EVERGREENS FOR SCREENING

EVERGREENS

FOR SCREENING, BEAUTY AND FUNCTION

Evergreens retain their foliage for a full year or more and are classified as either conifers or broadleaf evergreens. Conifers belong to the phylum gymnosperms which are plants that bear cones instead of flowers as reproductive structures. Their leaves are called needles or scales and are adaptations for survival in tough windy drought conditions, like on top of mountains. While broadleaf evergreens belong to the phylum Angiosperms (flowering plants) and produce flowers and seeds. Both conifers and broadleaf evergreens are a wonderful and highly functional asset to your landscape, especially when privacy is a goal.

Screening is one of the most requested landscape functions.

This can seem like a very simple request however from the grower’s perspective it is much more complex and dependent on budget and environment.

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Layered screening with large Thuja plicatas that give wonderful privacy

BUDGET & TIMELINE

How much you have to spend on screening directly correlates to the amount of time it will take to achieve your end goal. The bigger the tree, shrub, or grass, the more expensive it is and the more labor intensive it is to install. Large transplants can take a couple of years to re-establish their root systems.However, faster growing plants are not always an ideal option. A fast growing plant can be weak wooded, susceptible to high winds or winter ice damage, or prone to outgrowing their space entirely. The most economical and resilient strategy is to start your screening "vision" with smaller plants that can quickly establish themselves backed by slower-growing structural evergreens.

ENVIRONMENT & MICROCLIMATE

The Island may be small but it is remarkably diverse in terrain and habitats. What would work for a screen in Vineyard Haven will not necessarily work for screening in Chilmark. Soil types, sun exposure, and local wildlife play massive roles in plant decisions.

• Deer Pressure: High up-island deer populations require careful plant selection.

• Soil Variations: Sandy coastal soils dry out quickly (Oak Bluffs), while low-lying clay soils can trap moisture and cause poor drainage that slowly stresses root systems.

• Water Compatibility: Matching the plant to the soil moisture is critical. Planting a drought-loving juniper in a damp, heavy clay area, for instance, sets it up for failure.

It helps to remember that what you see above ground is only half of the plant, what goes on below is perhaps even more important.

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Thuja plicata Virginian

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Thuja plicata Green Giant

Thuja plicata Fluffy

Conifers

• Picea abies (Norway Spruce): A reliable, fast growing evergreen averaging about 13 inches per year! It adapts wonderfully to island growing conditions and tolerates acidic, loamy, sandy, well-drained, and even clay soils.

• Cupressocyparis leylandii (Leyland Cypress): A powerhouse screen growing at least 24 inches per year. It handles island conditions well, though it should be avoided directly on the waterfront where heavy salt spray and high winds can cause irreversible damage.

• Pinus strobus (Eastern White Pine): A classic native beauty that prefers acidic, moist, well-drained soil and adds a soft texture while growing at least 24 inches a year.

• Thuja plicata 'Green Giant' (Western Arborvitae): We have been carrying this cultivar for years. This specific variety can get up to 60' tall! Many use arborvitae as screening for privacy on their properties, as well as a windbreaker. We have them in several sizes.

• Thuja plicata 'Virginian' (Virginian Arborvitae): A smaller newer cultivar growing 15' tall x 6' wide in ten years(with a steady 1-to-2-foot annual growth rate). It is known to be deer-resistant and compact for tight screening needs. We offer three different sizes up to 9 feet.

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Broadleaf Evergreens

Broadleaf evergreens make magnificent, texturally rich privacy screens, and they excel in areas with partial shade.

• Hollies (Ilex): Tough, glossy, and brilliant for privacy and winter color.

• Rhododendrons: Offer lush foliage, stunning spring blooms, and year-round structure.

• Cherry Laurels: Dense, fast-establishing, and classic.

• Andromedas (Pieris): Provide early spring blooms and delicate, year-round foliage.

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Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Pinpoint Blue’

Chamaecyparis pis. ‘Gold mop’

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Chamaecyparis pisifera Baby Blue

The Benefits of Evergreens

• Year-Round Interest: Gives the landscaper structure year round and stays green even through the dead of winter.

• Privacy & Windbreaks: Block unwanted views and buffer cold seasonal winds.

• Wildlife Habitat: Offer critical shelter and nesting sites for birds and small mammals.

• Resilience: Exceptionally drought-resistant once their root systems are established.

• Climate Suitability: Perfectly adapted to Martha’s Vineyard's climate zone (traditionally zone 7A, with many varieties proving even hardier)

Juniper Blue Star

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Juniperus Blue Pacific

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Juniperus procumbens Nana

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Juniperus chinensis Blue Point

Stop by Vineyard Gardens to find the perfect evergreens for your screening project and let our team help you create privacy that lasts for generations!

Rhododendron screening

BROADLEAF EVERGREENS

BONES OF THE GARDEN

Broadleaf evergreens

Often in spring, it’s easy to get excited about the fresh smells and colors of early spring flowers that first burst to life after winter. But beneath all that seasonal excitement, it’s the evergreens that quietly hold everything together. They are the bones of the garden, the structure and backdrop. While flowers come and go, evergreens carry the landscape through every season. Broadleaf evergreens, in particular, offer year-round texture and depth, anchoring the garden in winter and elevating it in spring, summer, and fall. They don’t just fill space, they give the garden its shape.

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Rhdodendrons are wonderful for year round screening

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Skip Cherry Laurel

The Benefits of Broadleaf Evergreens

• They provide year round interest

• Great for privacy screening

• Drought resistant, once established

• Provides habitats for birds and other small animals

• Pollinator friendly!

• Great for Martha’s Vineyards climate zone 7A

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Winter Sun Mahonia

Most broadleaf evergreens have a spectacular display of spring blooms!

Even better, they don’t all flower at once. Skimmia and Pieris japonica lead the way in early spring, followed by azaleas and rhododendrons creating a long, layered season of color.

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Pieris japonica

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Japanese Skimmia

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Azalea

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Rhododendron

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BROADLEAF EVERGREENS

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SKIP CHERRY LAURELS

Skip Cherry Laurels are vibrant evergreen trees that can create dense privacy hedges for any yard. Skip laurels grow to be 10-18 feet tall and 5-7 feet wide, with a moderate growth rate of roughly 24 inches per year. While they thrive in full sunlight, Skip laurels also fare very well in the shade. Their dense foliage is glossy green year-round. In the springtime, you’ll be rewarded with fragrant white blossoms that attract all kinds of pollinators. In fall and winter, Skip laurel trees produce red berries that attract songbirds.

• Make excellent privacy screens

• Green year-round

• Fragrant, white blossoms in spring

• Drought-tolerant

• Smaller leaves than other laurels that give a neat, compact look

• Deer-resistant

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Skip Cherry Laurel

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Skip Cherry Laurel

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MAHONIA

Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ is a small to medium evergreen shrub growing up to 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide, with an upright form and large fern-like leaves arranged in whorls on sturdy, branching stems. In late fall to early winter, it produces fragrant yellow flower spikes followed by clusters of waxy blue berries loved by birds. A striking focal point in the winter garden.

PLANTING TIP
Plant Winter Sun Mahonia in a sheltered site, ideally with an eastern exposure. It prefers moist, well-drained soil. Plant it where its winter blooms and fragrance can be enjoyed up close, along a path or near a seating area.

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Winter Sun Mahonia

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Winter Sun Mahonia and Daffodils

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Winter Sun Mahonia

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AZALEAS

This spring, our flowering shrubs include the familiar evergreen rhododendrons and azaleas. Azaleas are part of the rhododendron family and represent a diverse genus with many species, including both evergreen and deciduous forms. In general, deciduous azaleas bloom slightly later than evergreen types, flowering on old wood before the new leaves emerge.

Some deciduous, fragrant azaleas:

• Azalea viscosum, native swamp azalea: These bloom a little later and often bloom before the foliage emerges, making them extra showy. The fragrant blooms will perfume your entire property, growing 8-10ft tall and 6-8ft wide.

• My Mary: A yellow, fragrant, deciduous, spring blooming azalea that attracts pollinators and butterflies, growing 4-5ft tall.

• Rhododendron prunifolium: This is a species azalea (not a hybrid). It is a native wild azalea.

There are some deciduous Weston hybrids with viscosum that stay smaller. If an 8ft shrub is too big for your spot try one of these :

• Lemon Drop: A yellow blooming fragrant deciduous azalea

• Innocence: A white blooming fragrant deciduous azalea

To see these deciduous azaleas in their full splendor they will be blooming in a few weeks at the Polly Hill Arboretum!

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deciduous azalea

Azalea 'Landmark', evergreen azalea

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BUXUS (BOXWOOD)

Buxus is an evergreen deer resistant shrub that typically bloom in May. They do best in some afternoon shade and are a great back drop for deciduous plantings. Even though the flowers seem insignificant, they still produce nectar and pollen for beneficial insects.

• Buxus sempervirens: This variety has an elegant columnar habit with a soft and lush foliage of ovate, lustrous leaves. Its deep green foliage has shown good resistance to boxwood blight.

• Buxus microphylla var. japonica 'Winter Gem' : “An excellent evergreen shrub for small hedges. Among the hardiest of the small-leaved boxwoods, the rich green foliage can acquire a golden bronze hue in cold winter zones, but is one of the first to become green again in spring. Makes a wonderful addition to formal gardens, providing year-round interest.” (monrovia)

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Buxus x Green Gem

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Buxus x Green Mountain

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Buxus x Winter Gem

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Buxus microphylla v. Japonica Morris

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HOLLIES

We love hollies at Vineyard Gardens! Our appreciation traces back to Chuck Wiley, the original owner, who grew up near Fernbrook Nursery in New Jersey, known for its beautiful American hollies (Ilex opaca). That early exposure sparked a lifelong admiration. American hollies are also more deer resistant than many other types, and for berry production, you’ll need both a male and female plant nearby.

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American holly, Ilex opaca

“The stout, stiff branches of this pyramidal evergreen bear dark green, non-glossy, spine-tipped leaves. Bright red berries occur on the female plants. Many varieties are grown for ornament, shade, and hedges. You must have both a male and female plant to have berries, The male must be the same holly species as the female and bloom at the same time. This is a slow-growing tree (but slower growing is stronger). Berries are attractive and a good winter food source for birds.” (Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center) The height of American holly grows up to 25ft. They can be pruned to be kept smaller.

• Ilex opaca ‘Jersey Knight’: A male cultivar that is considered to be a good pollinator. Typically grows 7-8’ tall and spreads to 3-4’ wide over the first 10 years.

• Ilex opaca ‘Jersey Princess’

• Ilex opaca ‘Portia Orton’

• Ilex opaca ‘Satyr Hill’

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Inkberry, Ilex glabra

“A mound-shaped, colony-forming shrub 6-12 ft. tall and wide. Lance-shaped, sparingly-toothed, glossy, leathery foliage varies in color from dark- to light-green both in summer and fall. Inconspicuous flowers are followed by black berries which persist well into winter. This species differs from all other evergreen hollies by lacking spines on the leaves, only having teeth toward the tip of the leaves.” (Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center)

• Ilex glabra ‘Compacta’

• Ilex glabra ‘Shamrock’

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Ilex x Oak leaf

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Inkberry, Ilex glabra ‘Shamrock’

Winterberry, Ilex verticillata

“The leaves of Common winterberry are not shaped with sharp teeth like other hollies and are not evergreen. The purplish green foliage turns black, in fact, with the first frost. The inconspicuous flowers, however, are followed by dense clusters of bright red berries that remain on the branches throughout winter. Winterberry is a globular, upright, medium-sized shrub, typically 6-10 ft. tall. Extremely showy in late fall and early winter when covered with their bright red fruit, these shrubs are either male or female--a trait typical of the holly family. Birds are readily attracted to them.” (Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center)

• Ilex verticillata Southern Gentleman

• Ilex verticillata Winter Gold

• Ilex verticillata Winter Red

• Ilex verticillata Little Goblin Guy

• Ilex verticillata Little Goblin Red

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and even more holly varieties are available!

PIERIS JAPONICA

PIERIS JAPONICA

(ANDROMEDA)

Pieris japonica is a broadleaf evergreen shrub that provides multiseason interest. In early spring, their cascading, delicate, bell shaped flowers bloom for about two weeks. The blooms range in color from white to pink. Simultaneously, bright pink, red, or bronze new foliage emerges, gradually transforming into glossy, oblong evergreen leaves. Beadlike flower buds form in late summer and hold steadfast through winter against their evergreen backdrop.

Deer resistant, slow growing and shade tolerant, Pieris japonica are ideal for adding year round color to mixed borders.

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Pieris japonica in late winter

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GROWING CONDITIONS & CARE

Pieris japonica are beautiful year round. They are easy to grow but need to be shielded from rough weather conditions, such as intense wind or rain and do not do well in soggy soil. Keep soil moist and well drained.

• Growth: 9–12 ft. tall, 6–8 ft. wide, slow growing

• Light: Sun, partial shade. In Martha’s Vineyard is can be treated as a full sun plant.

• Soil: Prefers rich, acidic, moist but well-drained soil

• Bloom Time: Late winter, early spring

• Flower Color: White, pink

• Deer resistant!!

• Good choice for foundations and shrub borders

• Smaller dwarf varieties can also be planted in containers

(photo credit Ray Ewing)

photo: Ray Ewing

Pieris japonica in late winter

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HAPPY GARDENING!