Can anyone recommend an informal type of hedging or screen? Something that doesn't require clipping like cedar or laurel (I hate those) and might stay to 15' or less. I don't like the manicured look or anything requiring too much water. Thanks in advance, LPN.
If you are looking for drought tolerance I don't think you can do much better than yews. I have been torturing several varieties this summer (leaving them in their pots in the sun, or planting them and forgetting to water) and they are all putting in a stellar performance no matter what I do. They don't require the manicured look, and in fact withstand long periods of neglect followed by dramatic corrective pruning because they sprout from old wood. Whether they'd get TO 15' would be the unknown variable.
How about a combination of different varieties of Pieris. Have seen them used as informal hedges very effectively with the seasonal changes and all. They always seem to catch my eye.
