“Mt. Airy” Fothergilla

Pronounced ‘father gil a’, this is a slow to medium growing shrub that gets 5-6’ tall.  It produces fragrant, white, bottlebrush-shaped flowers in early spring and the leaves turn brilliant colors in the fall.  Loves full sun but will take some shade.  While something nibbled the flowers of one of ours this spring, we haven’t had any other trouble with pests, disease, or grazers the rest of the year.

“Ruby Spice” Clethra

This beautiful plant is covered in fragrant pinkish-red blooms about mid-summer.  A fairly slow-growing, upright, suckering shrub that eventually gets about 8’ tall, Clethra is a great choice for part shade woodland gardens or wet areas, but is adaptable almost anywhere.  The leaves turn yellow in the fall.  Full sun to shade.

“Alice” Oakleaf Hydrangea

This is one of our favorite informal “filler” type shrubs.  Alice grows large (around 8’) and fast and makes the space feel lush and wild.  Large white flowers appear for most of the summer, fading to pink as they age, followed by red fall color on the leaves.  Maybe not the most spectacular in the fall, but they do have good character and some color as the season winds down.  Sometimes the leaves persist well into winter for those of us in the Asheville area.

Deer seem to enjoy the leaves almost as much as we do, so if you get deer you might want to get a more established plant, or just keep your eyes peeled with a large broom.

Also, check out some of the more compact cultivars;  Ruby Slippers and Snow Queen.

“Vernal” Witchhazel

Witchhazel is best known for its odd bloom times, but it’s a great plant almost all year.  The vernal variety (meaning spring), is technically native to the Ozarks, but we like it because it is a little more compact and shrubby than the common witchhazel (8-10’ tall fully grown vs. 15-20 with the common variety) and produces fragrant blooms in late winter/early spring vs. the fall. They are all easy to grow with excellent foliage and yellow fall color.  Nothing seems to faze witchhazel (even deer).  Full sun to part shade.

American Beautyberry

Beautyberry is a member of the mint family, so that should tell you it’s almost impossible to kill.  They produce neat little purple berries in mid to late summer on new wood.  They tend to get leggy so feel free to trim back periodically for a bushier plant.  A great native for slopes.  Full sun to part shade.

Carolina Sweetshrub

This is one of our favorite compact natives.  The leaves look almost tropical at times and they keep a compact, tidy shape without much pruning at all.  Flowers are a fantastic deep red and have an unusual banana-like fragrance, but usually it’s not that strong. ‘Aphrodite’ is a more recent cultivar with bigger leaves and larger flowers that rebloom in the summer.  Sun to shade and resistant to deer too.

For a list of what we have growing this year at the nursery, check out our inventory page!

Got some hippies next door in the hot tub smoking left handers?  Once you are toweled off and back at your house, consider some of these excellent plants for keeping the dirty business out of sight.  Here are 9 great plants for creating a privacy screen in the Asheville area, in no particular order.

1. Green giant arborvitae.  The number one selling tree on the market right now for privacy.  It’s fast growing, more narrow that the Leyland cypress, and doesn’t have the disease issues that one does.  Downsides?  They get HUGE, 50-60’ tall and around 15’ wide, and they are everywhere.  Green giants like as much sun as possible and a good dose of slow release fertilizer in the spring to really kick that growth into high gear.  Deer also enjoy most arborvitae, though these get big enough where sharing isn’t a problem.
2. Emerald green arborvitae.  Perhaps the second best seller in Asheville for screening.  This one stays much more in bounds, topping off at around 15’, but grows far more slowly.  Emerald greens are dense and don’t like to be touching each other or they can develop brown areas where they don’t get enough sun.  You also want to watch that they (or any arborvitae) don’t develop multiple trunks at the base, which can cause splitting over time.  Full sun.
3. Nelly R. Stevens Holly.  Nellies are a great choice for screens.  They are fast growing to around 20’ tall and 10-15’ wide and don’t mind some shade.  No pollinator needed for berry set on this one either.  Full sun to part shade.
4. Sky Pencil Holly.  One of our favorites, sky pencils have a little more formal look and fit in tight spaces.  Grows to 8’ tall and 3’ wide.  Good for city areas.  Full sun to part shade.
5. Blue Ice Arizona Cypress.  This is another evergreen that does very well in the humidity and clay in the Asheville area.  It’s a big boy, 40-50’ tall and 20’ wide, with beautiful blue foliage.  Fast growing, especially in full sun with lots of nutrients. Deer don’t bother these as much as the arborvitae.
6. Skip Laurel.  Skip laurels are very popular in the Asheville area and make an excellent, adaptable foundation plant or screening hedge (10-15’) in full sun or part shade.  As an added bonus they have fragrant white flowers in spring, unique on this list.  They are deer resistant too!  For downsides- they are expensive, expect to pay close to $100 for landscape size plants.  They also have some problems with disease, one of which is called shot hole, which can be a problem when there is a lot of overhead watering or rain.  When planting laurels, make sure to break up the soil well, give them a good mulch, and avoid planting them under overhangs or a drip line.
7. Hicks Yew.  Yews are an excellent option for shady areas, especially if you aren’t looking for a tall tree. They are very low maintenance and can be shaped as needed.  Slow growing to around 10’, and poisonous.
8. Techny arborvitae.  This one almost didn’t make the list because it’s hard to find.  Techny is a growers favorite, slower growing and more drought tolerant than the species.  15-30’ tall in full sun to part shade.  Here is an excellent article all about Techny’s.
9. Yoshino cryptomeria.  A good substitute for green giants if you like a looser, more Japanese style look.  Fast growing, full sun.  Another one of our favorites at the nursery.

Conclusion:

For the most versatile privacy screening plants in the Asheville area, look first to arborvitae or evergreen hollies.  Both of those are large families of plants, with many different shapes and styles to choose from.

If deer are an issue, consider hollies or cypress.  For shady areas, Yews or Laurels are probably the way to go, though some of the others can also work if it’s not too shady.

Choose your location wisely, especially when planting the larger growing varieties.  Keep in mind that with slower growing varieties, the tradeoff is usually a sturdier, longer lived plant.

Decide first on how tall you need your screen to be, then how much sun the area gets.  With limited space it often makes the most sense to go with plants that don’t get too wide at the base.  If you do decide to go with something larger, most evergreens don’t mind a little pruning and shaping as necessary.

For years I felt that it was my obligation to do as much as I could to use the native heavy clay that I was cursed blessed with on my little piece of land in Weaverville.  Primarily this meant to mulch with as much organic matter as possible, every year, using the no till method.

And it works.  Many plants do great, even with very little amendment. We are talking clay so heavy that it often takes swinging a pick mattock just to get a hole dug.  I don’t dig, I slice.

I tried to till.  The rototiller just laughed at the clay.  To this day it sits at the nursery with a flat tire and a smirk.

So what’s the problem, you ask?  Three things:

1. It’s tiring.  Breaking up clay gets old every time you want to plant something.  As much as I love Western North Carolina, something in my midwest blood dreams about some rich flat land in Ohio or something.
2. It takes a long time.  Essentially what happens when you mulch, is that the mulch is breaking down to form a layer of topsoil over time.  A long time.  Meanwhile, you are still digging in clay.
3. It’s expensive.  This is probably the most important point.  Mulching with good bark mulch every year gets expensive.

If you want a nice landscape and healthy plants, mulch is unavoidable (see below).  But there is a way to make your life easier, and save some money in the long run.  That is with topsoil.

The decision to bring in topsoil depends on how hard your land is.  My rule of thumb is the shovel test.  If I can dig with a shovel without a lot of effort, then I use the soil I have and stick to mulch.  If you are one of us cursed blessed to live on a ridge that needs a digging fork or a mattock to get a hole dug, I suggest starting with topsoil, then mulching.

This does not mean raised beds.  I’m not the biggest fan of raised beds, unless you are going for form before function.  They are great in neighborhoods with small lots to keep things cute and tidy, but the sacrifice in usable space often isn’t worth it.

I’d suggest wide rows, unsupported by anything for gardens, or using edging to define perennial beds.   There is also the dump and go method without shaping or defining anything, though that can get you into trouble when the grass starts to creep where it doesn’t belong.

Conclusion

If you are creating new areas in your landscape for gardens or perennial beds, and your ground is too hard to dig with a shovel, start with a good thick layer of topsoil, at least 6”.  This will give you a much more aerated and better draining soil, make gardening easier, and save you money over time because you won’t need to mulch as thick or as often.  Just don’t forget to mulch after you plant with a nice all bark mulch!

What about manure and compost?  For starting new beds, those products can be hard to find, expensive, and/or confuse the issue.  If you are experienced and have access to those items at a price that works for you, I’d say go ahead and use that instead of or in addition to topsoil.  Just keep in mind that it takes time for those inputs to break down enough for the plant to use, so supplemental fertilizer will most likely be needed anyway, especially for heavy feeders like garden vegetables.  For ease of use I suggest top dressing with a slow release fertilizer like Ozmocote, especially the first year.

Need help planting?  Click Here.