The sun beats all day on our outside garage wall, the inside garage wall being attached to the house. It can get to 100 degrees in the summer in the garage. The brick sunny garage wall is next to a very slender side yard walkway. Anything we grow needs to be up against the sunny garage wall.
I was thinking about Sky Needle Holly, but they may not be tall enough. The instructions said 6 to 10 feet tall. Considering the soil, 6 feet or less is what we'd get. Any suggestions? DH purchased an attic fan (not installed yet) so the garage can vent into the attic, but I'd like to do more.
By Holly from Richardson, TX
There's lot of trees online but none that grow 6 ft or less,maybe you need to plant some hedges like red tip & etc,you can control them better than trees, maple or dogwood trees make good shade trees, good luck.
Sorry I made a mistake,read your info wrong. I located some tall trees online for $2.98. They will grow taller than 6 ft.
The passage space between the fence and the garage wall is too thin for hedges. That's part of the problem.
I'd be leary of planting anything large enough to shade the garage that close to the home's foundation. It could cause BIG problems later. Have you considered an open fence or trellis with a vine? It would allow air to come through, but it's roots wouldn't crack the foundation walls. How about a small arbor with grapes or a vine on top, which would act as a canopy/awning, shading the garage wall?
You might do some research on Arborvitae, as I don't know a lot about their root system. The forestry dept and BLM recommend they not be planted here because we are so fire prone in our area.They are in the juniper family and therefore evergreen. There are some species that grow quite tall and slim and can be planted very close together.
Otherwise, I would say go with the lattice and vine idea already suggested. I don't know of too many vines that are evergreen except Ivies, which could damage your brick wall, and some Honeysuckle, which would probably stay green in Texas.
Pat T in Nevada
