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.

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

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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

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Thursday - April 14, 2011

From: Granbury, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Transplants, Privacy Screening
Title: Need suggestions for plants to form a privacy hedge in Granbury, TX.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

We live on a rocky hill in Hood County, Tx. and need suggestions for evergreen anything that will provide privacy. Red Cedars were added in October 2010 and it looks as if half of those are dying. Help! Thanks.

ANSWER:

The Red Cedars may be suffering from transplant shock since they have been recently planted. I’m providing some links that deal with Transplant Shock and tree planting in general.

Spalding Trees

Clemson University

University of Kentucky

Trees are Good

Mr. Smarty Plants receives a lot of questions about privacy hedges. Either people don’t want to see their neighbors or vice-versa. I am going to share the answers to some previous questions from Texas to give you an idea of the kinds of plants that are available.

Dallas #5164

Fort Worth #5071

Winnsboro #3350

Sachse #1104

To generate lists of your own, go to our Native Plants Database page and scroll down to the Recommended Species Lists box. Click on the map to enlarge it and then click on North Central Texas. This will give you a list of 105 commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in North Central Texas. If you go to the Narrow Your Search box to the right of the screen and select Shrub under General Appearance , your list shrinks to 14 shrubs. Clicking on the Scientific name of each plant on the list will take you to the NPIN page for that plant. There you can learn characteristics of the plant, such as habitat, size, growing conditions, benefits, etc.

Visit our Suppliers Directory for help in locating nurseries that sell the plants you chose for your hedge.