4-6 ft tall (very pretty!) Windbreak ideas?

My land is very windy - windy enough i don't dare put up a plastic structure,  windy enough i fear planting tender fruit trees. All the mature trees are at an angle to the prevailing wind. Selfishly, i don't want to block my view with anything tall.

My site is:

High humidity
sandy loam to loam
Unirrigated
Zone 6 (Canada), probably a zone 5 USDA.
High wind (Sustained 80-100+ km/hr winds frequently)
Full sun
Ice storms, wet snow in the winter.

I want to plant a series of short hedgrows that will buffer a bit of the wind at ground level, provide privacy from the road,  not block my view or the sun, and have huge flowers once a year. Preferably with dense branches.

Most need to be 4-6 ft tall, but for the right shrub, maybe 8 ft-10 ft (there are some spots i could handle a larger shrub).

Bonus points: edible, native, or useful, and easy to propagate (i suspect i will buy one shrub, and make a million cuttings).

Thoughts:

-Yew (but boring! I do have several in my yard that are quite happy).
-Shrub cherry
- Aronia?
-  Dwarf ninebark
- Japanese quince
- Dogwood (but not dense enough in the winter?)

Site is probably too dry for cedars, and spruce does poorly.

Any suggestions for short, pretty, windbreak-suitable shrubs?  Any experience with the shrubs i am considering in high wind situations?

I was thinking perhaps elderberry bushes... but if I recall mine were fairly open on the bottom, would have let a lot of wind in.

It is not a shrub, but have you considered some decorative grasses? Some can be upwards of 12ft tall... but I've seen them all sorts of sizes. They don't have flowers exactly, but are pretty to look at, can be home to a variety of animals, are good wind breaks, and are fast growing. The downside is that I believe they die back in the winter.

Matt McSpadden wrote:I was thinking perhaps elderberry bushes... but if I recall mine were fairly open on the bottom, would have let a lot of wind in.

It is not a shrub, but have you considered some decorative grasses? Some can be upwards of 12ft tall... but I've seen them all sorts of sizes. They don't have flowers exactly, but are pretty to look at, can be home to a variety of animals, are good wind breaks, and are fast growing. The downside is that I believe they die back in the winter.

I will definitely be planting elderberry in some spots, in my taller windbreak in the back, with shorter perennials in front of it. I have hardwood cuttings already started.  Too tall for my front yard, but i enjoy how the animals (including my dog) treat it like a secret path.

I've considered decorative grass - i think it's miscanthus i see in ornamental plantings here and like the look of. I can get seeds for pampas plume grass...  I think grass tends to bend in the wind though. Also considering a clumping bamboo which i could shear the top of, and use for garden stakes.  Another option is, of course, two rows, with a shorter thing to block the bottoms of a taller shrub.... I do have some width to play with.

Evergreen trees or shrubs make the best windbreak because these trees have leaves all year.

Maybe make a second row of something pretty. Fruit trees, with other flowering or berries mixed in.

Caragana, grows pretty quickly. Can be maintained in a hedge.

Nice ideas Catie. I have a similar (windy) situation here and I can recommend Rosa rugosa as a tough pretty flower and fruit. It spreads slowly by suckers so is easy to propagate. Here it can be somewhat invasive as it doesn't stop spreading, although I don't think it spreads by seed here. Mine grows in a very poor soil by the road and I never need to trim it. It keeps to a sociable 4-5 ft or so, but that is probably climate dependent. The birds love the fruit and the flowers smell divine!
I've found Aronia melanocarpa to be trouble free and grew well without any protection. Here it seem to grow to about 4-6 feet, but I gather it can be taller. Japanese quince has been slow establishing, although I have seen it growing quite happily locally, so this may be variety dependent. It tends to be quite a small shrub here only 2-3ft.
One that was surprising to me was blackcurrant. I thought it would not do well until it had shelter, but actually it seems to shrug off the wind and still fruit well. You can see how upright the bush is in this picture (winds from right), despite the trees behind it rather struggling to get growing: The flowers are not spectacular, but the fruit more than make up for that. It also is easy to propagate with cuttings.



If you want flowers then Ribes sanguineum is an alternative that might tolerate your winters (but rarely sets insipid fruit). It is very early flowering  - probably towards the end of February here.

How about bamboo? There are many different kinds. I find them all beautiful to see and to hear, they can be used as fodder and they'll definately slow wind down in a 'soft' manner.

Can't say how these will do in your soil types, but for wind, humidity, and cold tolerance, you could try Juneberry (early summer berry, not as flavorful as blueberry, but darn good....June bearing.  https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/trees/handbook/th-3-33.pdf ), Nannyberry (fall-bearing, nice colored fruit and leaves, berry like a small prune when ripe   https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/trees/handbook/th-3-63.pdf ), honeyberry (Haskap;  early bearing....relative of honeysuckle), and ...... well..... Honeysuckle (inedible fruit for humans(?), varying flower colors, hardy and invasive.  I also second the recommendation of aronia berry.  Good luck!

Do you get New Zealand flax there at all?  Some varieties are quite tall, they are very stately, have beautiful reddish tall flower spikes, and are used to weave into baskets etc.

Today i finally stuck hardwood cuttings for my windbreaks.

Ninebark, forsythia, more elderberry, and spirea from my mother's house

And black currants from a plant i transplanted last year that is just emerging from the snow - great idea, Nancy! I hadn't considered them in a windbreak.

The saskatoons i bought last year are tiny twigs, too early to take cuttings from, as are my new haskaps. Though i plan to transplant my established haskap plants this spring from my mom's. Commercial research claims saskatoons and haskaps aren't wind tolerant, I shall see how they do.  

The ninebark and the elderberry are of course too tall for my "short" windbreak, but i have a section in the back that is wickedly windy where something taller will work. And free is my favourite price :)

Bamboo- i want bamboo, but plants are very pricey and my zone is a touch marginal for fast growth. Not a good fenceline plant, in any case. I do have a spot chosen for some fargesia that can handle shade...

Tentatively on my windbreak list to buy this summer are rugosa roses, a dwarf ninebark, flowering quince, and/or aronia if i see something for a good price.

Catie George wrote:Today i finally stuck hardwood cuttings for my windbreaks.

Ninebark, forsythia, more elderberry, and spirea from my mother's house

And black currants from a plant i transplanted last year that is just emerging from the snow - great idea, Nancy! I hadn't considered them in a windbreak.

The saskatoons i bought last year are tiny twigs, too early to take cuttings from, as are my new haskaps. Though i plan to transplant my established haskap plants this spring from my mom's. Commercial research claims saskatoons and haskaps aren't wind tolerant, I shall see how they do.  

The ninebark and the elderberry are of course too tall for my "short" windbreak, but i have a section in the back that is wickedly windy where something taller will work. And free is my favourite price :)

Bamboo- i want bamboo, but plants are very pricey and my zone is a touch marginal for fast growth. Not a good fenceline plant, in any case. I do have a spot chosen for some fargesia that can handle shade...

Tentatively on my windbreak list to buy this summer are rugosa roses, a dwarf ninebark, flowering quince, and/or aronia if i see something for a good price.

Oregon Grape is tough, short, and theoretically edible/medicinal.  Might also be native for you.  

You absolutely can plant fruit trees - the book “Grow a Little Fruit Tree” by Ann Ralph is pretty inspiring.

Currants of whatever color are usually used as understory plants in permaculture, but they really love sun too.

Sea Buckthorn will probably stay low for you, but it’s very thorny.

I wonder if Rose of Sharon can be pruned short? Mine is still wimpy after several years so not yet an issue.

Nanking cherry stays pretty low, too, and I like the fruit.

Best of luck, and please let us know how it goes!

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

Oregon Grape is tough, short, and theoretically edible/medicinal.  Might also be native for you.  

You absolutely can plant fruit trees - the book “Grow a Little Fruit Tree” by Ann Ralph is pretty inspiring.

Currants of whatever color are usually used as understory plants in permaculture, but they really love sun too.

Sea Buckthorn will probably stay low for you, but it’s very thorny.

I wonder if Rose of Sharon can be pruned short? Mine is still wimpy after several years so not yet an issue.

Nanking cherry stays pretty low, too, and I like the fruit.

Best of luck, and please let us know how it goes!

I definitely can grow some fruit trees - hardy apples and pears and sour cherries. I plan to transplant some this spring that i've been growing, in a similar style to what's recommended in that book, pruning them to stay arm high.

But i'm cold enough that tender fruit, like peaches, plums, nectarines, sweet cherries, apricots, quince, etc are all on the edge of hardiness and fruit production. The advice is to plant them on a wind protected north facing slope to protect them from waking up early. I am on a south facing slope with very high winds. I can't fix the slope direction, but i can add a series of wind breaks! Anyways, no stone fruit trees this year, no matter how sad it makes me.

Rose of sharon is something i'm excited to try to grow. I've moved to a warmer zone, and am finally warm enough for it! I remember the first time i saw it in someone's yard in the closest city to me, being stunned that you could grow something that looks so tropical. I've never seen it taller than 3-4 ft, i suspect it dies to the roots in the winter like buddleja?

Nanking cherry is a good idea. Do they taste like sour cherries? Extending cherry season would be nice.

I’ve had good success with the prairie cherries developed at U. Of Saskatchewan. There is a series of them, Romeo, Juliet, Cupid, and Valentine. My Juliets  have been extremely productive and hardy to -40 F and C last winter. I’m in the Missouri River Valley of central Montana. It is surprisingly humid. With lots of dew, frost and ground fog at the turning of the seasons. Mine have grown to about two meters high and easily that wide. They sucker heavily which is desirable for hedging . The cherries are pretty good eating. Just a thought.

Catie George wrote:

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

Oregon Grape is tough, short, and theoretically edible/medicinal.  Might also be native for you.  

You absolutely can plant fruit trees - the book “Grow a Little Fruit Tree” by Ann Ralph is pretty inspiring.

Currants of whatever color are usually used as understory plants in permaculture, but they really love sun too.

Sea Buckthorn will probably stay low for you, but it’s very thorny.

I wonder if Rose of Sharon can be pruned short? Mine is still wimpy after several years so not yet an issue.

Nanking cherry stays pretty low, too, and I like the fruit.

Best of luck, and please let us know how it goes!

I definitely can grow some fruit trees - hardy apples and pears and sour cherries. I plan to transplant some this spring that i've been growing, in a similar style to what's recommended in that book, pruning them to stay arm high.

But i'm cold enough that tender fruit, like peaches, plums, nectarines, sweet cherries, apricots, quince, etc are all on the edge of hardiness and fruit production. The advice is to plant them on a wind protected north facing slope to protect them from waking up early. I am on a south facing slope with very high winds. I can't fix the slope direction, but i can add a series of wind breaks! Anyways, no stone fruit trees this year, no matter how sad it makes me.

Rose of sharon is something i'm excited to try to grow. I've moved to a warmer zone, and am finally warm enough for it! I remember the first time i saw it in someone's yard in the closest city to me, being stunned that you could grow something that looks so tropical. I've never seen it taller than 3-4 ft, i suspect it dies to the roots in the winter like buddleja?

Nanking cherry is a good idea. Do they taste like sour cherries? Extending cherry season would be nice.

I should go look at my Rose of Sharon to see, but I think it’s more of a deciduous shrub so stays up but leafless.

I was surprised by how tasty the Nanking cherries were!  I like sour things, so take it with a grain of salt, but I would totally eat them like regular cherries.

Those Prairie cherries sound interesting too!

How would lilacs do there?

And viburnum?

What about Korean Lilacs, Purple Flowering Raspberry, or Carolina Allspice? The last two might need a bit more water than what you have to offer, but we grew the purple flowering raspberries at our old house and never watered them and they did pretty well.

Update:

I managed to kill all of my hardwood cuttings, thanks to unexpected life events last spring.

My focus for my windbreaks is changing a little from strictly beauty to prioritizing native plants.

I've been horrified at how few pollinators I have here - I'm surrounded by farm fields and thickets of invasive shrubs, with little value to native pollinators.  I have been having pollination issues on my fruit, and it's not uncommon for me to not see a single bee or butterfly the whole time I am in my yard. It's a little better this year than last year, bur still shocking. I don't think it's a chemical issue, as I have a ton of birds and usually a ton of amphibians.

Lilacs - lilacs live here, I have some that came with the house, and they are invasive and grow wild here, I don't really want to add more, as my mom is quite allergic to the scent.

Viburnum - very good idea, although maybe likes more water?
spicebush good idea, will keep an eye out

I didn't follow my own advice and tried 2 stone fruits on clearance last spring - over the winter, one died and one almost died.I definitely should work on more windbreaks before trying stone fruit again.

In my first windbreak/fruit bush area, One Saskatoon died, the other has grown a lot and is happily suckering already and is producing its first fruit! I intend to propagate it, but it will be too tall for the front. A few other things have survived but aren't thriving yet, lots of tip die back over the winter. One of the U Sask cherries is suckering, the other is forming fruit. Honestly, a whole fenceline of Saskatoons and bush cherries would make me very happy...  

I started on the back wind break - most of my willows also died, thanks to the black walnut. One hybrid willow has made it, as have 2 cedars and a black raspberry.

I have a lot of wind, though not as hard as tou, but I find that the wind is hard on the young plants.  I have been trying to think of physical structures that would slow the wind, shelter the plants.  

So far all I have come up with is pallets joined at the edges in zigzag.  And long “berms” of stacked corkwood.  And T posts pounded in and upright poles and branches sort of woven in to parallel horizontal wires attached to the T posts.  I guess a giant brush heap might work.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I have a lot of wind, though not as hard as tou, but I find that the wind is hard on the young plants.  I have been trying to think of physical structures that would slow the wind, shelter the plants.  

So far all I have come up with is pallets joined at the edges in zigzag.  And long “berms” of stacked corkwood.  And T posts pounded in and upright poles and branches sort of woven in to parallel horizontal wires attached to the T posts.  I guess a giant brush heap might work.

Good point about wind, physical barriers, and baby plants!!

I tend to buy cheap plants that are essentially rooted cuttings. I like to protect them when they are young from  weed whackers, bunnies, etc, with old tin cans. The Saskatoon that died was the only shrub where the tin can was knocked off over the winter, and the tip-killed plants were dead above the level of the can, and are resprouting from the base. Makes sense that the tin cans acted as a windbreak.

 We did have an unusually harsh winter, with colder-than-rated for my zone weather with no snow on the ground, after a bad drought. Fingers crossed things aren't as hit next winter when better established.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:How would lilacs do there?

I was thinking lilacs as well. They have been grown in my area (Zone 3b) since forever. Once established they are tough. As a bonus you can cut them down to the base if needed and they will pop back up.

For evergreens, there are dwarf mugo pines that top out at about 7' and look really nice.

Yeah, I am growing them, but the OP said she can’t use them because her mother (I think) has an allergy…

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Yeah, I am growing them, but the OP said she can’t use them because her mother (I think) has an allergy…

Ah! Right you are. Missed that.