Landscape / Field Growing Opportuniy

[Punky]

My wife is on-board with me landscaping the strip along the side of our house. It was grass and I live in CA and grass is now considered morally corrupt. Our neighbor on that side has a “low-water” yard that is poorly done and looks terrible. My goals are:

Plant a row of trees and shrubs approximately 5ft wide that grow quick to create a screen, look good as landscaping, do not consume too much water, can handle full sun, low humidity, and occasional 110+ heat. They must be readily available in Northern California. I will plant them in 15 gal grow bags and harvest them as bonsai when my trunk goals are met on a rotating schedule to avoid having large gaps in the screen.

What species do you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Olives, except they don’t grow that fast

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Quercus suber and Quercus ilex also good options for Mediterranean climate

 

[Colorado]

I don’t know what is readily available in Northern CA but I’d go with some pines and junipers.

 

[hemmy]

Plant a row of trees and shrubs approximately 5ft wide that grow quick to create a screen, look good as landscaping, do not consume too much water, can handle full sun, low humidity, and occasional 110+ heat.

Ficus! Are you inland, what are your low temps? Around SoCal, Ficus is used has a hedge in many applications and once established fits all of the above. Many of the trees used in bonsai aren’t going to fit the goal of creating a dense privacy screen. The other issue is that you are going to want to trunk chop for movement and taper which will hinder the privacy aspect. They should also be dug every couple of years and work the roots for good nebari.

 

[Forsoothe!]

They should also be dug every couple of years and work the roots for good nebari.

Absolutely. That be tapering done right. And better to grow a mix of growing fast, slow and medium so there will be something to be harvested, on-going. You might get greedy, early. Ficus 'Too Little' is good to plant in-between as a lower-growing, sooner-collecting bonus. I'm sure others with better experience can name other interlopers...

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Careful with ficus roots.

Another option could be the bay tree, Laurus nobilis. It is used in some parts of Portugal as hedge material and grows really fast. And you can use its leaves for cooking

 

[hemmy]

Careful with ficus roots.

Another option could be the bay tree, Laurus nobilis. It is used in some parts of Portugal as hedge material and grows really fast. And you can use its leaves for cooking

I have seen old rosemary hedges here with amazing gnarly trunks. Very cool!

 

[Forsoothe!]

And Texas Sage and a variety of Mesquites.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Depends where you are in NorCal.

Many times species that work well for hedges do not always work well for bonsai. Go-to species for hedges in NorCal usually include privet or podocarpus or callistemon due to their speed of growth and their thick foliage. I am assuming you are too far north for full tropicals like ficus.

Olives and live oaks grow too slowly for most people to use them for hedges, but with enough patience they can be some of the best. If you wanted to go crazy, you could always plant giant sequoia. Many cedars and cypresses would also work, but they are usually used for privacy "screens" versus hedges, per se. If you wanted an attractive and fast-growing deciduous, I would recommend valley oak - they grow 6' in a year.

 

[plant_dr]

I was going to say privet too.

 

[エドガー]

Everybody in my neighborhood has eugenias for screening (hedged into square or dome shapes). I have some too, though I converted all of them into niwaki with clouds/pads, haha. Valavanis has a nice eugenia bonsai too. And I've seen a few very nice/old niwaki that look very similar to eugenias, in Japan.

They are def fast growing - to a point where it's annoying and too much maintenance and plucking of epicormic growth to keep the niwaki shape... they are fine in the hot hot SoCal weather too.

 

[Punky]

Thank you all for the ideas. Some I had considered but several will require some investigation.

 

[Jzack605]

Photinia make an awesome hedge and grow great in N Cal. Not sure how’d they be as bonsai though.

Why not plant a hedge and in front of the hedge plant various trees to be harvested as bonsai?

 

[Punky]

Photinia make an awesome hedge and grow great in N Cal. Not sure how’d they be as bonsai though.

Why not plant a hedge and in front of the hedge plant various trees to be harvested as bonsai?

I am hoping for a relatively orthodox bonsai species. I have photinia in another part of the yard and I like them, but I don’t see them used as bonsai and I’m too new to the hobby to blaze new frontiers.

I am hoping to use the hedge AND the area in front for various things. It’s not limited to one or the other.