Lilies: I'm a newbie & I need help with Asiatic and Oriental Lilies!, 1 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
How funny that you say that about killing off things!

I had five viburnum plicatum tomentosum 'Lanarths' that I ordered as 5 gallon shrubs from Forest Farm. They were zone 5a hardy, and I had them for years, and they got quite large, and then in one unusually severe winter all five of them were killed. Gorgeous in flower and fruit, they also gave me great privacy and kept people from cutting through my yard. The only problem was that nasty neighborhood kids would hide behind them and move the rocks around. Here are three of them in the first picture.

I got a brainstorm about replacing them. Rose Sea Foam, which I had always wanted. I bought two. There was nothing for kids to hide behind, and they were so thorny that I never had a problem with trespassers again. Second picture. You can faintly see the granite boulders in the background that are along the property line. I'm a great fan of using the neighbor's garden as a backdrop, even if she does have knockouts (YUK!)

Then I replaced the other two viburnums with the biggest rose I could find. Constance Spry - which cost me $15 bucks and replaced two $49 shrubs (not counting shipping on either!) It also obscures the knock outs - ha ha!

I can't say that I was happy about losing five large shrubs, but these inexpensive purchases (all three roses cost less than ONE of the shrubs) definitely took the sting out of it!