By Gary L. Wade
Georgia Extension Service
Volume XXVII
|
Sometimes an important function of your landscape is to
screen off objectionable
views or create a space for privacy.
Plants used for screening are usually evergreen and 15 to 20
feet tall or taller.
They should be tough plants that thrive on neglect once
established.
Here are some choices:
Leyland Cypress. It’s widely available but grows to
120 feet and is
susceptible to canker diseases and bagworms in stressful
weather. Ice storms
can be a problem, too. With its size and disease problems,
it’s slowly falling
from grace. There are better choices.
Burford Holly. A durable plant, it grows to 30 feet
with an equal
spread.
Dwarf Burford Holly. Somewhat smaller, it’s still
not really a dwarf,
growing to 15-20 feet with an equal spread.
Little Gem Magnolia. A dwarf magnolia, it reaches
about 20 feet tall
and 12 feet wide. It’s a great evergreen screen that
tolerates drought.
Osmanthus Fragrans. A tough plant for tough sites,
it grows 30 feet
tall with an equal spread, so it needs lots of room. It has
fragrant blooms
in November.
Yoshino Cryptomeria. A fast-growing evergreen with
soft foliage texture,
it grows to 40 feet with a spread of 15-20 feet. There have
been reports of
bot canker and other problems in stressful sites.
Foster Holly. This upright, evergreen holly has
narrow leaves and
brilliant winter berries. It grows up to 30 feet tall and 15
feet wide.
Nellie R. Stevens Holly. A tough holly, it grows to
25 feet and 15
feet wide.
Loropetalum (white and pink forms). Most
cultivars reach 15
to 20 feet at maturity and make a great background plant
with showy spring
blooms.
Small Anise Tree (Illicium parviflorum)
. This tree grows
in sun or shade, but tends to be more compact in the sun. It
reaches 15 to
20 feet tall, but requires irrigation during dry periods.
It’s a tough, pest-free
plant when it’s well-established.
Wax Myrtle. This is a great plant in south Georgia,
particularly in
a moist site. It may have occasional cold damage in north
Georgia. It grows
15 to 20 feet tall and wide.
Canadian Hemlock. University of Georgia
horticulturist Mike Dirr calls
it “one of the best evergreens” in his book. It’s a great
screen for moist,
shady sites, lending a soft texture to the landscape.
Thorny Elaeagnus (Elaeagnus pungens).
This plant prefers
to be used as a background screen plant, since it grows a
foot a week in summer.
It’s one of the toughest plants going and grows 15 feet high
and wide. It’s
best left alone, since pruning to maintain a size or shape
is futile.
Many other evergreens can serve as screens. Pines, for
instance, make a fast-growing
screen when young, but their lower branches will thin out with
age. Pines can
be kept as an evergreen hedge with pruning.
Bamboo makes a great screen if you select the clumping forms
and avoid the
more invasive running types.
Native red cedar makes a tough screen plant, too. But with a
female tree that
fruits heavily, seedlings can be a nightmare.
