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
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

rate this answer

Tuesday - October 26, 2010
From: Casper, WY
Region: Rocky Mountain
Topic: Shrubs
Title: Need a shrub that can tolerate high winds in Casper, WY.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills
QUESTION:
I need a medium height evergreen shrub that can tolerate severe winds, extreme cold, and requires little water. I live in Casper WY, which is high-desert, 5,000 foot elevation, zone 4. We have roaming antelope and a few deer. I don't mind if they graze on the shrubs, as long as they don't completely demolish them. I want to plant these shrubs along the top of a bluff which gets almost constant wind, sometimes up to 50 - 70 MPH, throughout the year. Thank you for any help you can provide!ANSWER:
In our databases, we have sun plants, shade plants, and plants for dry habitats, but we don't have a category for "wind-proof" plants. The minimal wind speed for a Level I hurricane is 75 miles per hour.
Here are three things that I'm going to suggest for you to do. First, go to our Recommended Species Page, and click on your state on the map. Go to the Narrow Your Search box to the right of the page and make these selections: select Wyoming under State, shrub under General Appearance, and perennial under Lifespan. Check Sun under Light Requirement, and Dry under Soil Moisture. The Bloom TIme and Bloom Color are immaterial for now. Click the Narrow your search button and you will get a list of 13 commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in Wyoming. Clicking on the name of each plant will bring up its NPIN page with information about plant characteriatics, growth requirements, and images. Like I said, the pages don't tell about wind resistance, but this leads me to my second suggestion; look around the area to see what species are already growing in that type of environment. The people at the Natrona County Office of the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service should be able to help you with this, and perhaps make recommendations.
These two articles about wind breaks may give you ideas about the kind of plants to use on your bluff.
Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources
More Shrubs Questions
Beautyberry Dying Back
August 06, 2015 - I've got an American Beautyberry which I planted in the spring. It's now about 2-3 feet tall and has 3 trunks (or limbs). It's in an area which gets about 5 hours of direct sun per day and I've be...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification of shrub in Georgia
May 26, 2010 - I have a bush that has red berries. It is evergreen and the leaves are a soft green. The berries are white at first and turn red. The bush is like a cluster of twigs that are in one area kind of li...
view the full question and answer
Transplanting large Silverado Sage bushes from Mesa AZ
August 19, 2013 - We just bought a condo with three Silverado Sage, each one is 6-8 ft tall, trained to grow as "trees" with bare branches for the bottom 4 feet or so, and beautiful flowering branches on top. They ar...
view the full question and answer
Living fence of native plants for Ojai, CA
September 20, 2008 - I would like to build a "green fence" about 10-15 feet tall. I live in Ojai, CA where we have VERY hot summers and it goes below freezing every winter. The soil does not seem to drain well..it is e...
view the full question and answer
Evergreen fast-growing native shrubs for privacy shield in Baytown, TX
March 07, 2006 - A gas well is going in across the road. We need a fast growing native tall shrub to line our property next to the road. It needs to maintain its leaves in the winter also. We hope to cut down on th...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |