Help me pick a landscaping bush/tree/plant

Ever since I cut out two huge maples on my fence line, the brush has taken over.  My neighbor is quadriplegic, so she can't care for it and I haven't really kept up with it.  So a couple friends are coming over with a brush hog and then we're going to plant a row of somethings.  But what to plant?

I don't really need privacy.  I just want something that is a living fence.  Easy to mow next to, marks the property line, and doesn't require much maintenance or pruning.  My first thought was arbor vitae, but my landscaper friend tells me that there is something about the soil here that doesn't like them, and bagworms are a genuine problem.  Like I said, doesn't need to  be tall or thick, but I don't want it spreading out and requiring excessive trimming.

I live in central PA, so winter-hardy

My parents had a low hedge in front of their house along a sidewalk, it was a Privet.  You can keep them low as my parents did or let them grow up to be the maze looking thing seen in old British movies (handy if your neighbor moves and a gang of kids under 9 years old moves in).  

I understand they like an acid soil, whenever we finished a jar of dill pickles my Dad would pour the juice over the bushes.

I feel like typical Yew shrubs or something similar will be fine, but most will require 1-2 trims per year to keep from getting excessively large. They're evergreen which is nice, but they don't offer much color outside of the green leaves.

What about some type of actual fence or inexpensive lattice and some flowering climbing plants (Clematis maybe)? The support structure can be as large or decorative as you want it to be. Climbers seem a bit lower maintenance to me as long as they can't climb to something else nearby. Birds and bugs love them too. And you really don't have to worry about them spreading much away from whatever structure they're climbing.

I'd go hemlock tree. It's what we had at our old house, worked very well. Far far far less maintenance than the stupid hedges we have now.

I've got 3 Holly bushes you can have for free if you come get them. 

Seems like you already have a great resource in your friend the landscaper. 

I'd start there, then go to the local plant place and ask for suggestions. That's what we are doing soon. We are planning on revamping the landscaping in the front yard in the spring. We have something like 160 linear feet, 3' deep of flower beds just on the front and west side of the house. 

Hemp. Lantern flies will foil any other efforts. 

In reply to z31maniac :

He's more of a hardscaper.  He does the equipment/demolition and builds things like stone or wood planters.  He's not the design/herbologist side of things.  He's picked up a few things (like knowing that arborvitae isn't a good choice) but he admittedly doesn't know his plants well.  His job at the company is more like "hey shawn, plant that thing there," and he's like "oh look, a green planty thing.  I will put it in a hole."

In reply to STM317 :

I like that idea.  I did consider building a little "clothesline" and do native things like grapes, nightshade, or roses, but I just don't have the time or energy to keep up with it.  I was hoping for a plant-and-forget thing.

I could also do rose-of-sharon since they grow like weeds around here but then I'll just have grey sticks from November to May.

Rhododendron? Evergreen, showy flowers, dense enough to shade out weed growth, and can be whacked back every few years if you want to limit size.

Around here anyway, Rhododendrons are fatter than they are tall.  But lovely trees, though.  One of my favorites.

I hit up the local lawn and garden supply and she had two suggestions:  Sky pencils, which appear to be some kind of smooth-leaf holly, and juniper blue arrow which can get 10-15' tall but only 2-3' diameter.  Thoughts?

Have you considered planting some parts cars? 

(I've got nothing)

In reply to Captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

like Cadillac Ranch but with two Pontiacs and a boat?  I'm down with that.  Not sure what the township would say.

You can simultaneously get your plantings and honor the recently departed Queen.  English Boxwood.

There are numerous cultivars of arborvitae. No pruning and you can buy the right one for whatever exact shape you want.

I just spoke with my sister, and she said yew is slow growing and given privacy is not an issue your plantings could be further apart. Everything will need some pruning but slow growing means less frequently.

Forsythia planted in early spring and close together makes a nice presentation. It has yellow blooms for a few months and green leaves for most of the year afterwards. 

Here's a BC Hydro article on planting under power lines that might yield some ideas https://www.bchydro.com/content/dam/BCHydro/customer-portal/documents/corporate/safety/planting-near-powerlines.pdf

lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:

Forsythia planted in early spring and close together makes a nice presentation. It has yellow blooms for a few months and green leaves for most of the year afterwards. 

 

 

I was going to recommend this as well.  These trim up quickly with a hedge trimmer, you can form them however you want, you can cut them back as much as you want, and they just bounce right back.

Hedge example:

1988RedT2 said:

You can simultaneously get your plantings and honor the recently departed Queen.  English Boxwood.

I'll second this, also Zeppelin,

"If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now. It's just a spring clean for the May Queen"

Do you have a county Ag extension office, what county are you in? You can probably get there from this link:

https://extension.psu.edu/schuylkill-county

They will be able to give some guidance, at the very least, may even give you free stuff.  Looks like go to the home page and put in your county, unless by some sort of duck duck miracle the right one popped up

Some amateur brewers approached a friend of mine; they lived in an apartment nearby, and were looking for a place to plant some hops.  It worked out for both of them, the brewers had a place to grow their crops and my friend got some greenery along his property line he didn't have to pay for or maintain.

A couple other thoughts are spirea bushes or lilacs.  I have a spirea in my yard, it requires zero maintenance and has small pretty flowers in the spring.  Lilacs are hardy as well and of course have a nice fragrant flower.

These are some great suggestions.  I like the hops/beer idea.  How do they grow?  Do they need a trellis or something?  I'm looking for thin growth.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm looking for thin growth.

Save the thin growth for the top of your head.  If you grow a nice tall thick hedge, you can cavort around outside in the altogether without arousing the ire of your inquisitive neighbors.