Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

MGE (Madison Gas & Electric) has a brochure, Power Planting—How to Select and Plant Trees Near Power Lines, with guidelines for planting trees near and under power lines.  The brochure gives recommendations for various trees; but you should be aware that many of their recomendations are NOT native plants.  However, under their "Evergreens", they have recommendations for two Wisconsin native trees with information about several smaller cultivars for each.

• Juniperus virginiana (Eastern red cedar).  It is dense and the female trees bear cones (the blue "berries") that birds consume.  Here are descriptions of some of the cultivars from MGE and University of Connecticut Horticulture.

• Thuja occidentalis (Arborvitae).   Here is more information from MGE, University of Connecticut Horticulture and Ohio State University about various cultivars.

MGE also has a Tree Choice and Care page where you can search for trees native to Wisconsin that are evergreen.  On the "Advanced Search" page I selected Tree Names and Cultivars, Evergreen, and Native to WI.  For the other choices I left it at "Any" except for Sun where I selected "Full Sun, Partial Shade and Shade" and Plant Type, "Trees and Shrubs".  Here are the other trees, in addtion to Eastern red cedar and arborvitae, that resulted from the search:

• Tsuga canadensis (Eastern hemlock)   Here is more information about cultivars from MGE and University of Connecticul Horticulture.

• Pinus strobus (Eastern white pine)  Here is more information about cultivars from MGE and University of Connecticut Horticulture.

• Pinus strobus 'Nana' (Dwarf Eastern white pine)

You can do a similar search in our Native Plant Database using COMBINATION SEARCH and choosing "Wisconsin" from Select State or Province, "Tree" from Habit (general appearance) and "Evergreen" from Leaf Characteristics.  This will give you several other choices that are either very large, slow-growing trees with few (or no) dwarf varieites available and one—Juniperus communis (Common juniper)—low-growing variety.  There is also one tree that is not a Gymnosperm, Maclura pomifera (Osage orange).  It now grows in southern Wisconsin but probably originated in Arkansas and/or Texas and is not really a good candidate for your screening hedge.

All the trees suggested above are Gymosperms and, as such, are non-flowering plants that are typically wind pollinated.   Birds, however, are attracted to them for their cones for food and for shelter in their branches.  Eastern hemlock also is described as attracting butterflies and moths.