I have a small yard surrounded by retaining walls and concrete. I have beds with mature bushes and flowering trees like lilacs rhododendrons and dogwood and perennials.
I notice that when I dig a nice hole, struggling with the roots of these bushes, to plant new perennials, they do well, growing larger for the first 2-3 years, but then decline rapidly and eventually stop returning. When I dig up to plant a new something the roots are back. Clearly my bushes are bullies, lol, choking their smaller neighbors. I'm wondering if anyone has had success delaying this process with some type of buried boundary around the perennial? I'm thinking maybe cutting the bottom out of some 10" plastic pots to make a ring around the base of the plant? Or perhaps lining the hole with multiple (15-20) layers of newspaper? I know these are only temporary and the roots will eventually return, but if it can buy me another 2-3 years I'd be willing to try it.
