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Privacy screen advice for wet areas.
First choice is to try and grade the area so the water drains better.
Building a berm:
Planting Leyland Cypress or Green Giants shallow and building your berm by packing dirt around the rootballs. Some people
do this with success, but it requires follow up and monitoring. Someone has to be watching the area, and re-packing with soil
if /when it washes away. Also staking trees that are planted maybe 6 inches deep and 20 inches of dirt piled around it has
to be 3 times as sturdy as trees planted normally(meaning the top of rootballs is 3 inches higher that the level ground around
it). I am a firm believer in solid staking anyway, even when planted normal depth. It adds a per tree cost, and also might
mean you lose NONE of your privacy trees. The root system to trunk connection is always loosened during digging the trees,
loading the tractor trailer, unloading and planting. Staking securely allows that connection to heal. Remember a 12 foot tall
Leyland cypress weighs 900 pounds, and if only 6 inches is below solid surface, it is very very top heavy.
A better berm is built a season before planting, maybe a foot tall and five feet wide, then rains will settle that soil
down before planting.
All magnolias tolerate wet soils, and all are cold hardy through zone 6(long island) and some are cold hardy through zone
5 (near Canadian border. Magnolias are evergreen, they drop some leaves at different times year but do not shed all leaves
in fall. You could actually make your privacy screen with magnolias. Some have white and some purple flowers.
River Birch (betula Nigra). There are native river birch, a cultivar called Heritage was popular for many years, and now
most popular cultivar is called dura Heat. All will drink up water from damp locations.
The trunks can be single, double or triple, are so beautiful many people make a small row of these a showplace, put lights
out to shine on the trunks at night. I recommend these for any damp location.
Deciduous, drops leaves in fall
Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum
Loves wet places, Mature Height: 40-60 ft Mature Spread: 20-25 ft Zone: 4-9
Deciduous, drops leaves in fall
Pond cypress, Taxodium ascendens
Loves wet places, Mature Height: 40-60 ft Mature Spread: 10-15 ft Zone: 5-9
Deciduous, drops leaves in fall
Timing: Leyland Cypress can be moved all spring, we slow down on july 4th through September.
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