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Easy
Care Plants for Privacy
At nurseries throughout the area, the
springtime search is on for low-maintenance plants to fit
our busy lifestyles. For those seeking easy care, low
growing bedding plants who want the beauty of a colorful
landscape without weekends full of garden work, there are
plenty of choices. These easy care shrubs, perennials or
self-sowing annuals, which return year after year, include
African daisy, cosmos, dusty miller, verbena, alyssum,
salvia, begonias, vincas and shrub roses. But if you are
looking for taller-growing, minimum hassle plants that will
give your yard some privacy, here are some that are a
perfect Sacramento County fit. All of these require full sun
and regular water:
Evergreen Euonymus (Euonymus
japonica). This plant gets 8-10 feet tall, and is considered
a real garden "toughie". Euonymus can take lots of heat as
well as poor soil. Many euonymus varieties have glossy,
leathery, all-green leaves. But there are varieties that
have more leaf color, such as the aureo-variegata, which has
leaves with splashes of yellow surrounded by a green
margin.
New Zealand Flax (Phormium
tenax). Any plant that can thrive in our south county yard,
an area that gets heavy wind, high heat and can still
prosper in our rocky, clay hardpan gets my vote for plant of
the year. Our New Zealand flax plants not only survive in
those conditions, but came through like champs during the
extensive backyard excavation, grading and remodeling work
that took place near their roots three years ago. New
Zealand flax can get to nine feet high with a six to eight
foot spread. The long, sword-shaped vertical leaves have a
brownish red color; other flaxes have colors that range from
purplish-bronze to yellow. New Zealand flax works well as a
screening plant, hiding unattractive (yet necessary)
backyard equipment such as swimming pool pumps and
filters.
Photinia (Photinia fraseri).
There's a reason you see these shrubs everywhere around
here: photinia is a fast growing shrub whose established
green leaves are complemented by the new, reddish-colored
growth this time of year. Photinia makes an excellent
privacy screen, getting eventually to 15 feet tall with an
equal spread. For a smaller, slower growing variety, try the
"Indian Princess". To get photinia to spread, pinch back new
growth in the spring to encourage it to bush out.
Bottlebrush (Callistemon
citrinus). This plant, which produces red, brush-like
flowers throughout the year, can take our heat and poor
soils. Bottlebrush is fast growing and easy to train. Its
flowers are attractive to bees and hummingbirds; so, people
with aversions or allergies to bee stings should avoid this
plant. On the other hand, if you're looking for a shrub that
can get as tall as 15 feet that will keep the hummingbirds
in your yard, the bottlebrush is for you.
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