Podocarpus Macrophyllus Hedge & Spacing

Hi everyone!

My name is Marilyn and I am new here to the forums, though I had spent some time checking out info on Dave's Garden previously. I am hoping some of my fellow Florida gardener's might be able to help me out.

I have an area between my and my neighbor's house that is about 40 feet wide that is basically a 'freeway' as the houses next to me are fenced and this is such a wide open well manicured and inviting space to walk through, drive common area lawn mowers, golf carts, illegal 4-wheelers, etc across (you get the idea :( ). I have been working on making this into a secret garden type space, with a preference for tropical plants within - Zone 9b Tarpon. There is a fire pit in the middle and some plantings already, and well, they are just acting like it is now an obstacle course. For the back, I had started enclosing by planting a row of Chinese Fan Palms, which we already had also behind the pool cage.
The front is where I am now. I have placed an Arbor in the front that I wish to connect with a living fence 'hedge line'. On one end outside in front of the house is a large crepe myrtle (not very tropical, but I inherited it) which shades that area. After much thought, I am now planning to do a podocarpus macrophyllus Maki hedge across, with a large crinum lily on either side about halfway to the arbor. The arbor itself will be covered in jasmine.

So, sorry for the long post, the short question is, how far apart should I space the podo? But just in case someone had some comment or idea for this, I have included the details as well.

Thank you in advance for any info!

Hi Hondo,

I have three Podocarpus trees in my yard and from personal experience, they can get pretty big! If you want to keep them as a hedge...it will require some major trimming back regularly. I have one of my covered by a Dutchman's Pipevine due to the fact that I find them quite unattractive.

If you are interested in the tropical look...you have you thought about a firebush, hibiscus or firecracker...or a combination of them? They will not only add color and beauty...but also attract the butterflies and hummingbirds.

Shauna

Thank you for the input, Shauna. :) Actually, the hibiscus does look quite pretty and tropical as well, and I am interested in drawing butterflies and hummers. I have never had a hibiscus in a shaded area, will it look as good as that in full sun?

Marilyn

Hi Marilyn,

I have a variety of them in my yard, some in full sun and some in partial and they all seem to do well.

I also have a Firebush (Hamelia patens) and if you are really looking for something that will get big and "block unwanted traffic"; you might want to look into one of those. I cut mine down to a couple of feet tall in the beginning of spring and by the following winter, its almost as tall as my house. It has little red flowers and I continually get a variety of butterflies on it all summer long.

I tried to circle it in this picture...right side of the pic.

Shauna

Yes, I do want to block unwanted traffic, but I live in an HOA (hedge line was preapproved) and also need for it to be a bit more structured and formal out front as it faces the street. That really looks beautiful though!

Hi Shauna,

I googled it as a hedge and looks like it can be shaped that way also. I will definitely keep it under consideration. Thank you!

Marilyn

Hi Marylin,
I have a very tall podocarpus hedge along my back fence. It is a slow growing tree, took about ten years until it was nicely filled out and as tall as the fence. I do keep it pruned or it can branch out like a tree. That said it is now 20 years old and well over 30 foot tall. I can only reach and trim the bottom half now, the top is way too high to reach, but they tend to grow upwards and not outwards...if that makes sense.

I will say it has never been affected by the cold freezes, gets lots of berries to feed the birds, but does make lots of babies under the trees with those berries that I pull up each year. It does make a very nice privacy hedge, just slow to get there, of course mine was started with seeds.

Hi Sunkissed, thank you so much for the input.
We did have a couple of podos by our garage before we replaced them with topiaries, and keeping them trimmed regularly (as a formal bush, every week or so, depending on the season) they did not get that tall over the 9 years we lived here. I believe based on my neighbor's they had been here for another 5 and were only about 4 1/2 feet tall? Have you pruned them that often, or are yours allowed to grow more freely? Really curious about all this now.

I do like them, but my husband says it sounds like work. We already have a row of (ficus?) hedges around a bay window in the front, as well as some viburnums and two bougainvilla in the back (all inherited ones) that much be trimmed that often to keep in check. He hates yard work in general, lol. I do need to maintain that more formal look due to the HOA and this facing the street, and though I really want a tropical look, going for something more structured there also. So frustrating trying to find something that meets all the criteria!

Thanks again for your info!

I too have an inherited podocarpus against the front of the house by our garage, I trim it about three times a year, but it has never grown very tall like my hedge in the back did, but then it is in full shade.

In the beginning I kept my trees topped off to make them busier, since they tend to want to grow up more than out. I kept the hedge very neatly trimmed to fence height for many years, trimming about four to five times a year. Eventually I had to get on a ladder to trim them, and then even the ladder wasn't tall enough and that is when I let the top do what it wanted. The bottom I still trim neatly as high as I can reach.

I've seen very well manicured podocarpus hedges that I know have been around as long as my hedge has, so it can be done. I've also seen some that are 4 stories tall. ☺

I noticed in south FL where they don't freeze like they do here many nice hedges with Hamelia patens. It would be more of the tropical look. But would probably require a lot more trimming than the Podocarpus would.

Shauna had mentioned that as a possible tropical looking hedge as well. Not familiar with it, but definitely weighing my options. Doing my side yard has been harder than you would think, so many plants and so many choices! I really don't have a back yard, as the pool cage leaves just enough space to walk between it and the palms, hedges behind it then backs to a retention pond (when it rains lately, at least). My podos in the front were in full sun, but they were trimmed every week or two and definitely not let get out of hand, given the location. The verbenas in the back are much taller now though, since I turned the trimming of those over to my husband (he does it as infrequently as he can get away with!)
I really want this to look nice on either side of the jasmine covered arbor also.

Marilyn,

If you post some pictures of the area, we might have other suggestions for that area. :-)

Shauna