I planted four oleanders (sorry, forgot to bring the CD that has a picture of it) along an east-facing fence a year ago. They only get morning sun and they just aren't doing anything. They grew like crazy for me facing north in Beaumont (half a zone away), but the ones I've seen here in 8b just don't have the look they do a little farther south.
ANYWAY... I want something between the fence and the street, partly for 'pretty' and partly to cut down the traffic noise (admittedly not all that bad, but busy residential). Has to grow fast and get big and bushy in sandyish soil along the edge of a ditch, and I'd love some suggestions. Would pampas grass be a good candidate? Any suggestions at all? Thanks!
Ann
okay, about this oleander...
I am going to say the old reliable, Carolina Cherry Laurel, it is evergreen grows fast has berries for the birds ans it is really pretty.
Elderberry is good too, but not evergreen.
Maybe your Oleanders are getting too much water being close to the ditch.
Here is a picture of my Carolina Laurels screening my compost area.
Josephine.
Thanks, Josephine -- that's one I don't know about. I'll look it up in the plant files and see what I can find out. Will they do well in morning sun only? Or do you know?
They do well just about anywhere. Here is a picture of the flowers.
Those are sweet. There sure were a lot of negatives on the plant files (I did notice your defense!) but then different strokes for different folks. I'm sort of WANTING an invasive here, as it will be the only thing planted and I want a LOT of it so I don't have to mow the grass along there.
I also looked up nandina, which I love. I had no idea it could get six feet tall, though! That might be a decent choice.
Hi there Ann
Take a look at sweet olive. Does well in part shade. Smells wonderful and blooms. I don't have one, but wish I did. Click on the link from plant files. Lots of positive reviews and comments.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1450/index.html
Richard
That's certainly an idea. From the pictures, it's hard to tell whether it's a shrub or a tree. Maybe that's in the pruning. All the comments on the scent are surely a plus, but someone's comment was that it was slow-growing. I wonder how slow. I mean, two years to reach a good height would be slow to some, not to me.
Staghorn sumac might be an idea. It definitely grows fast and is invasive, plus it has great fall color and bird food.
There do seem to be some contrasting reports. The report from 8b Bluffton South Carolina reads vigorous grower. Anyhow, I'm about to jump on a plane back to DFW. Will post some pictures of plants from my trip to Costa Rica.
Richard
PS the tornado situation might delay my situation.
Oleanders bloom better in full sun. I have one that receives morning sun and filtered shade that is on the east side of my property. Even though it is growing in almost solid limestone (I had bult up the area some with about 10 inches of soil), it grows so tall that I prune it back by 2/3 every 2nd or 3rd year. It does bloom. I do not water it unless we are in a severe drought.
A not so good photo of it a few years ago ...
Ann, I hate to tell you this, but Nandina is on the Texas Invasives list, so that might not be a wise choice. This is for the regular tall type, the dwarf kind is not, because it doesn't bloom so it can't be spread by birds.
I have had Nandinas around the foundation of my house for over 30 years, but I am taking them out now, I didn't know that they were on the invasive list till recently.
I have seen the reports on the plant files about Cherry Laurel all I can say is that I have had mine for 9 years and have no problems other than an occasional seedling. But all trees do that, look at the oaks and the pecans, seedlings everywhere, but they are beautiful and beneficial.
Of course you have to do what id right for you. Here is a link to the page.
http://www.texasinvasives.org/Invasives_Database/Results/Detail.asp?Symbol=NADO
Another photo after I planted an esperanza in front of it ...
Ann, I would advise you to not plant the tall nandina !!!! They are beautiful, but spread by underground runners and seeds. I have to troll for seedlings all the time so that I am able to pull them up easily. I have even resorted to cutting off the beautiful red berries so that they do not drop to the ground. It is a real job to get the runners up especialy when they are coming up near other plants that you do not want to destroy. I have 3 sweet olive that I adore. They have bloomed on and off throughout the past year. Mine are trees because I never pruned them except for taking off the lower branches. They grew fairly fast when the area in which they are planted had more sun.
The photo is somewhat deceptive. They cover a wider area than as depicted from the angle at which I took the photo.
Thanks for all the input! If I choose nandina, I'll be careful which one. I think the old hedge from when I was a kid was sweet olive; maybe I'll plant that. But how slow is slow?
Floridata has good things to say about Carolina Laurel. However, if you have small children, I would be careful about planting it as the fruit contain prussic acid and could be fatal if eaten. Although I have been warned not to plant it because it is invasive, that is not what I have found in the literature. I do worry about the toxic fruit, though. If you do like it, perhaps you could plant it in the background and put a row or rows of plants in front that would prevent little hands from reaching the fruit.
Have you considered planting a hedge made up of edible shrubs or trees?
The Royal Horicultural Society has list of plants that make good hedges:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1000/hedge_selection.asp
://www.floridata.com/ref/P/prunus_c.cfm
http://www.ecoterralandscape.com/html/Plantlists.htm
http://vegfamily.com/gardening/edible-yard.htm
I found a list of shrubs(listed as Texas Native Plants Database) produced by a nursery, but it contains lots of information on the shrubs in an easy to read chart format.
http://littlebendnursery.com/Shrub%20List.htm
I would vote against nandina because 1) constant fight w/ rhizomes 2) tends to get leggy and after a while you have a bare lower half.
Vote for osmanthus because of delicious frag. but they are moderate grower. If you buy 5 gal. plants, it might fill your area in 2 years. But I recently saw 1 gal plants at WM for about $5 and that size will take 5 years to fill up. You can grow as shrub or tree, depending on how you do your pruning.
Oleanders for me require hot, hot, hot conditions. I like it that I don't worry too much about watering them because they seem to fend for themselves.
How about experanza, aka tecoma? that is a relatively fast grower and my hummers love it!
not familiar w/ other plants discussed here.
I have 5 Sweet Olives that I planted in morning sun about 7 years ago. I love the fragrance, but they definitely are s..l..o..w growers for me and they do not fill in well. I'm glad they are some place in my yard where I can smell them but don't have to see them. Not pretty yet....
Are you familiar with the ole native Wax Myrtle? Fast grower, clumper, grayish green leaves that have a wonderful fragrance in the evening, and berries for the birds. Oh yes, and birds nest in them too. (Mockingbirds in mine.) You can keep them as tall shrubs (there is a dwarf variety too) or prune them into multi-trunked trees.
Brigidlily ~ I suspect you want a plant that will be evergreen to provide year around insulation from the road? That might be something to consider with some of the suggestions. In this zone, oleanders are deciduous.
Although I just picked up an Osmanthus, sweet olive and don't have any experience, the reading I've done indicates it can grow from 8 to 30 feet but doesn't mind heavy pruning. Easy to grow, tolerating urban conditions. The only problem you may have is it thrives in shady locations and tolerates mostly sunny sites. I haven't decided exactly where to plant mine yet but it is blooming. The blooms are insignificant but smell wonderful! (photo of bloom)
Pampas grass can be wicked to work around. The blades of grass are sharp. My neighbor has some plantings and they cut them to the ground and burn them off late winter. That would defeat the purpose of a barrier. He says they become too huge otherwise?
My sweetie has pampas grass, and if you run them one way across your skin, it's fine. The other way, it's the sharpest saw you can imagine! I thought about them, but I THINK they really need more sun than they'd get where I need them. I also looked at the sweet olive, and the only real negative about them is they may grow a foot in a year!
SO... forgive me, everybody, but I did what I consider the southeast Texas cop-out. I put five azaleas where the four oleanders used to be. They grow well down here, and they really can be pretty. I'd avoided them as much as I could, primarily because EVERYONE has them, but they should fill the niche. I got a cultivar called "George Tabor" which is described as white with a blush of pink. They should grow 8 - 10' high and 8' wide, so IF they take, they should be just about right. I ran out of room on my camera, but I'll take progression pictures.
Thanks so much for all the input. I really do want the sweet olive, but over at the other side of the house where it doesn't matter how fast they grow. Ah, the joys of zone entanglement.
If you get one, they say put in near a seating area, a walkway or an open window so the fragrance will be enjoyed. It is incredible! Good luck with the azaleas. Look forward to the photos. pod
I have oleanders, dwarf salmon pink, as a foundation planting on the east side of the house. They gett morning sun. They're two years old and are about 6 feet tall and reach just below the kithchen window sills. They are evergreen here in Houston and bloom heavily in the spring and intermittently throughout the rest of the year. I've had no disease or pest problems with them and they are surprisingly full considering they only have morning sun. I had a huge George Tabor azelia at the house I just moved from. It was glorious when in full bloom. I've given up on azelias because of the lacebugs. They turned into more work than they were worth to me for a couple of weeks of bloom per year.
I hear you, crowellli. I'm not thrilled about the azaleas but I think they'll be nice and do the job. And they ARE outside the fence!
It's funny what half a zone will do. When I lived in Beaumont, I had oleanders that grew so fast you could tell the difference from one day to the next. Here, they do NOTHING. I also drove around a little, looking at other people's plantings. No oleanders looked good at all -- very scraggly, very few flowers. But the azaleas here do even better than in Beaumont, where they look great.
The old-fashioned oleanders such as they have in Galveston and I'm told are many, many years old - I remember them if they are the very same ones they had when I was a kid - really thrive there. Don't know the zone but they just always seemed the same. Within the last 15-20 years, tho, oleanders have been bred that are not as tall or as sprawling (I call it) as the old ones. These only have a apricot/orangish flower but they bloom continuously all summer long and are widely used now in place of the old ones. They are supposed to be hardier.
Ann