Seems like every year we have a couple storms that play havoc with my garden, trying to flatten my sweet corn. I’m looking to plant a screening row of shrubs or bushes on the west side to block most of the wind, without getting too tall to shade everything too much. And it would be nice if it provided berries or fruit of some kind.
My first thought is a row of Nanking Cherries. Any thoughts or better ideas? I’m in zone 4b/5a.
I don’t think nankings would stop much wind. How about something like globe arborvitaes? No berries or fruit, but definitely would block some wind. I had some techny arborvitaes on my old place that I kept trimmed like a hedge. Right around 8-10’ tall
i agree. evergreens are great windbreaks here.
If you don’t want to totally block the wind, and just slow it, wild plums (prunus americana) can be tough as nails although they spread (a mower keeps that in check). They won’t make a solid screen but slow the wind, even in winter if you have a wide enough bunch of them. Expect some snow on the interior and on the downwind side. The reduced wind through plums would disperse more of the snow and give less of a deep dump downwind than a solid row of conifers. The height of the plums is more in the 6-8’ range around here (or maybe slightly higher). If you get bored with them, you could graft peaches to some of them 
Not a great pic, but here’s a plum thicket in the background (darker bark) that I’m trying to rid of volunteer elm trees (ligher bark) that have come up around the outside of the thicket (and a few larger elms inside the thicket). The plum thicket is wide enough to make a good living edible screen. Stand down wind on a windy day and it’s very comfortable…but I wouldn’t use it alone as a windbreak for a farmstead or house. If a rabbit bites off a plum, it just makes them spread out more. This thicket has spread quite a bit over the last 10 years.
removing post
Amelanchier alnifolia or Amelanchier canadensis maybe? But the Nanking might work…plant them about 3 feet apart…or a double row with the plants staggered.
Aronia…but they aren’t very tasty unless you’d make jelly.
A double row (zigzag) of honeyberries, perhaps? Some get 5 or 6 feet tall. Definitely hardy in your area.
Pie cherries?
Oh, I got it! Cranberry bush viburnum!
Or a nice mix of several?
If you’ve got chickens or ducks, Siberian pea shrub makes a pretty dense (and thorny) hedge that produces little pea like legumes that fowl eat. Super hardy and grows in light soil. They’re used a lot here and into the Dakotas for windbreaks. I had some on my old place in Dane County, WI. I used them there as a “people” barrier
carmine jewel or evan’s cherry would fill and be thick with some suckering too. I think nanking is a little shorter than those, so wouldn’t be as effective, also with something that doesn’t sucker like the two cherries I mentioned, you are going to have some nankings die out and have holes in your screen. The positive about nanking, is it is more for eating out of hand, the others more for processing.
currants and elderberries are fast growers and grow thick. both can easily be grown from cuttings to save costs. 1 plant can in 2 years become many.
Thanks all, I knew you would help me get carried away.
I’m probably going to plant two rows, staggered, of 3 or 4 different varieties. Perhaps even a row of flowering shrubs for pollinators to go with. I’ll post here after I’ve got it all nailed down.
