Shrubs - Hedges
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  (October) I am in search of the " Perfect Hedge". That's right, I want one that is green the year around, grows six to eight feet tall, hearty, grows fast, makes a great foliage barrier, and produces an attractive bloom!

  You didn't mention if it was in sun or shade. If you have partial shade, you could grow the Illicium or Florida Anise. It is evergreen, grows fairly quickly and produces a red or white star shaped blossom. Camellias would be another option for partial shade. For sun, two plants come to mind. They are Little Gem Magnolia -- with beautiful white flowers on a more compact form of the southern magnolia, and Loropetalum -- the purple fringe flower. This does come in white as well. The plants are fast growing to about 15 feet or so, have purple foliage year-round and beautiful fringed purple blossoms in the early spring. They are not a dense screen however, but a little more open and airy. I assume you know of the myriad of hollies that are available, but they don't really have showy flowers, but do have nice berries.

  I was wondering if you could recommend a good shrub or bush to plant along a chain-link fence for privacy purposes. I have red-tip photinia bushes growing along the fence rows on both sides of my back yard, and I was planning to plant them along the back fence row as well. However, a friend told me that you recently advised a reader of your column not to plant photinia bushes because they are susceptible to disease. What would you recommend instead of the photinia? Any advice would be most appreciated. Thank you very much.

  Photinia have been plagued with a leaf spot disease now for some time, and planting more is not a good idea, even if your existing plants don't have it. Other options include: cherry laurel, hollies--Savannah, foster, Nellie Stevens, or Burford. Leyland cypress works in sunny, well drained soils, and wax myrtle, Elaeagnus and sweetbay magnolias are other options.

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