Last year we got new neighbors. At first they seem to be very nice. After a month or so they decided to build the biggest garage in the neighborhood. They tore down all the trees along the fence that we share. ( says he hates birds).He leaves his garage door open whenever he is home. I can’t afford all the bushes I will need to cover the fence and his garage. We live in the Midwest. Do you know of any cheap bushes that grow rather fast here in the Midwest. (Clay soil) Any other solutions. What used to be a sanctuary now just looks like I live next-door to a business of some sort. The man has a very superior attitude and has alienated the neighbors on the other side of him. So sad.
While there is a factual question about bushes in the OP, most of it is a complaint about the neighbors, so this is probably better suited to IMHO.
Thread title edited to indicate subject.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Over in Britain some years ago there was a fake panic about people annoying neighbours with Leylandii which grows 3’ a year.
A remarkably quick look on Google indicates it grows in the Midwest.
Lombardy Poplars are trees that grow very fast. However, they are crap trees other than their rapid growth. I once planted a row of Lombardys with more desirable trees behind them. Five years or so later, I cut down the Poplars, revealing the established planting behind them.
ask at a good garden center near you
pampas grass, although you have to cut it back in the winter.
The “if nothing else works” option is probably Golden bamboo. Be warned that it will take over your yard and may eventually take over the entire block.
Lilacs grow moderately fast and are worth the wait.
If you need it today look for something to park there, like a camper or boat, until the shrubs are grown.
How about something that isn’t going to be an ecological disaster.
Heh. I logged in to suggest this and after reading the case study, now recommend that you pour a 2-foot-deep curb on your side, plant a good thick stand of golden bamboo on the other, then watch as your neighbor’s house (1) magically disappears behind the curtain and (2) is endlessly overrun by bamboo rhizomes. Little bastards throw up punji stakes for 100 feet when they’re mature.
(My original suggestion was to plant it in a concrete well to prevent such spreading.)
Have had such completely thoughtless assholes move in around me before. Sympathize.
It’s not always newcomers, either - when I was a kid, some neighbors cut down an oak tree that must have been 250 years old, a real ‘witness oak’ and the jewel of the neighborhood… to make room for a motorhome that never again fucking moved, just moldered away and made the street look like a dump. They had plenty of other space to park the thing, with or without removing lesser trees and with less visibility on the street, but… still makes me angry to think about the senseless, fuck-y’all pointlessness of it.
It’s called a leyland cypress here in the US. I grew a stand behind a home I owned in Maryland to block nearby neighbors. The first year they didn’t grow a tremendous amount, but then they started growing at least a couple feet a year, and also spread out substantially. When they get too tall, they have a tendency to fall over, but for quick growth and screening, they work quite well. Make sure to plant them at least six to ten feet inside your property line, as they spread out quite a bit unless you trim them (which I never did).
I have the stuff in my backyard. I hate it, but it’s not necessarily an ecological disaster. It will take over if you ignore it.
There are uses for the stuff. A friend of mine lives on a couple of acres and has a Home Depot behind his property. It has been a perfect solution for him.
The newer alternative to Leyland cypress in the U.S. (billed as tougher and faster growing) is an arborvitae, Thuja ‘Green Giant’.*
It’s supposed to grow 3-5 feet per year, though mine planted in the front yard as a screen from traffic have averaged more like half of that growth rate. Still, a nice-looking and fast hedge tree, although deer will nip at it.
A more invasive option is rugosa rose, very tough, impenetrable and prone to spreading by runners (you can readily keep it in bounds by mowing). Once a hedge of rugosas fills in, you’ll have a six-foot high barrier that no sane person would try to breach.
If the neighbor removed a shared tree line, he’ll probably do the same with anything that he thinks crosses the boundary into his yard, so plan accordingly.
*not to be considered an endorsement of this particular business, though they’re the ones I bought from nearly a decade ago and sent me a decent product. Be careful in general of any mail order places that deal in fast-growing trees/shrubs and check online reviews.
Forsythia blooms bright yellow in the spring and will grow as tall and just about as spread-out as you allow. I cut mine back to knee height about every year and it grows back to the height of my roof within a year or two.
If you can find someone who has one, you can get cuttings for free, and trust me, they’ll grow. We have to make sure to throw out cuttings before they take root.
There are some bamboo varieties that spread less than some of the ones recommended here. I have some that I planted last year, which advertises to get 8’ tall and will not spread for more than 5’ - of course, they didn’t actually grow at all last year, so we’ll see…
Consider whether wysteria would like the property line. They are climbing vines that grow very quickly (10 feet a year!), but also have the advantage that they’re gorgeous flowering plants. Bamboo will never look or smell that nice. Make sure you’ve got something strong for them to grow on, and watch them carefully if they start growing onto trees or buildings that you like. (In particular, they can get under siding and shingles and pull your house apart if you aren’t paying attention.)
Given the tendency of otherwise perfectly nice neighbors (or jerks like yours) to park their junk where THEY can’t see it from their living room, leyland cypress as a screen is doing well. We have clay/rock where they are planted. If you top them at ten feet they will then spread wide®. I do this with hemlocks too but they don’t grow as fast. Rosa rugosa does make a good screen, as does barberry. However, they both can get away from you and are easily spread by birds. Moving from East to West I couldn’t believe people actually PAID for stuff I was rooting out of pastures back in New England. I’d favor any evergreen as the screen is there in winter too, and you can use trimmings for decorations.
No no, don’t plant poplars. Especially not near a house. Not only are they one of the worst allergy-inducing trees the damn things only live 20-40 years before they fall over. Some bright spark planted them all over my town a few decades ago and people are forever having to dispose of them: we lose at least a dozen a year ourselves. They do burn well, though, if you want firewood later.
Eucalypts, if they’ll grow in your climate. Cut them back in winter.
I have lilacs and arbor vitae in clay soil and they don’t grow very quickly.
If the Forsythia of which you speak are the same things I find upon Google search, I’d suggest they aren’t such a good choice. They are deciduous, losing their leaves in the winter. So all winter they look like a big dead shrub of bare twigs. Is this the same forsythia you are thinking of?
That was my first thought when I read the title. They are pretty in the spring grow fast and provide good cover.
I personally hate them as I’ve had them in places I didn’t want them and getting rid of them permanently takes effort. Leave a few roots behind and they’ll show up again.
Yes they are deciduous. They grow pretty dense if you keep them clipped so even during the winter they still do a good job blocking views. They do a wonderful job collecting anything that gets blown or rolls into them. You can throw a baseball at them and chances are it won’t make it through.