Anyone?

little antsy there with no replies in 4 hours.. lol ...

is there a bed out there .. thats what i would work on this summer.. be ready for fall planting ... in the mean time.. some sunflowers.. will give you an immediate impact for this summer ...

dont get wrapped up.. all in a long term goal ... think about shorter termed solutions.. for this summer ...

i might kill the grass with round up .... rent and run a rototiller as close to the fence as i could.. without hurting myself ... and plant the sunflowers...

then spend the rest of the summer.. perfecting the bed.. and a plan for fall planting ...

and for such.. with that rather large yard.. a collection of lilac ... scented viburnum like mohawk ... tamarix ... quince ...

the skys the limit with flowering shrubs ... but the sunflower will get you something in 60 days ...

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=tamarix&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi864fD0vPMAhVE_IMKHTCYADMQ_AUIBygB&biw=906&bih=745&dpr=0.9

Well I wanted to go to get some plants today so was curious what others may have thought for some ideas before I went..so yeah after 4 hours I did get a bit antsy lol

Viburnums--there are so many--V. dilatatums, sargentiis, nudums, dentatums. One of my favorites is V. sargentii 'Susquehanna' an enormous shrub, now in bloom in my zone. And then there are the evergreen ones if they'd be hardy for you. Start researching. Also great are Magnolia stellatas--several cultivars available and all beautiful. And all the other great deciduous Magnolias---not cheap plants, however.

That's a big space, so I say plant everything.

I would do a mixed shrub border with various small/medium trees every now and then. My mixed borders include conifers, broadleaved evergreens, all sorts of paniculata hydrangeas, azaleas, lilacs, ornamental grasses, Japanese Maples, several dogwoods, viburnums, sambucas, Lespedeza, spirea, holly, crape myrtle, witch hazel, with loads of perennials fronting everything. I did everything on a fairly reasonable budget by buying small and being patient- over the course of 6-7 years it has all filled in very well- it was as bare as yours eight years ago.

when i moved from suburbia.. to the country ... i just bought one of each that i found on sale ... you can always get rid of mistakes later ...

ken

Yeah..I usually buy whatever is on clearance in the fall..some work, some don't..I always hated lilac bushes because of their lack of appeal after they flower, but since you mentioned it Ken, I kinda think it would be a great fill in bush!! And they have some variety so I don't need to get the classic lilac bush either..

Cearbhaill I love your screen...I feel like you have a lot of trees surrounding your property though so you can get away with more, where as I am in the city and my house is facing the street along with other houses so I feel like certain trees might not look right like it does with yours? Like I love that Christmas tree type tree in the first pic, but I feel like that would look awkward in my area? Lol

".I feel like you have a lot of trees surrounding your property though so
you can get away with more, where as I am in the city and my house is
facing the street along with other houses so I feel like certain trees
might not look right like it does with yours?"

I'd get busy planting some. Spend the summer prepping the beds and planning and start adding trees this fall- it's the optimum time for planting with most of them.

Hit up every nursery and garden center in your area this fall and look for clearance items. Dogwoods, maples, even oaks- you have the room.

Go to evergreenplantnursery.com and buy everything that floats your boat- they are cheap and small but he will do you right by sending healthy plants and they grow quickly. Nine tenths of the conifers in my yard started out as $5.95 plants from Darren. By getting the trees in first you establish the "bones" of the garden and give them a chance to settle in and start growing. The next year use the available budget for large-ish shrubs, the next year do smaller ones, then perennials and groundcovers. But get the largest going first so you get some size in there sooner rather than later.

It can be done on a budget with patience. Not to say I haven't had my splurges, but that Fernspray Gold (Christmas tree like) came to me for $5.95 at about ten inches tall a few years ago.

Babs thank you for such a detailed answer! And I will look into that page you told me about, I'm kinda excited to see what that's all about. Cear I will check that page out as well I did score a few clearance shrubs 2 days ago actually..I took Kens advice and looked for lilac and viburnum and I found both on clearance..I got a dwarf (8') Korean Lilac and 2 of the sterile snowball viburnums all for $30! So that's not too bad..not evergreen but still pretty large bushes(eventually) that will eat up some space...I figure in front of fence facing street I have 3 baby tri colored Beech trees about 3 years old and on my side of the fence I now have 2 purple smoke trees that are SUPPOSED to grow pretty large, and the lilac that has 8'-10' spread and height, and the viburnums that get like 12'-15' spread and height..plus those dappled willows which I think I'm going to move and place the viburnum in their spots...not sure when is the best time to make that switch though because is got really hot really fast here and those bushes are only a year old? So I need to look up best time/way to transplant a willow bush?? Thank you all for such great detailed answers..garden forum is the best place to find such knowledgeable people when it comes to this stuff..I swear I learn so much from all of you!! Just by reading posts that aren't even mine I learn..I sound like I know what I'm talking about when I talk to people at the nurserie now hahaha

Just want to say a few words about purple smoke varieties. Even in my zone, they regularly experience considerable winter damage and are best grown as cut back shrubs. They'll flush new growth 6-8 feet, but will NEVER reach the size of the straight species, which can easily get to 15 x15 feet. So you might want to place those purple smokes in the front line of the border with something larger backing it and count on cutting it back every year.

Yes, here purple smokes die to the snow line every year.

I wouldn't put something in back of the smoke bush if you want the smoke effect created by backlight..

cearbhaill -evergreenplant nursery was not a very helpful link. I'm afraid that when things get hot and I'm stuck indoors on the computer I might put together a big fall order.... or I could do it this week :)

Ness, I think you have some fun in store and some good advice to steer you along. Don't be afraid to remove anything which gets to big, which probably doesn't seem like something you'll need to worry about now but in a few years...

Also look into taking cuttings. Many of the things you have are easy to multiply via cuttings taken in June. You'll have way too many plants in no time and will be shopping for a chainsaw before you know it.

All great points, but seeing I've already planted these things wouldn't it hurt more to move them? When would be an okay time to dig them up and transplant them?

With smokebush being a die-back plant in zone 5, smoke isn't an issue since it flowers on old wood.

Thanks for that heads up, Babs. I'm in 6b so likely to have dieback sometimes too. Can it be protected?

I have a question, all the tree, shrubs, grasses, etc that I'm trying to plant are to the right of a maple tree..I heard these (maples) tend to steal all the water and nutrients making the stuff planted aside of it struggle? Is this true?

I have the same question, I want to create a screen where I already have a maple and I'm wondering how close I can plant to it

Erin I will say I got rid of my maple and planted a crab apple....so far my plants seem to be thriving but I'm not sure if that's due to the maple being gone, or all the rain we've got here this season...regardless I'm happy it's gone. I hated that tree because it aside of having a mature tree where everything else are babies it did nothing for me. No esthetics, no real shade, nothing. The leaves were purple but always looked brown to me...and then they'd just turn really brown and die in the fall...so no pretty fall foliage either like you can get w some maples. So yeah I'm not much help, but I will say just be careful with what you decide to plant near it.

It's been more than a year. Hope everything is growing well.

no one mentioned vines. Morning glories would cover that fence and

will reseed. Would like to see native coral homersuckle there too.

Josephene are either of those invasive? Like will they go into my lawn, and onto my trees/shrubs? Or will they stay on the fence? I planted a vine but right now the vine is only one little vine barely going up half the fence...it's trying though