A Privacy Screen with Arizona Cypress and Knockout Rose

What happens if you don’t prune?

I write a lot of articles about pruning and actually the articles on pruning Knockout Roses are the most popular ones on my blog site. One of my rules on landscape design is to plant so that the project will look finished in five years. Today, I visited a site that I had planted about that long ago and I thought I would share.

I love the way the rose grew in. I parked my white Dodge minivan behind it to give an idea of scale. This rose has never been pruned

privacy screen with Knockout rose and Arizona Cypress

I had been asked to design a small privacy screen that would not be just a row of plants. I studied on the problem and decided that I would use a juxtaposition of textures, colors, and sizes in an irregular pattern.

I chose one of my favorites—Arizona cypress for the blue tint in the winter time, Knockout rose for the summer bloom, and a semi dwarf crape myrtle that would give shade for the summer and allow the sun to shine through in the winter.

The design turned out to be a good one. The plants were planted and never pruned. Actually, other than growing them in the first year, they were never watered. The plants performed well and survived a couple of droughts.

The Knockout rose was in full bloom in mid-November even after two periods of heavy frost. It is approximately ten feet high and eight feet across.

Large Knockout rose--never pruned — Large Knockout rose–never pruned

The crape myrtle has dropped almost all of its leaves, but you may still see the effects of its screening in the summertime.

Crape myrtle for shade in summer and light in winter

And, here’s a view from another window showing the cypress, rose, and an arborvitae.

cypress, arborvitae, and rose for privacy screen

Nest summer, I may prune the back side of the rose away from the Arizona cypress. But, then again, I may not.

*****These articles are brought to you by the author of Requiem for a Redneck

As usual, I would just love for you click here to go to Amazon and purchase the ebook edition of my wonderful book, Requiem for a Redneck to go on your Kindle. I have also noticed that Amazon now has a free Kindle app for iphones and tablets. Is that cool or what?

Would you like to have a consultation with John Schulz, Landscape Artist in your yard in NW Georgia? Contact me by email: wherdepony@bellsouth.net

Published by John P.Schulz

I lost my vocal cords a while back due to throat cancer. The laryngectomy sent me on a quest to find and learn to use my new, altered voice. I am able to talk now with a really small and neat new prosthesis. My writing reflects what I have learned in my search for a voice. My site johnschulzauthor.com publishes a daily motivational quote and a personal comment. I write an article a week for my blog, johntheplantman.com which deals with a lot of the things that I do in the garden. I am also the author of Requiem for a Redneck and the new Redemption for a Redneck--novels portraying the lives and doings of folks around the north Georgia hills. I have an English Education degree from the University of Georgia and very happily married to the lovely Dekie Hicks. You may enjoy my daily Quotes and Notes at http://johnschulzauthor.com/ View more posts