Plant Early, Plant Small

[Manalto]

My gardening mantra. One of the first things I did when I was handed the deed to my house was to stick a few Podocarpus along my disintegrating fence in the hopes of making a privacy hedge. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the fence will last long enough for the shrubs to fill in. Podocarpus is often listed as "slow-growing" so I figured I'd better not wait. My guess, based on nothing, was that the fence would last another three years, and by that time the hedge would begin to look like a hedge.

319 Podocarpus hedge by James McInnis, on Flickr

Here it is a year later:

Podocarpus, June 2018 by James McInnis, on Flickr

Not exactly dramatic, but it's gone from about 18" tall to nearly 5' in a year, and is continuing to put on new growth well into June. A couple of weeks ago, I pinched the ends of the top branches (just a tiny bit; I was reluctant to lose any height) to encourage side branching. Will it be a lush, dense hedge in two more years? Probably not, but I think it will be well on its way.

I like the rich, dark foliage of Podocarpus (a yew relative); it's a great backdrop for either foliage or flowers.

[JacquieJet]

Nice!
I just did my landscaping this year, so I'm hoping that in 2-5 years it's nicely filled in.

[Gothichome]

Manalto, JJet. That’s the exact opposite mantra upper management has about gardens.

[Manalto]

Great! By the third year it should start to look established. Pamper your plants this year. If there's a drought, water them deeply. Side-dress with rotted manure. It'll pay off.

I find it odd how many people who are quite conscious of their house's appearance ignore the landscape.

Manalto, JJet. That’s the exact opposite of the mantra upper management has about gardens.

I've seen the 'immediate-gratification' impulse in action once or twice, and often I must comply. But transplanting big plants stresses them because they have a undersized root system out of proportion to the top growth. Not all homeowners know how to care for them. or they don't realize they're living things and need to be nurtured until they develop a normal-sized root system. So they stall - or worse, they die.

[Willa]

I planted some Smoke Bushes last year, (5 of them) with the intent to create a privacy hedge. Last year they were about 18" tall, now they are a whopping 30" or so. I pass several nice Smoke Bushes on the way to the grocery store - which were my inspiration. They are all over 8 feet tall and nice and bushy.

It's hard being patient in the interim ! I've been watering and weeding but do succumb to impatient fussing now and then.

[Manalto]

Did you get the 'Royal Purple'?

purple-smoke-tree by James McInnis, on Flickr

They're all nice, though. Cotinus is generally pretty trouble free. They seem to like good drainage.

[Willa]

Did you get the 'Royal Purple'?

Yes. There was another type that sounded great - Velvet Cloak I think ? - but it was nowhere to be found locally.

I did lots of reading about Smoke Bushes, and they seem quite hardy and trouble free. They can be prumed almost to the ground and will rebound - they can left as a bush or pruned into a tree.

Since the location of my fence changed, I had to move one from the (new)back, since it was now in the shadow of the fence. It did some drooping and wilting and I had some worries over that from the time I killed one moving it. A sugar/water mixture was recommended to counter the transplant shock. This did work, I think the change of light plus suddenly very hot temperatures made the transition tougher ?

[Manalto]

One thing you can do when forced to transplant in hot weather is cut some branches off a tree (your neighbors' yards are a good place to look for these - jk) and make a teepee over the newly-transplanted shrub. It shades the plant and creates a high-humidity microclimate, allowing it to recover. Depending on the patient's recovery time, you can remove the branches when all seems well, or leave them there until the teepee's leaves shrivel and fall. This is a good method to help a shrub (or small tree) moved from a shady location to adapt to a sunnier one.

A smoke-bush hedge is a great idea; it will be impressive in bloom.

[JacquieJet]

I've never heard of smoke bushes!! Off to google now.... that photo looks amazing!!!

[Willa]

I'm a big fan of trees with non-green leaves. Well, non-green plants in general.

This is what I am hoping to achieve. I won't share the current state of my smoke bush runts - they have a ways to go.

royal-purple-smoke-tree-2.jpg (136.57 KiB) Viewed 1805 times

cotinus-coggygria-purpurea-purple-smoke-bush_1_4.jpg (184.95 KiB) Viewed 1805 times