Mistakes happen

About 10 years ago a former neighbor decided to build a privacy fence around their backyard, which was fine with us.  However, he constructed it with the business-side out so we didn't see the lovely fence, we were looking at about 40 feet of the "wrong side" of the fence.  The obvious solution was to grow my own privacy hedge to hide it.  At the time, the easiest and fastest hedge for me to plant was nandina.  It was free and grew fast.  I knew nandina could be invasive but I figured I could manage it.

In just a few years, I knew I had made a horrible mistake.  Of course, I could "manage" the nandina.  Each spring, I just have to pull up thousands of seedlings!   After the first year of full "management" I knew that the nandina hedge was going to have go. 

The question has just been "with what should I replace it."  I've been carefully listening to landscaping experts and researching their suggestions for creating natural privacy barriers.  They suggest everything from the mundane to the exotic. 

Because I am incredibly frugal (some people call me "cheap") the "newest" landscape plants are too expensive for me but neither do I want the standard "landscaper's favorites." 

While strolling through one of my favorite garden centers this past week, I noticed some fabulous Norway Spruce trees, balled and probably left over from Christmas.  Being from Minnesota, I love spruces but I know better than to plant one in Alabama.  The nurseryman pointed out that he had not one, but two full grown Norway spruces right there.  I was immediately hooked. 

It took a full day to dig up the 12 feet of nandina and two large barberry shrubs to make room for my Christmas tree.   But when I went back to purchase the tree,  it proved to be too heavy to slide into the back seat of my car.  The owner of Cedar Creek Nursery offered to deliver it to my house at no charge. 

I am now the proud owner of this fabulous Norway Spruce.  When it grows up, it will completely hide this section of the fence. 

My three blueberry bushes grace the other end of the fence.  Although they are deciduous,   their bare branches seem to "work" to keep our minds distracted from the fence background.

There is still about 12 feet of nandina in the ground.  I'm still hunting for just the right evergreen shrubs to correct my landscaping error.