My house, like many others in my neighborhood, came with misplanted red-tipped photinia. The house builders used it as a foundation plant under a 6 foot high window. The plant desperately wants to grow higher, but I have to keep trimming it to 6 feet to keep it under the window. Of course, it gets fungal diseases---especially this year. I am now committed to replacing it this fall. I think I'll have to get out some chains and pull it out with a truck (15 years of established roots).
Any suggestions for replacement. 8a, 80% sun, low water requirements preferred, blooms a plus.
I thought of rosemary, butterfly bush, and knockout roses.
Rosemary--so far my favorite option, might take a while to get to six feet. Will look a bit awkward until it does (surrounded by established 15-20 foot shrubs and small trees
Butterfly bush-Love the plant, but may need to be aggressively trimmed late winter/early spring (especially if we get frequent freezes like last year)
'Knockout'roses or 'nearly wild'-concerned about the amount of fungal spores the red tipped photinia has deposited into that area.
Thanks,
Richard
Bye bye photinia any suggestions for a replacement
I replaced ligustrum hedges and other assorted "builder junk" plants with Knockouts in one place and dwarf oleanders in the other. Both have done exceptionally well for me. The oleanders are a foundation planting along the entire east side of the house. They are very well behaved and stay around 5 to 6 feel tall, just below the kitchen window height. I wasn't sure they'd have enough sun, but have done very well; no pest or disease problems, long bloom period and evergreen. The Knockouts bloom almost year round and they've been great too. I love rosemary too. I have some in a raised bed in another area, but didn't want to raise the bed next to the house high enough to insure the drainage it requires in case of termite problems. I love butterfly bushes too and have a couple, but they look pretty scraggly in the winter, so I have them in the back of mixed beds so their bare legginess doesn't stand out so much when not in bloom.
Thanks crowelli, I really like your dwarf oleander suggestion. I'll be hunting for dwarf oleander in September I'm dreading the chore of pulling out the photinia, but it is overdue.
Thanks again,
Richard
Glad I could help. Post a pic when you're done. I have a pic of the oleanders somewhere on this computer. I'll try to find it and post. I wish I had made that bed deeper and put some daylilies in front of them. I can't enlarge it now because I've already had a sprinkler system installed.
Thanks crowelli. I did some initial research on the oleander and dwarf varieties. I've seen it growing well in this area, but there are some reports on plant files of it not making through the DFW winter. It will be planted on the south side of my house next to the house's brick wall and a concrete semicircular drive (heat island) in nearly 100% sun, so I think it will do fine.
Thanks,
Richard
My nextdoor neighbor has an Oleander on her east-facing wall. It gets absolutely NO help from her whatsoever, and comes back every spring. I was surprised it made it through our cold winter and especially the cold spell at Easter, but it's back and looking as healthy as ever.
Carla
Not sure if it matters, but keep in mind that oleanders are VERY poisonous. If you have children that might play in them and get the milky sap on themselves or pets that chew plants....this plant is not for you.
Ginny, that's true about them being poisonous, but don't they have to be ingested??? I've got the sap all over me when pruning the standard ones and it's never bothered me. It's sticky and kind of latex like, but it's never even made me break out. I know all parts of the plants are dangerous if ingested though.
I also live in Plano and have an oleander on the northwest corner of my house (3 years old now). I was concerned when I bought it but it makes it through the winter just fine.
Thanks trunnels, that is encouraging. I've also read about its toxicity, but no pets, and I'll keep the kids away from it.
Thanks all,
Richard
I'm south of you and all the Oleanders I planted when I first moved here died the first winter.
Uh, oh. Maybe it'll be pink knockout vs rosemary. Possibly both.
Richard,
If you're going with the dwarf oleanders and are interested you can grow your own plants from cuttings. Oleanders cuttings readily root in water. I have a large collection of oleanders that I grew from cuttings I've gotten from around the region.
If your interested let me know and I'll give you some tips on how to maximize your efforts.
Donna
Thanks, Donna, that's good to know.
Richard
Having both Rosemary and knockout roses, I'd vote for Knockouts as the main foundation plants with others mixed in. They are denser and more uniform in shape and much easier to trim to your desired height without leaving bare spots.I think a double row of a variety of plants looks better anyway than just one single row of the same plant.
Update.
The photinia is gone!!! Took quite a bit of work to dig up the roots of the four 15 yo photinia plants (pick axe). I ammended the soil with cottonburr compost, soil conditioner, and landscape mix. I then planted five pink knockout rose bushes in the back. In the front----one mystery miniature rose that I bought for my wife for valentines day (I think it's 'scensational'), then one Bill Warriner, one pink flower carpet rose, and a Belinda's dream. Will update as it fills in.
Could you tell me what was involved in digging up the photinias? I have 5 very large ones (20 years old) next to the foundation on the side of my house. I prune them down to 5 feet every year (takes a chain saw!). By the end of the summer they are back up a foot over the roof line, and we can no longer walk on that side of the house. I'd love to take them out and replace them with something more well-behaved. But some of the branches are 8 to 10 inches in diameter. If I start removing them, is my house going to come up with them??!!
Pbtxlady,
Digging up the photinia was hard work. First, I used some quality long armed loppers and lopped off all the branches I could. Then I tried digging around the base of the photinia--impossible. The main stem was 15 years established and impossible to dig up with even a good shovel. I borrowed a pick axe and a sharp long narrow shovel.. I swung with all my might with the pick axe to hack away at the main stem and major roots. This was back breaking, tiring work. I also used the long narrow sharp shovel to slide under the main stem and then lever it upwards.
I then dug up the remaining extensive network of roots with my usual shovel. This took a total of four hours and a lot of sweat and back ache.
Oh, my goodness. I don't mind the physical exercise, but I'm not strong enough to be very effective with a pickaxe. Those big roots sound way beyond my abilities. :(
My brother used to have a landscaping business, and I remember him putting a chain on some of his customers' large plants and pulling them out with his truck. I'm considering that might be the best way to go with my photinias. But I've never seen their root system. Do you think something like that would work? Or at least make a good start?
The truck and chain method works fine (a neighbor utilized that method for their photinia) If you use the truck method, I suppose there is an increased risk of pulling up water or power lines (less specific method). If using the truck method, be sure to get lines marked. Those established root networks are strong and deep---if there are any lines in the vacinity the roots might bring them up also when pulled by a chain.
Oh, thank you so much for reminding me about that. We have all kinds of utility lines about five feet away. Guess we'll have to figure out something else.
I'm impressed, the worst I've ever had to remove was an old boxwood. I don't think it was nearly as deeply rooted as a photinia. Still a beast to remove.
I only put in a few floribundas this Spring, was really impress with their blooming power. Look forward to hearing your reports on Bill Warriner, he's a beaut!
Bill Warriner is great (recommended to me by another davesgardener). He got terrible black spot this spring with all the rain (despite a rigorous prevention program). I added cornmeal to the soil (he was in a container) and then in June, the Bspot seemed to magically disappear over five days. He is now very vigorous, putting out numerous beautiful orange-pink blooms continuously.
Excavating the four 15yo photinia plants was the hardest manual labor that I have ever done.
LOL. good one cocoa.