Gardening and Horticulture - Good screening bush for FL?

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View Full Version : Good screening bush for FL?


Dexter
05-15-03, 11:02 PM
I live just south of Tampa, Fl and I want to do some landscaping in my backyard. What is a good quick growing bush that I can plant to screen off the yard in spots to obscure sight?? It needs to be something that likes full sun and minimal care, I'd prefer it to be not your ordinary fence-forming bush. Any ideas would be appreciated.


the_tow_guy
05-16-03, 06:03 AM
Hi, neighbor.

Oleanders work fairly well, but it depends on how dense you want the screen to be. Easy to care for; only have to keep an eye out for oleander caterpillers which are eating machines when it comes to oleander leaves. If you drive I-275 up through Pinellas County you'll see Oleanders used as screens in the medians. One note: they are poisonous, but not to the touch; you just can't eat any of it or breath smoke from it if you burn it. We have them around the perimeter of our pool enclosure and they work well (except that mine are badly in need of pruning to get them to bush out a little better).

Also red tips are a good, fast-growing screen, but I haven't seen a lot of them here in SW Fla.