. Would pavers be better than stone? The fence is probably 60 feet long.
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoLizzy thanked cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)Lizzy
2 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK