Native Plants

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Tuesday - November 02, 2010

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Privacy Screening
Title: Year-round privacy screen of evergreen plants.
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

We need a year-round privacy screen of evergreen plants.

ANSWER:

It's understandable to want evergreen plants for this purpose, so you can enjoy your privacy year-round. A plant native to your area is conditioned by millennia of experience to deal with the climate of the area, resist disease and get by on the rain and soil that is available. The farther north you live, the fewer evergreens are going to be available, but there are some that are very hardy. Most of the members of the genus Ilex, holly, have species that stay green with glossy leaves and red berries (on the female trees). One example is Ilex vomitoria (yaupon) which is evergreen, 12 to 25 ft., high, low water use, and can grow in sun, part shade or shade. Another holly, Ilex opaca (American holly) grows as far north as New York, and makes an excellent outdoor Christmas decoration. If you live in Texas, you might enjoy a shrub that is more ever-blue than evergreen, the Leucophyllum frutescens (Texas barometer bush) It has blue-green, furry leaves, is 2 to 8 ft. tall, blooms white, pink, and purple year-round, depending on rain, and grows in sun or part shade. A good one for the Southwest is Mahonia swaseyi (Texas barberry), 3 to 6 ft. tall, blooms yellow February to April, needs sun.

From the Image Gallery

Yaupon
Ilex vomitoria

American holly
Ilex opaca

Cenizo
Leucophyllum frutescens

Texas barberry
Mahonia swaseyi