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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

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.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

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!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Friday - June 03, 2011

From: Seymour, CT
Region: Northeast
Topic: Privacy Screening
Title: Privacy Screen options for Seymour CT
Answered by: Brigid & Larry Larson

QUESTION:

Hi Mr. Smarty Pants: Looking for a quick growing privacy hedge for a home in Seymour CT. Thank you very much, I appreciate your help.

ANSWER:

Greetings!

Privacy Hedges seem to be one of the most popular questions asked of Mr Smarty Plants. So, please forgive me that I’m going to get lazy and simply reference a few excellent previous answers.

I found these by going to the Mr Smarty Plants page and doing a search on “privacy” – Then I separated out the questions asked from cities close to Seymore, CT. Be aware that since I live in Texas, this means within a couple states up there! I also searched out questions from Connecticut and reviewed them for ones addressing quick growing privacy hedges.

This question from Garrison NY is quite recent and covers a spread of possible natives as does this answer to a person in Holmdel NJ.

Prunus virginiana Cornus florida Pinus virginiana

The folks on Long Island don’t seem to be a concerned about deer, but I would expect their climate to be pretty similar. There were three questions on privacy hedges from there: From Sag Harbor, Smithtown and Bayport.

Ilex opaca Thuja occidentalis Lonicera sempervirens

Questions from my search on Connecticut weren’t as specifically about privacy hedges but here is a question from Oxford about covering utility boxes; one from Newtown wanting a fast growing screening tree; and one from Orange looking for a tree that grows fast and tall to cover the power lines.

Juniperus virginiana Juniperus communis Juniperus virginiana