A Lake Wylie homeowner of a recently constructed home was looking to add screening for her neighbor’s shed and boat house. The area for screening the shed was along a slope subject to water flow during storms and had heavily compacted soil due to being used as an equipment path for multiple construction projects. A secondary general challenge was heavy deer pressure.

A test hole for the planting site by the shed confirmed that the soil was compacted and lacked any top soil or organic matter. To amend the soil, we used a heavy duty pitch fork to loosen the soil. It is hard work, but we found it the most effective tool for penetrating deep into the soil to loosen it up into medium to large chunks. We then added ~2-3” of top soil / compost mix and lightly tilled it in. After the light tilling, we added another 2-3” of top soil as a top layer. For screening, we planting 3 Little Gem Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’). Little gem is a compact cultivar that slowly grows to 8-15’ wide and 20’ tall. To help stabilize the soil between the magnolias, we planted a mix of Cherokee sedge (Carex cherokeensis) and Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). To finish off the bed, we added a river rock border to protect against erosion during heavy rain.

Closer to the lake, we planted 3 each of Miss Scarlett Florida Anise (Illicium floridanum ‘Miss Scarlett’) and Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera) to increase screening of the boat house. Florida anise is a highly deer resistant, compact (4-6’ high) and shade tolerant shrub with attractive red flowers in spring and rhododendron like foliage. Wax myrtle is a low maintenance, tough, sunlight flexible screening plant which is a taller (up to 20’) and is good for supporting wildlife.