Thursday, February 7, 2008

Let's Make the Road Disappear



I have talked at great length about hedges and their purposes. I will not belabor the point, but wanted to demonstrate how you can make a road seem to disappear.

I call this border the 'Shrub Border'. It has two rows of shrubs planted in it to provide three purposes. The three purposes are to: provide a physical barrier to the road, provide a visual barrier to the road, and to provide a noise barrier to the road, all while providing beauty to my family and guests.

The outside row of shrubs consists of nine Eleagnus pungens, aka Silverberry. Inside and between the silverberry are planted a variety of flowering shrubs. These shrubs are all deciduous whereas the silverberry is evergreen. Amongst the shrubs are perennials, some ground covers, and bulbs.


The highway and its enormous amount of traffic in front of my home has seemed to disappear and will truly disappear once the silverberries mature. Hedges can serve so many functional and beautiful purposes and I know many people want hedges in their gardens. My one piece of advice is to know what purpose you want the hedge for, then plan carefully and do your research before you run to the nursery and buy your hedging plants.
away from the road and in the garden....

25 comments:

  1. What a great idea --and so pretty too! Have a great day! :)

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  2. Tina if you have plenty of seeds by all means send some. I actually think I may try to have a garden this year....both flowers and veggies. Now that I don't work I may be able to handle it again if I spread my work times out.

    We are getting a storm now. Snow. Must have 4 or 5 inches. First real accumulation since December. It is so pretty out my computer window. It is sticking to the trees so that adds to the beauty of it.

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  3. I like this road, reminds me of the moose that got away.
    Yup, another storm, our school was not called off because of parent, teacher conference today, but everyone else was. Back to plowing today, lucky Jack of all trades only did what was needed to get in and out of the driveway yesterday.
    My kids reallly need to go back to school. ;?). Too much company these 3 days.

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  4. Wow snow people take pictures for us to see! Sounds pretty... They say the cold front will stay north of us but still not the upper 70's we have been getting. Back to normal 60's this time of year. Nice enough for me...

    We enjoyed your Silverberry bushes when we saw them a while back Tina. We are still planning on putting some between us and the neighbors (the ding-a-ling ones) to hide their ugly yard from our eyes! We need to get off our tuffs and get to the nursery to find them! The Saints mom had never heard of them before. Ah, something new to share with her too...

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  5. The silverberries look good out there. Also that's a nice use of a berm to help raise the plant height a few inches!

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  6. I found Silverberry at one of our Lowes Garden Centers today! They have two different types and I was not sure which one to get plus I was in the new car and nothing dirty goes into the new car! I emailed Tina for info on them. Tina you are a jewel to get back with me so soon. So the Ebbings is going to be the winner for us as they get taller then the Compact. I was thinking that the name "Compact" meant smaller as in Compact size! Ah, must be right on that one... Hopefully we will pick some up this weekend and get them in the ground soon!

    How ironic I finally found them on the day you Posted about them Tina!

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  7. hi all,
    busy day in the garden. it was nice and tomorrow is supposed to be the same.

    hi anonymous! you know if you didn't have that pretty garden in back and the new cedar trees, silverberries would look great too to block that little road. ah, just enjoy the surprises as is for now!


    hi mom! good you are going to have a garden. i couldn't be more delighted! gardening is so good for you if only on the deck in a flowerpot. things are quieting down so i will get the seeds out soonest to everyone-especially you.

    dawn with peaches, what do you mean the moose that got away? i must've missed that one.

    yes, too much company. always nice when they leave-even if only for a few hours in school!

    dave, that is kind of like a berm. but really not specifically designed that way. i dig my beds and turn them and then trench the extra soil between the grass and bed, all in all it looks like a berm but it is actually a raised garden bed. good catch! i love the effect and people are usually surprised to see the gardens all raised here. helps to set them off and provide for drainage and aeration.

    do you have silverberries? i simply love them! they just can't be beat here-sun or shade.

    skeeter, good deal on your silverberries. i kind of would've said go for the bigger ones but i wasn't sure how much space you had. i think you will love them. i do warn you though, they can look wild! but those sprouts they send out every which way work great in flower arranging. i seem to remember you arrange flowers? you will also love the scent and the screening.

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  8. puppy update.
    bruiser and baby are not getting better as well as they should be. baby has been in the hospital since last friday. nearly one week and parvo usually cures in about 5 days, so we are past that now.

    bruiser has been there since monday. he is hanging in there.

    both pups are not down and out, but not eating as well as the doctor would hope for at this point. hopefully they will be much better tomorrow.

    cj is a joy. you would never ever know she was sick. i am going to have to take a video of her. she loves my kitty and my dogs. she especially loves biting the dogs tails. not cool with them. i am waiting for one to start wagging their tail and cj to go flying.

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  9. btw. survivor night tonight. i will be out of the net between 7 pm and 8 pm.:) love the show.

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  10. Hi tina,
    Moose missed is when I put in for the lottery to impress someone and actualy got picked. This missed moose was 8 yards in target and the gun misfired. Oookay..., found out later the gun was on safty. I really should of known better when the wardens told him to take up knitting. Stupid thing to do but I did not carry a weapon so I felt better about it, little did I know I'd been better protected by having one!!!!!
    Anyway...I hope the puppies will mend, some take longer than others.
    I'm watching survivor tonight and I can't wait. Oh, gotta go.

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  11. Well Tina if it cures usually in 5 days and it has been 7 days I am gonna take that as a good sign!!
    That is really funny about the tail, just hope if it happens he has a soft landing!

    Oh you guys all make me laugh soooooo much. I do not know which is best....all the knowlede that has come from this blog or the comedy show. Love it either way!!

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  12. Well looks like another good survivor season!

    Tina everything is o.k. here. Haven't really gotten into much outside work, will get started the first of March. Have been cleaning clay pots and sealing them,clipped back the grasses and climbing rose.

    We got our materials list together for the arbor, so in the next few days we will make a run to the city. I'll send a picture when we get it completed.

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  13. Tina, I'm happy with my cedars --and so glad you told me how they grow and cover. They will eventually make a nice natural block from that back road. I haven't watched Survivor in years. We actually didn't have the TV on tonight at all, lol. The kids were doing homework, valentines and reading. They were just trying to impress daddy, hahaha. He was off today :) Have a great night. Hi Nina, have fun on your city trip.

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  14. Nina, what do you mean by sealing your pots? Are you talking about terra cotta pots? and if so, does sealing help keep the lime rings away?

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  15. Love this pic, you are obviously very talented Tina. I wish I had the knowledge and creativity to place plants like you do.

    Any creative ideas on how to build a hedge to block my view of my neighbors house? Something in the range of oh...20 feet high? LOL...I think Sanford and Son live next door to me. Extremely nice and great neighbors but amazingly lazy when it comes to basic maintenance and cleanliness. Oh well... I am learning to not let it upset me due to the fact that they are awesome neighbors.

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  16. hi guys,
    these comments have escaped me somehow. i fell asleep during survivor so it wasn't all that great so far.

    yup, puppies coming home today mom. very good signs and so sad about dade, lamar and mia. so so sad.

    can't wait to see the arbor nina.

    your cedars will do well anonymous. they are too close together for now but worry about that later.:)

    dawn with peaches, i will let nina tell you about sealing the pots. but i don't think even sealing would keep lime deposits away.

    o'malley, i would take great neighbors over a view any day. imagine have terrible neighbors with a bad view and no respect for property, not their own or mine.

    if the area is in sun, plant red tip photinias. they grow fast and are beautiful plants i love them. they can be susceptable to disease but it is only in looks and generally doesn't damage the trees. if the area is in shade, do the silverberries. you can't stop them. both are broad leaved evergreen and do a good job of hiding adjacent property owners and their messes.

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  17. Dawn, I would say that clay and terra cotta are one and the same. I seal them with Krylon crystal clear sealer (spray can). I spray the inside. Some people say they need to breath, I don't know, and don't concern myself with that thought. I am only trying to keep the pot from soaking up so much water and making it easier to clean in the fall and easier to dry out for winter storage so that it doesn't freeze. The pots are not the quality that I used to get. I have an old strawberry pot that sets out all winter with hens and chicks and it is in good condition. A newer one is falling apart, I didn't treat it!

    I don't know about the lime deposits since I don't have this problem.

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  18. Dawn, I would say that clay and terra cotta are one and the same. I seal them with Krylon crystal clear sealer (spray can). I spray the inside. Some people say they need to breath, I don't know, and don't concern myself with that thought. I am only trying to keep the pot from soaking up so much water and making it easier to clean in the fall and easier to dry out for winter storage so that it doesn't freeze. The pots are not the quality that I used to get. I have an old strawberry pot that sets out all winter with hens and chicks and it is in good condition. A newer one is falling apart, I didn't treat it!

    I don't know about the lime deposits since I don't have this problem.

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  19. that's cool nina! we all do it.

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  20. Tina,
    I agree with the red tips. I have them on the west side of my house & they are about 6-7' cut at an angle--lower side to house. It's better for the plant & it shows x-mas lights a lot better. On east side of house I have azalea about the same height & cut the same way.

    Dawn, I have the lime deposit problem too. It's the residue of the salts in the water. Can't seem to get it off.

    Yeh Nina, put a pic. in so we can see it.

    Really pooped, going.

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  21. Hi Guys,
    Nina, I thought it was sealing with a clear paint, The lime rings are awful, once there it hardly seems like they will wash. Some one once told me to spray oil on the outside to keep the uniformed color but I have never tried it. Wonder if it soaks in enough so there won't be a residue after watering, oil sitting in the tray that is, I'm going to try it. I have a hen from teleflora and it doesn't get lime?

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  22. Dawn, It is my understanding that you get the mineral deposits because the pot is porous, so sealing it should help your problem. Another hint my Daughter told me and I also did some pots this way and I think they are beautiful. Spray them with Krylon transparent finish in green. Then spray them with the crystal clear coating. I scatter pots through out my flower gardens so this technique tones them down. I'm a great believer in the clear coat, I use it each spring on my yard art.

    Another technique that I have read, but haven't tried is using a gel stain on plastic pots.

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  23. good tips on the pots. that tip your daughter gave you for the paint sounds pretty nina.

    dawn, let us know if the tips help with your pots. sometimes if you use alot of fertilizer that can build up residue too. be careful with that.

    lola, aren't red tips great? that is what i recommend alot for an evergreen fast growing dense hedge in sun. they were so beautiful in north carolina but have fallen out of favor due to disease. do yours ever get spots?

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  24. What a wonderful idea! I'll have to do the green painting instead, and I know the perfect room! (Actually the pots will match the room already planned for them) Thanks Nina! I never would of thought of that.

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