Hi All :)

I have a 3-4 year old italian cypress that's about 20 feet tall but still very skinny, not more than 1 foot wide. About 11 feet away is a dwarf meyer lemon tree thats pretty old and large, about 11 foot tall by 15 foot wide. My question is what is a good hedge plant that I can plant in between these two plants in that 11 foot space? At first, I was thinking purple hopseed bush because I was told those plants fill in gaps nicely, but I don't think that would work next to a huge italian cypress because wouldn't the largeness of the cypress stunt its growth eventually? So then I was thinking maybe another cypress like a smooth cypress.

The reason I ask is because I am worried the italian cypress will grow too large and eventually stunt the growth of the hedge plants that are planted right next to it. I am in zone 10. I also want to plant other hedge plants on the other side of the italian cypress, I am thinking bamboo.

Another option would be to simply cut the italian cypress down but I would rather not do that if there are good plant options to complement it and fill in nicely as a hedge. Also I dont want to plant a row of italian cypress because that would be boring as hell.

To figure out how far apart to plant shrubs, add the two mature widths and divide by 2. Purple hopseed grows up to 8 ft wide & Italian cypress grows up to 4 feet wide, so that's 6' apart. So you should be able to plant a purple hopseed halfway between the Italian cypress & the Meyer lemon, & it will be fine.

If you want a more filled-in look for now, you could also find some cheap throw-away shrub on sale & plant it between the hopseed & the cypress. When it starts to impinge on one of your preferred plants, cut it down & toss it.

but wouldn't the largeness of the Italian cypress also impinge upon the purple hopseed eventually?