Hedges to keep the neighbors out

Thorny rugosa roses can fortify garden boundaries

By Amy McDowell

It was an otherwise quiet evening at the garden center. The after-work crowd had slowed as people headed home for dinner. The summer sun far in the western sky cast long shadows across the parking lot. I was monkeying with the bird feeder display when the bell on the door jangled, and I turned to greet a well-dressed woman in a tailored brown business suit. She approached with a frown.

“Do you sell poison ivy plants?” she asked.

“Poison ivy?” Surely I had heard her wrong. She must’ve said Boston ivy.

“Yes, poison ivy,” she said. “Can I buy poison ivy plants?”

I lifted my eyebrows and mentally reminded myself how stupid I look standing with my mouth hanging open. “Um, no, we don’t sell poison ivy,” I said, studying her brown eyes closely for signs of insanity.

“Oh.” Her shoulders fell a little. “Then how about seeds? Do you sell poison ivy seeds?”

“Uh, no.” I said, and finally caved in to my bafflement and asked why she wanted to grow poison ivy.

“It’s my neighbors,” she said. “They’re always cutting through my back yard. It’s even fenced and they climb right over!” She waved her flawless painted nails in the air and her diamond ring glittered under the fluorescent lights. “I yell at them and they act like they don’t understand English,” she said, “but I know they’d understand the international language of ITCH.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. She was not a lunatic, just bonkers and sick of being trespassed. When I couldn’t help her, she left the store exasperated.

I’ve since come up with the perfect remedy… rugosa roses. These fast-growing beauties are covered with barbaric thorns. The stiff stems are ferocious from ground to tip. Rugosas form a rounded thicket four to six feet tall and wide. Planted three or four feet apart, they make an impenetrable hedge.

Better yet, the fragrant fuschia, pink or white blooms in the summer are followed by red or orange rose hips in the fall. In Latin, ‘rugosa’ means ‘wrinkled,’ a name fitting the crinkled dark green foliage. Fall color is usually short lived and yellow, but some rugosas turn orange or red. Rugosas are among the most disease free of all roses, so they don’t need any pesticide sprays. Annual deadwood pruning in spring is the only care they require.

Rugosas prefer well-drained soil in full sun or light shade. Hardy from zones 2-7, rugosas are wintertime tough. They’ve “been seen 100 miles from the Arctic Circle in Siberia where the temperature regularly falls to –50 degrees Fahrenheit,” writes woody plantsman Michael Dirr in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, 1990, Stipes Publishing Co.

Because of their vigor and easy care, rugosas are used in hybridization programs for new roses.

Next time someone asks me about poison ivy to keep interlopers from the yard, I’ll be ready with a suggestion. The wicked prickly thorns of beautiful rugosa roses will keep even the most brazen intruders at bay.

Your Secret Garden

Planting for Privacy

By Amy McDowell

The garden is a place to get away from the world—to escape from everyone and everything. Shed that cloak of stress and step into nature’s embrace. Your deck or patio can be an intimate, private retreat. It doesn’t matter if your neighbors are delightful—you can engage them in conversation if you choose—but you must create a space in your garden that is isolated from the outside world.

Privacy fences are tremendously popular because they create a visual barrier that takes little space and little care. There are many wonderful plants you may use to create a softer barrier. Here are a few shrubs to help create privacy in your garden. They are just about as easy to install and maintain as a fence.

Emerald arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Emerald’) is a narrow, upright evergreen commonly used for screening. It creates an attractive deep green backdrop for other plantings—flowering perennials look stunning in front of arborvitae. Emerald arborvitae grows slowly, reaching twelve feet tall and four feet wide at maturity. Pruning is not necessary to keep them looking sharp. Some arborvitaes suffer winter burn that creates brown patches, but emerald arborvitae is hardy and durable.

Lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) form a terrific hedge as long as you have the space for them. The deliciously fragrant blooms will fill your garden in May. You can find lilacs that bloom in every shade of purple, pink, and lavender, and even white or pale yellow. The common lilac grows fifteen feet tall and about eight feet wide. The best way to prune a lilac is to cut out no more than one third of the oldest, woodiest branches close to the ground. This will encourage new suckers to sprout at the base, keeping the overall size reduced and the blooms within range of your nose, rather than above your head.

Viburnums come in many shapes and sizes. Arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) is named for its arrow-straight upright branches, and Koreanspice viburnum (V. carlesii) is named for its fragrant blooms. Arrowwood viburnum will grow to eight feet tall and six feet wide, and Koreanspice viburnum will mature to about five feet high and wide. Viburnums have rich dark green foliage and are extremely hardy here in central Iowa. In addition to these two, there are many other excellent varieties to choose from; each with its own wonderful characteristics.

Your list of plant choices is blessedly long and diverse. If your deck is elevated, your site may call for a small tree or a cluster of them. Imagine your deck or patio embraced in privacy. Picture a lush green barrier in your mind. Your new plantings may not give you the instant privacy of a fence, but it won’t take long. Take a deep breath. Soon you will have that delightful, secluded pocket of heaven in your garden.