Ldcreborn2001
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:45 am
Location: Eastern, NC

New house, need shrubs

Have a new house in Zone 7 (Eastern NC) and need help with Shrubs. Have clay for soil and want an evergreen that will grow 4-5' with Sun/partial shade. Would love something that will have flowers during the summer, but not necessary. I'm really worried re: the clay soil, know we will have to add something. Any one have an great ideas for shrubs? :)

TheLorax
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Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:40 pm
Location: US

Hello and warm welcome to the forums.

You'd love something that will have flowers during the summer but that's not necessary and you want an evergreen but have clay soil- that's a tall order. Any wiggle room?

Ldcreborn2001
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:45 am
Location: Eastern, NC

There's always wiggle room. Flowers are not necessary, we are going to till up the clay and put in some top soil so hopefully that will help some, but must have a shrub that will have something going on in the winter time. Nothing more depressing than looking at a house and seeing sticks.

MaineDesigner
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Posts: 439
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:17 am
Location: Midcoast Maine, Zone 5b

Depending on how nasty your clay is sometimes the best choice is to build berms/raised beds on top of it with better draining soil.* This works well for rhododendrons/azaleas** as they are shallow rooted. They aren't evergreen but Aronias, most Dogwoods, most Viburnums and most Witchhazels are fairly clay tolerant. If you don't have deer issues both Yews (Taxus) and Arborvitae (Thuja) are fairly clay tolerant but deer will browse them, often severely, if they have the opportunity.

* Alternately you could till in huge amounts of good quality compost or other organic material (forget "topsoil"). I'm not a fan of tilling but sometimes you have no choice. You could also layer compost on the surface and let the worms do the tilling; it works, but slowly.

** Your climate may be getting too hot for these plants to be happy in the long run. I've been hearing stories of established rhododendrons perishing in the Carolinas in the last few years. If you were up in the mountains in the Western part of the state you'd have better prospects.
Last edited by MaineDesigner on Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

TheLorax
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:40 pm
Location: US

Berms are an excellent idea! I never think of all the creative things one can do to dress up a yard and work around heavy clay. In fact berms are probably the best way to grow Kalmia latifolia (Mountain Laurel). Kalmia is an evergreen that blooms in the spring and it's in the class of shurb/small tree however there are many absolutely wonderful cultivars available that might meet your needs in the 8'- 10' range. Kalmias like slightly acidic soil so if you went the route of a berm, you could companion plant it with other acid lovers. Leucothoe fontanesiana (Doghobble) nice sized shrub at ablout 5-6' tall, Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite' is a small shrub (around 3'), Chamaedaphne calyculata (Leatherleaf) another small shrub around the same height as the 'Red Sprite' maybe taller by a foot or so, and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Common Bearberry) a shrub growing to all of about 1.5' although it may or may not do well for you in NC. All are evergreen, all like the ph to be low and all should work very well with Kalmia.

Vaccinium macrocarpon (American Cranberry) could be easily planted with the above. It's evergreen, is a very small shrub that is frequently used as a ground cover, grows to around 8"', and also likes acidic soil.

Juniperus communis (Juniper) is a lower sprawling shrub that I happen to like but some people don't care for the look.

Although not evergreen, Hamamelis virginiana and H vernalis (witchhazels) are the only shrubs blooming up here in winter so they're an excellent suggestion. They also like a lower pH.

Don't know about the rhodos or the azaleas for where you garden. I use the Northern Lights up by me.

Toms92gp
Senior Member
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:46 am
Location: Louisburg, NC zone 7b

Azaleas well do great in partial shade or the North or east side of the house if you make a raised bed. Alot of Hollies will tolerate clay soil also, but there throny leaves and the eventual large size can make them a nusiance new the house. Camelias will do rather well as long as they aren't in a wet arear, Clay can be tough to work with, it keeps water from draining and set up like brick when it drys. https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/shrubs/common_namesa-c.html

This is Nc states shurb fact sheet list, they have ones for trees too and it can help you pic out what you like that will tolerate your clay soil.



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