Native Plants
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Thursday - March 11, 2010
From: Irvington , NY
Region: Northeast
Topic: Privacy Screening
Title: New York State Shrubs to Screen Home from Traffic
Answered by: Janice Kvale
QUESTION:
I am looking for a native New York bush/small tree which I can use along a road to screen my home from year-round car traffic. The area is not terribly wide and the soil is OK. I am willing to prune and fertilize.ANSWER:
If you are searching for a year-round screen, Mr. Smarty Plants assumes that you will want an evergreen shrub, but you may find a deciduous solution more to your liking. I have several proposals that you may entertain but you may also want to do a bit of searching through our Plant Database yourself as you know the specifics of moisture and light exposure for your site. Here is how you do that: Go to our Plant Database Combination Search. Enter your location (New York), either shrub or tree (I used only shrub but you can see what comes up under tree also), and perennial. Then indicate the amount of sunlight your site receives daily and the moisture content of the soil. Voila! A list of options appears on your computer screen.
After you have made your selection(s), find a supplier from our list in your area.
All of the suggestions below are native to New York State. Some indicate that they grow to a large size so your willingness to prune may be essential in keeping them the size you prefer. Many of the plants are those that adapt well as hedges. All of the native shrubs in this first list are evergreen.To review specific descriptions of these shrubs, click on the name.
Cephalanthus occidentalis (common buttonbush)
Thuja occidentalis (arborvitae)
Juniperus virginiana (eastern redcedar)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
All of the following suggestions are deciduous, but those spring blossoms may be worth a bit of winter car traffic.
Rhododendron periclymenoides (pink azalea)
Rhododendron prinophyllum (early azalea)
Rhododendron maximum(great laurel)
Crataegus opaca (riverflat hawthorn)
Crataegus uniflora (dwarf hawthorn)
More Privacy Screening Questions
Small evergreen shrubs for part shade in Texas
January 31, 2015 - Mr. Smarty Pants,
I'm, for some reason, at odds with myself about a shrub decision. I have need about 8 ft of hedge-like evergreen shrub(s) that I can maintain around 4ft to go under a window. It...
view the full question and answer
Trees for privacy screen
August 08, 2012 - Hello, We'd like to plant a privacy screen to hide our view of an adjacent apartment complex. Ideally the trees or other plantings might be a native species, and preferably they would eventually rea...
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Puppy-friendly privacy screen in Montana
November 02, 2012 - I need some puppy-friendly short(< 30') privacy from the gigantic windows of my next door neighbor. But- there are power lines above the area that I needed to plant! I had planned on an aspen grove, ...
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Fast-growing tree for privacy in Berkeley, CA
July 30, 2013 - Help. I need fast growing tree for backyard privacy.
Where in Berkeley is there a tree nursery to
Buy Pittosporum trees?
Thank you.
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Evergreen tree for screen behind a waterfall
July 25, 2010 - I want to plant 3 evergreen trees as a screen behind a waterfall and along a fence by my pool. We took down a wax myrtle due to winter/ice damage and the mess in the pool. I want male yaupon hollies...
view the full question and answer
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