we have a large wooden fence covering up a neighbors house, and i wish to use plantings to cover the fence. how does using sumac sound? is it incompatible with other plantings?
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17 years ago
sumac
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17 years ago
Do you hate your neighbors that much??LOL
Elaine in Ga (Trying to get boston ivy to grow up mine)
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17 years ago
Sumac's a very cool plant, from a distance, especially if you have 17 acres and it's at the edge where you don't care that it takes over an acre of its own. Have you noticed that along highways, it becomes a sumac forest? :-) I'd avoid it.
How about clematis? There are so many varieties, and it's easy to grow,
***IF*** you do a nice job of preparing the planting holes. I wouldn't buy from this place because they tend to be overpriced, but go to
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search for "clematis", and check out the pictures. You should be able to find a few varieties locally, and someone here can probably recommend a mail order dealer or three.
How much sun does the area get?
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17 years ago
I grew a silver lace vine over my wood fence --- it certainly is rampant! If you go for sumac --- I once made a wonderful, robust, splendidly colourful jelly from the fruits.
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17 years ago
sun most of the day............. NO, i don't hate my neighbors, actually i like them very much. BUT, i LOVE my privacy.
i will look into the clematis,,,,,,,,,,,,they just seem so slow to grow!
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17 years ago
They don't grow fast, that's true. IIWY, I would go to a local nursery (not a chain store with a gardening area) and give your wants to someone who seems knowledgeable and see what they suggest. Some things grow great and huge and fast in some areas but not in others.
Tracey
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17 years ago
Clematis might bloom just a little bit the first year, more the second year, and the third year is rock & roll time. It never ends unless you kill it. They look a little ratty after frost kills the leaves, but the wind blows a lot of them off the vines. If not, you can usually brush them off by hand, or with a whisk broom. Remember whisk brooms? :-)
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17 years ago
yes, i remember whisk brooms! ;)
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17 years ago
Good! We should start a company to market whisk brooms as something totally new to befuddle the current generation of 20-somethings. We'll call it a spider de-webber, for cleaning off the rubber strip at the bottom of garage doors. $119.95. Call NOW, and receive, absolutely free, a one year supply of (insert idea here). Paper lunch bags? Bit waot! There's more!
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17 years ago
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17 years ago
yes, we have them everywhere up here in the north! (wisconsin)
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17 years ago
Hey that's the best kind...FREE! Go dig some up. In the spring I always carry a shovel with me. If is it not protected and is a native plant to your area that is. Also doesn't have a no-trespassing sign around or happens to be a wildflower project!
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17 years ago
I bet you can't transplant sumac easily, as it spreads mostly by spreading runners, so is living off some other nearby plant system rather than by its own roots.
Smooth Sumac is what I planted right next to the south wall of the house, for shade in the summer and a pleasant shadow pattern. Being a lightweight tree, it doesn't hurt the house.
On the other hand, it tends to break or have leaf die-offs rather easily, leaving you with a sunny patch in your shade pattern for a year or so.
I planted bare-root sumaclettes from a mail order nursery. I don't know where they get them.
Little offshoots are constantly trying to come up in the lawn, by the dozens. They get scythed down regularly but remain undiscouraged. (I scythe the lawn rather than mowing, just as a hobby. Mowing would work too.)
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17 years ago
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17 years ago
Here in TN they transplant easily. My first year here, before I realized just how prolific they were, I transplanted one that was in the way. It's doing fine, 15 years later.
Kate, who's also watered ragweed not knowing what it was...
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17 years ago
Elaine Humm, seems to me that sumac would be sumac whether bought mai
order or dug up as long as it had enough of a root system to it to get established.
Hey that's the best kind...FREE! Go dig some up. In the spring I always carry a shovel with me. If is it not protecte and is a native plant to your area that is. Also doesn't have no-trespassing sign around or happens to be a wildflower project!-
I bet you can't transplant sumac easily, as it spreads mostly b spreading runners, so is living off some other nearby plant system rather tha by its own roots.
Smooth Sumac is what I planted right next to the south wall of th house, for shade in the summer and a pleasant shadow pattern. Being a lightweight tree, it doesn't hurt the house.
On the other hand, it tends to break or have leaf die-offs rathe easily, leaving you with a sunny patch in your shade pattern for a year o so.
I planted bare-root sumaclettes from a mail order nursery. I don' know where they get them.
Little offshoots are constantly trying to come up in the lawn, by th
dozens. They get scythed down regularly but remain undiscouraged. (I scyth the lawn rather than mowing, just as a hobby. Mowing would work too.)