Hurricane Ike blew the skirting from around my home and it's to much of a pain to replace. Any suggestion on plants that I can grow for cover. They need to grow about 3 feet high and full to cover the underside of the house. It would also be nice if they were everygreen so they would hide it year round.
Jay
Suggestions needed
AJ, is this area full sun, shade or partial shade?
Mostly full sun some part shade.
Camelias would work, but you'd have to prune to keep them at 3 feet. Glossy abelia is another that would work. It's evergreen, blooms most of the summer, is fragrant and no pest or disease problems. The form is slightly arching if left unpruned. I love the smell and keep mine pruned to about 3 feet so they stay dense. Another choice would be Knockout roses. They are trouble free. I whack mine back severly every February, and they are covered in blooms year round. No disease or pest problems and they now come in red, double red, pink and rainbow which is kind of peachy colored. You're a bit north of me, but dwarf oleanders would work. I'm not sure they'd survive your winters though. Mine are evergreen here in Houston. Indian Hawthorne is another one that might work for you. They have varieties that don't get tall and others that are small tree size. They are ocassionally bothered by blackspot fungus. Loripetalum would also work. It has burgundy foliage year round and hot pink fringe like blooms early spring and off and on the rest of the year. They can be pruned as a hedge or left to go natural. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I hope these ideas help.
Crow
I didn't know that had dwarf oleanders! I'll have to check it out. Also, if you let loripetalum go natural (which is how I prefer it) it'll be 10'+, but they are a beautiful plant.
You can plant black surinam cherries. They will be evergreen and produce fabulous edible black tropical cherries. They are drought tolerant once established and can do full sun or partial shade. They are cold hardy to 22 degrees unprotected but should be able to handle to the teens if planted at the base of the house.
Pineapple guava is hardy down to 10 degrees. It is related to the crape myrtle and it evergreen. It produces insanely beautiful edible flowers followed by pineapple-ish tasting fruit. Very drought tolerant.
Goumi: produces lots of red edibles yummy berries and is drought tolerant. It will probably stay evergreen in your zone. It is not invasive like the other relatives in it's family.
If you want a plant that is neat, evergreen and lasts forever plant Dwarf Yaupon Holly.
My dwarf yaupon was much taller than 3'
It doesn't matter if it's taller than 3 feet, as long as it is full from the ground to 3 feet of high. The point is to hide the space under my mobile home, so it can't have a bare trunk for the first 3 feet and all the foliage and flowers about that. Also I would like to eventually go all the way around the house, which is 76 feet long so I would like an assortment of plants. I was also thinking of putting a short wire fence and growing some vines to cover some of it. Any ideas of evergreen vines that would be full enough to cover.
This message was edited Mar 18, 2009 8:08 AM
I love vines. My current favorite is Mexican Flame Vine. It's evergreen for me here, but don't know if it'd be for you. It is covered in bright orange blooms. Mine has never stopped blooming for the past 12 months. It smells wonderful and has no pest or disease problems. Best flowering is in full sun and it's a butterfly magnet. It's very think and full. Mine is growing on the back fence and you cannot see any of the fence through it. Here's a pic of it that was taken on November 8th of 2008. It's still in full blloom now.
Another one that I've had good luck with is the bleeding heart vine. Here's a pic of it. It doesn't have as long a bloom period as the flame vine and it's not fragrant, but beautiful noe the less.
Here's a hedge of the Knockout roses I mentioned. I never do anything to them other than feed them. No spraying, deadheading etc.
