I don't know kudzu in person but I would be careful about replanting with valuable shrubs too soon. If Kudzu is as problematical as people say, it is unlikely that pulling will have eradicated it and it is quite likely to sprout again in the spring and start engulfing your new shrubs. Getting vines out of plantings is much harder than doing it in clear ground. From what I've read about it mulching will not deter kudzu. I think I'd do a season with cheaper disposable plants like annuals just to be sure the kudzu has been beaten.

I'd wait too until I was sure the kudzu wasn't going to resprout. When I cleared trumpet vine out of a large area several years ago, it was 2 full seasons before it quit sprouting; I patrolled the area carefully every week and shot any new sprout with Roundup.

Very good suggestions so far. Thank you. I definitely will keep my eye on that kudzu over the coming season to see if I got it. I too would be surprised if I did.

I also need to add to my original post to say that I'd like evergreen shrubs in this area. Thanks again for the suggestions.

nothing stops growing at some magical height or width ...

its all about how fast it gets there... and ergo ... how fast you have to start pruning it ...

also .... everything newly planted.. requires at least one season of proper watering .... even if it is claimed to be drought resistant ...

did you just pull out the K .... or did you treat the parts left in the ground???

ken

"nothing stops growing at some magical height or width ..."
You sure on that? Seems I've heard the opposite.

"did you just pull out the K .... or did you treat the parts left in the ground???"
I really got down there and pulled out huge root balls and what at least seemed like most of the plant. I would not be surprised at all if it came back in some way, but it's not like I just pulled the vines off and called it a day. I'll probably keep an eye on the area and hit it with round up over the next season and see if I can beat it.

Yeah, hey Kin, sounds like you're on the right track, and I too would expect some return of the invasive vine. With the really bad ones-your kudzu, buckthorn, honeysuckles, on into the Brazilian peppers and all the rest down in Florida, it usually leads to at least some degree of chemical warfare for a while, maybe 2 or 3 years, after which things often get quite easily manageable. That's with the mulch option. I too would recommend working on site preparation longer before even beginning to plant permanent vegetation. Get the stuff that's really going to give you grief out of there before putting a lot of work and $$ into things that will make control of the kudzu more difficult.

+oM

wisconsitom Thanks much! That's starting to look like the best plan, I agree.

Full sun? Good drainage?

Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia yep

I would say, once your weeds are totally gone, maybe on of the larger Indian Hawthorns or Dwarf Burford Holly, or maybe Carissa Holly. Just some ideas.

Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia Thanks so much for the actual plant suggestions! I like the Hawthorne idea. I need to make good and sure it's well drained if I'm going to do one of those there though.

I just looked at Wiki and see that Kudzu can be a problem child, though I kind of like the look of it draped over everything.

But apparently it is very good for your soil, being a legume, and it seems to me that it could have resided under a thick layer of newspapers topped with mulch of some kind to hide those newspapers. The beauty of newspapers and/or cardboard in a thick enough layer is that certain weeds cannot get through.

Also, I think using chemical sprays would be a shame when there are healthier options that in fact improve soil and life in general.

Oh, and it's a great time of year for doing the newspaper thing over that side of the globe. It can be hot work in summer when putting mulch on top of newspapers, depending on the mulch you are using. I highly recommend huge whopping loads of Autumn leaves. Delicious. Light. Wonderful. And people love you taking them away.

And three suggestions for shrubs are:

Abelia grandiflora nana

Elaeagnus

Osmanthus

Abelia grandiflora Nana is I think nicer than the taller one (Abelia X Grandiflora) It will lose some of its leaves in Winter but not all. It will need only the occasional wayward piece removed.

Elaeagnus and Osmanthus are both evergreen, have strong leaves and can cope with a lot of pruning if you want to make them into a thick screen. And they produce an insignificant flower but it's highly scented. You will wonder where the nice smell is coming from.

Eleagnus in my part of the world are bad invasive junk plants. Russian olive and autumn olive come to mind. I'd not recommend those to my worst enemy. since the birds would likely deposit seed on my property! Maybe there are native plants in this genus, but please do not make a bad situation worse by planting more of these non-native types.

Amazingly, it wasn't too awful long ago that Russian olive was still an offering in the "wildlife shrubs" section of our state DNR nurseries sales brochures. While the subsequent change to native-only gladly got rid of these inappropriate plants on that list, it also eliminated some worthy items such as Norway spruce and European larch. I think that was/is a mistake.

+oM

Over 50 species of Eleagnus! Wild Eleagnus pungens is a pest. Some of the tamer variegated ones might actually be a good fit for this situation -- for example Elaeagnus x ebbingei 'Gilt Edge' or 'Eleador'. It will require some maintenance pruning though, and OP wanted low to no maintenance.