Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Sunday - April 08, 2012
From: Lubbock, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Privacy Screening, Shrubs
Title: Screening Shrub for Lubbock TX
Answered by: Brigid & Larry Larson
QUESTION:
I am a landscape architecture student at Texas Tech University and am looking for a drought tolerant shrub to be used for screening a water well area. The location is the northwest corner of a yard with a wood picket fence around it. The shrub will be in full sun, and needs to be able to tolerate the north winter wind due to undeveloped property directly north of the lot. My initial thought was texas sage but the client informed me that they have not had very good success with the sage in the past.ANSWER:
Mr Smarty Plants thinks the LBJ Wildflower Center has a great design resource that you should add to your tools. In the "Expore Plants" topic of the webpage is a link named Recommended Species. If you follow that, there is a link for Native Plants for the Texas High Plains, and also, farther down the page, all of Texas by Ecoregion.
You didn't say exactly where your clients area was [because we have slightly different lists for "High Plains" and "Rolling Plains"] but I expect it is in or near Lubbock, so I used the High Plains Ecoregion list; we can further limit the search by sorting for "Full Sun" and "Shrub".
That returned a list of 5 candidates, ones that are very resilient to your weather and which gives you a bit of choice as to configuration. Why don't you consider these? [pictures below]:
Verbena halei (Slender verbena) 1-3 Ft.
Acacia angustissima (Prairie acacia) 1-4 Ft.
Amorpha fruticosa (Indigo bush) 6-10 Ft.
Rhus aromatica (Fragrant sumac) 6-12 Ft.
Cercocarpus montanus (Alderleaf mountain mahogany) 8-20 Ft.
I looked a little bit into the Salvia texana (Texas sage) that your client said did not do well. In its plant record it states that Salvia texana is a denizen of limestone soils from north-central Texas south to northern Mexico. This means that it is likely not well adapted to the weather and soil near Lubbock, so it would need extra care to thrive. If you have a plant that you would like to recommend for an area, perhaps you should look at the USDA distribution maps. A link to that is in the Plant Record on the line that says:
USDA Symbol: SATE3
From the Image Gallery
More Shrubs Questions
Identification of evergreen bush with red berries
March 17, 2016 - I am a beekeeper and today I took some pictures of a bush about 8 ft. tall in my neighbors yard. My bees are all over the tiny white flowers. It appears to be an evergreen bush because it has foliag...
view the full question and answer
Plants for streambank area in Oregon
September 14, 2012 - I am ready to replant a streambank area with native plants..what do you recommend for the Willamette Valley in Oregon? Thanks much!
view the full question and answer
How can I distinguish Hibiscus laevis from Pavonia braziliensis in New Braunfels, TX?
September 12, 2011 - How can I distinguish Hibiscus laevis (Halberdleaf Hibiscus) from Pavonia braziliensis (Brazillian Rock Rose)? Earlier this year I was given the former by a friend and former NPSOT chap...
view the full question and answer
Wax myrtle or cherry laurel in Austin?
November 15, 2009 - For a very shady area under a large old oak tree with oak toxic soil, would a Wax Myrtle or a Cherry Laurel (caroliniana) be better? Looking for an evergreen screening tree up to 20ft, but it only get...
view the full question and answer
Wilting stems on beautyberry in Georgetown, TX
August 16, 2009 - Last summer I discovered that a 4-year old beautyberry had one (of many) stems that died. Leaves on this single stem wilted and dried up. This year the same happened to two or three stems. The rest of...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |