I’m planting a shrub border around our screened in porch and need advice about spacing. The plants are red osier dogwood, ruby spice summersweet, and Carolina allspice. Google says these shrubs need 4-6 ft of spacing from other plants at minimum, I have about 6 ft of spacing between the plants on one side and 3-4 ft on the other side. Anyone with experience with these shrubs or landscaping experience know whether this spacing would work? Or whether they can be closer together than 6 ft? How far should they be planted from the porch? Thanks!
by catalpabear
5 Comments
You know what?
Screw spacing and just imagine what they would look like when mature. If you need to move one to the left or right to fit your imagination, then do it. Some plants we can see thriving in whacky locations;
– Crack in the road.
– Crack in a boulder.
– 20ft high in the crack of a tree.
– Even growing on top of each other’s stumps.
Plants may thrive more when given proper spacing, but that’s a luxury that most plants don’t have in the wild.
I’m sure your shrubs will do fine however tight you make it.
I would go with the recommended spacing for the plants laterally (side-by-side). Add an extra couple feet from the porch to accommodate a ladder for home maintenance.
ETA: If you’d like more of a hedge appearance you can certainly plant them closer together. Many people do this with dogwood. Unsure about the summer sweet and allspice
Don’t forget about gutter access. I’m pulling all my under gutter shrubs because I’m sick of getting buggered by twigs and the crawlies that live on them when I’m up on the ladder.
>The plants are red osier dogwood, ruby spice summersweet, and Carolina allspice.
All of these except Carolina allspice are clonal shrubs that will spread out. Follow spacing guidelines if you want gaps. Personally, I prefer a more natural look and space things closer together. Either way is fine.
With trees, I plant them 10-12 feet apart.
The labels don’t lie, plant them with enough room to spread but remember that you can always cut them back as needed.