Native Plants

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Sunday - December 21, 2014

From: Granbury, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Privacy Screening, Trees
Title: Evergreen tree for privacy screen in Granbury Texas
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

We need to put an evergreen privacy screen between our barn and our neighbor's new 132' long, unattractive building, which runs along & is just 40' away from our fence line & where they have decided that it's ok to cram all of their trailers & junk behind & in our view! Problem being we need something that does not grow too wide as we have limited space in which to work a tractor in & out of pipe runs for horses. It should be safe for horses as it will be in their pasture, something they won't eat & a minimum of 10' tall. Considering Eastern Red Cedars. What do you think? Any other suggestions for dry, fairly rocky soil in Granbury, Texas? Thanks so much for your help.

ANSWER:

Juniperus virginiana (Eastern red cedar) sounds like an excellent choice. It can be trimmed to form a hedge and there are even varieties that grow into more columnar shape, e.g., Juniperus virginiana 'Emerald Sentinel', that should give you room for your tractor to work. Here is more information about Eastern red cedar varieties. No species of Juniperus appears on the ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plant List—Horses. It is not listed on Cornell University's Plants Poisonous to Livestock and Other Animals or University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Medicine's Poisonous Plants database. However, on the University of California–Davis List of Plants Reported to be Poisonous to Animals in the United States it is reported as being poisonous to cattle, sheep and horses if ingested—but rarely. If your horses have plenty of forage, they are not likely to be tempted to browse on the juniper since it is filled with terpenes that are unpalatable to most animals.

From the Image Gallery

Eastern red cedar
Juniperus virginiana