24 replies to this topic

[cookiejar]

I discussed my nosey creepy neighbor in another thread and several folk suggested growing thorny, prickly hedges.
and someone said "Edible, thorny prickly, make-em-think-twice-before-touching-my-screen hedges."


EUREKA!
What a great idea! Mixing preps with added security.
Now granted, not every thorny berry baby grows in every climate but I thought it was a great idea to consider. Cactuses, brambles, naturaly spikey fruits. And the lovely roses (Useful hips and a spikey surprise).


Example:snip
Gooseberries leaf out early in spring. The foliage is a lustrous green, turning bronze to red in fall. Branches are covered with straight, 1-inch-long spines. The ripe fruit is either translucent yellow-green or dusky purple to red, depending on the variety. When ripe, the fruit is juicy and sweet with a pleasing acidity. As with any fruit, there are marked varietal differences in flavor.snip

snip: Blackberries make the perfect edible hedge, keeping unwanted visitors out of your yard while yielding quarts of rich, flavorful berries snip

Natal Plums make a nice spikey treat.

Various cactus, but I am reluctant to use them-I'm not sure our weather is very good for them. Thought about saw palmetto.

Landscaping With Brambles Poses Thorny Issue for Gardener:
http://www.gardenlerner.com/thornyplants.html


SoooOOOooOOOoooooooo...

Do you have a spikey surprise in your yard? Can you recommend one?

[Aint2nuts]

When I lived in Oregon there was a raspberry hedge, but it didn't get very tall -=- very prickily and delicious!

[Mother]

I like Rosa Rugosa rose hedges. Someone COULD go though them but it wouldn't be fun or fast. They grow fairly fast, usually have single flowers who's petals are useful, and big fat (1" or better) hips that are high in Vitamin C. The hips make good syrup or jelly also.

One problem is that they can get out of control as they come up from the base and spread outward. They are easily mowed off when small though. Unfortunately, I don't have any here yet. Planted them once and they got flooded out. We are hoping to put them in again this year though.

((( )))

[Mother]

OH by the way, gooseberries might be illegal in some states because of the rust they harbor. Check first.

((( )))

[cookiejar]

Originally Posted By: Mother

OH by the way, gooseberries might be illegal in some states because of the rust they harbor. Check first.

((( )))

Because of the whaaaaaattt??


Rust...like...a 75 chevy in the rain?

[Cowgirl]

I'm a huge advocate of edible and useful landscaping. There is no reason to relegate those useful plants to a "garden" that is separate and distinct from your "landscape". I do grow most of my annual crops in a "garden" but I plant the perennials all over the place. Is there a more beautiful ground cover than strawberries, or cranberries, or wintergreen? Rhubarb is a lovely plant. Asparagus is lovely. German Chamomile, though an annual, self-seeds quite readily and is a very lovely and useful herb to grow in a sunny border. Echinacea is a valuable herb and a stunning flower. Blueberries are beautiful shrubs, as are elderberries and highbush cranberries. Plants can have multiple purposes - being both decorative and useful.

[blestmomof4]

I didn't know that rasberries were prickily. I bought some of them to plant along my fenceline. On the other side of my fences are my neighbors dogs and I was wondering if the dogs would attempt to destroy them. They were all out of blackberries so I got blueberry to try.

I am trying to find edible and decorative things to 'landscape' with.

Have a Blessed Day,
b.b.

[babysteps]

If you live somewhere that gets lots of rain (think Seattle, Wa or Portland, Or) be careful about planting blackberries.

Speaking as someone who has blackberry FORESTS covering her property.

Picture bushes higher, longer, and wider than your house...

Yeah. You don't landscape with these unless you're REALLY CAREFUL around here.

(We lived in Idaho for 8 years, but I grew up in Salem Oregon. Talking gardens with a friend in Idaho one day, and she told me she had planted blackberries. The first words out of my mouth: "On PURPOSE?!?!?!" )

[Screaming Eagle]

Cookie,
Rust is like a 'fungus among us' that spreads from one plant to other susceptible plants. Pyracantha, pears, apples etc tend to get it and spread it quickly. And gooseberries need a good cold winter from what I understand so that might be out in Miami.
I'd suggest blackberries as one of the alternatives for you to explore. Or just take a walk through a local nursery to see what kind of thorny fruiting plants are there. Pomegranates have huge thorns but they grow into full trees unless you keep them trimmed short.
Also, be aware that hedges are good places for bad guys to crouch waiting for a door to open. I'd think twice about having them around doors that you use regularly.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Hey Cookie! How about lemons? They are real thorny. I won't suggest mesquite, but it is murder to walk thru and you can use the beans, but you need a way big, bad grinder for them. How about honey locust?

[cookiejar]

Originally Posted By: CrabGrassAcres

Hey Cookie! How about lemons? They are real thorny. I won't suggest mesquite, but it is murder to walk thru and you can use the beans, but you need a way big, bad grinder for them. How about honey locust?

I thought about lemons but have to be careful with a tree close to the house...same with the honey locust which looks intriguing!

[Cowgirl]

Shrub roses get my vote. They are way too thorny for any BG to hide in, as many will go through denim readily. They grow large enough to have some "substance" under a window. But they don't grow too large - they aren't a tree that you are trying to train as a shrub. They are showy. Town people don't think of them as FOOD, but they are. Blackberries are thorny, but they have long arching canes that might make them difficult to manage under a house window. They don't grow as compactly as a shrub rose, as they don't naturally assume a shrub form. They are tasty, though.

Honey locusts are TREES, and not suitable for growing next to a house foundation under a window. They have thorns on their thorns, and those thorns can go through a heavy tractor tire! So the downside is that limbs that break off in storms become very nasty obstacles that you need to pick up and drag to a burn pile (very carefully), else you'll end up stepping on a thorn which will go right through your boots and into your foot (I know this from experience OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!), or you'll get a flat tire on the tractor (also from experience). Cows will eat honey locust beans, but the seeds go right through the cow undigested. The cow patties make for a perfect sprouting medium. The locusts will soon dot the pasture, and the thorns make controlling them interesting. My sheep would not eat them. I do not have them on my present place. I expect that goats ***might*** eat them, though, to help keep them under control. Personally, I wouldn't intentionally plant honey locusts, but that is just me.

Other good country hedge/wind break trees with thorns that are enough to deter people and livestock are hedge apples (also called Osage Orange). Planted thickly along the edge of a field, they make a tall living fence and windbreak. The hedge apple fruits of these aren't good for much (they are NOT apples), but they do have the reputation of being good for insect repelling. Cows will eat some of them, but they aren't very nutritious - a cow would lose weight if she ate too many at the expense of real food. Hedge is one of the best fire wood trees in existence. They also make the longest lasting fence posts. But again, they wouldn't be suitable under the window of a house!

[betty]

Has anyone tried any kind of berry in container gardening???
Would it work?

[Screaming Eagle]

I don't know why berries wouldn't work in a container Betty. Might have to do some root pruning every other year or so while they're dormant (if things even go dormant in So. Cal). Early spring would be the best time before the real growth spurt takes off. And cut the canes back in winter to ease the burden on the roots.

[Cowgirl]

Dwarf blueberries (NOT the highbush varieties) will grow in containers.

Strawberries will grow in containers.

[CrabGrassAcres]

How about prickly pear? It grows extremely well in wet, hot climates (I remember it in Alabama when I was a kid.) You can eat the fruits, the flowers are gorgeous, you can eat the pads and nobody in their right (or otherwise) minds wants to mess with it.

[cookiejar]

Originally Posted By: CrabGrassAcres

How about prickly pear? It grows extremely well in wet, hot climates (I remember it in Alabama when I was a kid.) You can eat the fruits, the flowers are gorgeous, you can eat the pads and nobody in their right (or otherwise) minds wants to mess with it.

Prickly pear will do well in a wet climate???
I know it is tasty, I've had the jelly and I've had the pads done in a stew (sans the spikes! LOL)

Cowgirl, I got the idea of the roses from you from the other post. They could go under the front window nicely and hips (vitamin C) would be useful. They are lovely too. I know people who eat the petals candied.

I have strawberries and an orange tree growing in tubs in the back yard right now too.

[Cowgirl]

Originally Posted By: CrabGrassAcres

How about prickly pear? It grows extremely well in wet, hot climates (I remember it in Alabama when I was a kid.) You can eat the fruits, the flowers are gorgeous, you can eat the pads and nobody in their right (or otherwise) minds wants to mess with it.

I don't think the prickly pears that we have around here would deter anyone (unless the bad guy was barefoot???). They are prickly, but small and no obstacle to anyone with shoes. They are a useful plant, but I'm not sure they'd be of use in home defense. I think perhaps they get larger in the desert, though??? When I was in Arizona at Christmas, I think I saw a much, much larger prickly pear, and if that is what it was, that would be more useful than what we have.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Here the prickly pears get 4 or 5 feet tall and spread out.

[Cowgirl]

Ah, thanks Trish! Our prickly pears are very ground hugging here. Probably that is because we're at the northern edge of their natural range. I was surprised to see what I thought looked like gigantic prickly pears in Arizona - prickly pears on steroids. They were indeed prickly pears, then, just not the midgets that I'm used to seeing!