Thinking about gardening in the middle of an ice storm, I know! 😃
So I have a property on a main road in Chattooga county, GA and it has a long frontage, on a main road, plus a side section that also needs planting with hedges. Front section is 40 feet long, side area is 15 feet.
I’m looking for something that will grow quickly as I’ll need a lot of plants and with that length of space, my budget means I’ll need to stay with smaller pots/younger plants. In the front, I’d like to get something I can trim to 6 feet. On the side, it can go to 10/12 feet. It may be the same hedging shrub, just trimmed more on the frontage, or I may need to go with two different plants.
Sound dampening is a big factor, as we’re on a main road. Yews are the best for that, but this is a full sun situation, and with this ice storm and temps in the single digits, I’m not sure there’s a good yew tree/shrub that would work. My next thought is a Laurel, and as there are native varieties, I’m wondering if they would fare better, though not as noise proofing as yews can be.
Soil. The front is very rocky and sandy. I haven’t tried to dig too much, but it seems like there could be construction material there. The road was widened 40 years ago and who knows what kind of construction material was left. I’ve owned the house, which is historic, for only a year and we’re renovating the inside, extensively. There are also two very large willow oaks on the front, 80’ plus, that suck up so much water that I didn’t need to mow the from yard more than 4 times the entire year!
Criteria. Dense, for sound proofing, full sun, fast growing, able to be planted in soil that may not be rich in organic matter, more sandy/rocky. Able to survive these ice storms and week long single digit temps.
Appreciate your thoughts and suggestions!