Evergreen nitrogen-fixing hedge for 4b?

Hi,

I am trying to figure out if there are any evergreen nitrogen fixing shrubs or trees for Zone 4b. The road I live on borders my property on the uphill side, meaning that in winter, all the snow cleared from the road ends up on the top edge of my property and melts downhill onto the rest of the property in the Spring.

The narrowness of the property combined with positioning of the house and steepness of the slope mean that creating a bioswale here would be rather complicated. I was thinking that if I could create a thick hedgerow of hardy shrubs along the border of the property, this might help reduce the quantity of dirty snow melt running down into my food-growing space.

Is anyone aware of plants that would be good for this function?

Thanks,

Kate

I can think of at least three extreme cold-hard nitrogen fixers. The first is Autumn Olive. Varieties of it also go by the names Goumi, Silverberry, and Treboizond Date)
http://www.burntridgenursery.com/fruitingPlants/index_product.asp?dept=39&parent=28

The second is Seaberry
http://www.burntridgenursery.com/fruitingPlants/index_product.asp?dept=43&parent=28

Then there's the Siberia Pea shrub
http://www.burntridgenursery.com/fruitingPlants/index_product.asp?dept=47&parent=28

You may not want order from all the way across the continent and across national boundries, but this website gives usual information about each plant.

I've spent a lot of time looking up trees, including n. fixers, and I don't know of any evergreens that fix nitrogen at zone 4. The only evergreen trees I can think of for zone 4 are conifers. It would be interesting if there was one.

Thanks Michael and Jose. I do know of several nitrogen fixers for my zone, but none that are evergreens. I guess an alternative solution would be simply to plant evergreen shrubs that are not nitrogen fixers but that still produce edibles?

Last year I planted a few junipers. Does anyone have any other suggestion for a dense evergreen hedgerow that produces edibles?

Kate Alvo wrote:

Last year I planted a few junipers. Does anyone have any other suggestion for a dense evergreen hedgerow that produces edibles?

Maybe look into Korean pine.

Hi Kate,

Ceanothus velutinus (Snowbrush)

cheers,
Gregoire Lamoureux
Kootenay Permaculture

kootenaypermaculture.com

ttps://www.facebook.com/kootenay.permaculture

Hi Gregoire,

Thanks for the suggestion. But is this really evergreen in 4b? I've never seen a leafy evergreen in Quebec before.

Thanks