Wow! You guys are great! This should keep me busy for a while. Thanks so
much for your generosity and wealth of knowledge!


"Mike Prager" §kill-spam§mprager@§alum.§mit.§edu wrote in message
...
Bobbie,

I agree with Greg's suggestions, and I'd like to add to them,
mainly by mentioning shrubs that I have planted successfully
here in Beaufort, a bit further north in zone 8. These are
mostly in a mixed large-shrub border giving us privacy from
our neighbors. As Greg said, by mixing different plants, you
can have flowers at different times. Disadvantages of using
everything the same are that if there is disease, it may kill
them all; and height differences among plants are more
noticeable when they're all the same kind.

Wax myrtle grows fast, smells nice, and is attractive, but
it's quite subject to wind damage in storms. It also sends up
many suckers, which if you want neatness or have limited space
may be undesirable. Birds like the fruit.

Of the viburnums, consider V. odoratissimum (which does well
here in Beaufort and should do even better in Charleston) and
the related V. awabuki 'Chindo', whose glossy leaves make it
look like a small Southern magnolia. Both are evergreen,
reasonably fast growing, and rugged. V. odoratissimum spreads
more, so would make a better screen.

Like Greg, I like V. tinus (laurustinus), but many of the
varieties are dwarfs, so they might not meet your need for
privacy. V. bracteatum 'Emerald Lustre' is not evergreen, but
the stems are thickly set so they would provide some
screening, the leaves are beautiful and shiny and provide some
fall color, and it flowers attractively in mid-spring. Birds
like fruit of all viburnums.

Of camellias, the sasanquas flower beautifully this time of
year and are sturdy plants and well suited to our area, if
slower growing than some other choices. I find they do better
than C. japonica. Some grow tall and some spread; be sure
which you are buying. Most are fragrant. We find they attract
hummingbirds. A particular favorite of mine is C. x 'Two
Marthas', which starts flowering in August and doesn't finish
until late December or January.

Other ideas for a mixed shrub border are Osmanthus fragrans
(one of the tea olives Greg mentioned), with gorgeous
fragrance; perhaps a few Nandina domestica thrown in for fall
and winter color (they are short); perhaps Ligustrum japonicum
(privet), if you don't mind the strong sweet fragrance in
spring; one of the many attractive Loropetalum varieties,
which are colorful and rugged; and even crape myrtle
(Lagerstroemia), some varieties of which don't grow tall and
which flower all summer long.

You could also plant gardenias (G. jasminoides), but make sure
you don't get a dwarf variety. This also tends to grow as
wide as tall, which you might not have room for, and they are
relativel slow growing.

If you have lots of room, another choice is Eleagnus x
ebengii, which is rugged, grows quickly to about 10 ft h by
wide (even in poor soil), has berries that attract birds, and
has very fragrant but inconspicuous flowers for several weeks
in September or October. I don't think this would mix well
with other plants because of its agressive growth, and also it
sends out tall shoots that you will have to prune if you like
everything tidy.

Well, you can see I've had fun planting in our area, and I
hope you do, too. Consider getting from your library (or
buying) Michael Dirr's book, "Dirr's Trees and Shrubs for Warm
Climates: An Illustrated Encyclopedia." It has cultural
requirements (type of soil, sun or shade, amount of water) for
all these plants and will give you plenty of more ideas.

One final tip: most plants bought in a 3-gal pot will be
bigger in 3-5 years than plants put in from a 5-gal pot at the
same time. The smaller plants seem to establish better.

Mike


On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 21:15:41 -0800, "gregpresley"
wrote:

Wax myrtle is a good suggestion, but there are many good evergreen
hedging
plants in the south. There are various kinds of euonymus, there are tea
olives (including the holly-leafed version), there are burford hollies,
carolina laurel, viburnums (lauretinus for instance), even camellias. If
you
don't require uniformity, you could plant a variety of dense evergreens,
and
have neat flowers or wonderful scented things at various times of the
year.
Many of these things are not particularly expensive when small, but a few
(like camellias) might take 5-10 years to reach the height you want.
"Bobbie" wrote in message
...
I need some advice and am hoping that some of you very knowledgeable
folks
can give me a little help.

We need a living privacy fence.

Here are the perameters we are working with:
* grows less than 20' high
* grows rapidly in the South (we're in Charleston, SC)
* hearty
* evergreen
* common
* not horribly expensive

Am I asking for the moon?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Bobbie



Mike Prager
Beaufort, NC (on the coast in zone 8a)
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