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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Friday - April 19, 2013

From: St. Martinville, LA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Plant Lists, Privacy Screening, Shrubs, Trees
Title: Privacy Screen for Heavy Clay and Full Sun in Louisiana
Answered by: Anne Van Nest

QUESTION:

What would be a fast-growing plant for privacy in Louisiana? I have heavy clay and full sun.

ANSWER:

The first place to go to find a list of potential plants is our Native Plant Database. Use the Combination Search feature instead of Recommended Species. This will provide a bigger selection with much more choice to narrow down. The volunteers and staff at the Wildflower Center who maintain the database have partners in different regions to help with these recommended species lists based on what is easy to access in local nurseries.

Under Combination Search, select the following categories: Louisiana, Habit – Shrub then search again for Tree, Duration – Perennial, Light Requirement – Sun, Leaf Retention - evergreen. This will give you 12 plants to consider after some plants were ruled out because they didn't like heavy clay. Next you can narrow down your search further by size, flower color, and soil moisture (dry, moist or wet) requirements. Once you have your list of a few possibilities, then consider their rate of growth and see if they meet your requirements.

Shrubs to consider:

Ilex vomitoria (yaupon)

Lycium carolinianum (Carolina wolfberry)

Morella caroliniensis (Southern bayberry)

Morella cerifera (wax myrtle)

Trees to consider:

Ilex opaca (American holly)

Juniperus virginiana (Eastern red cedar)

Maclura pomifera (osage orange)

Pinus palustris (longleaf pine)

Prunus angustifolia (chickasaw plum)

Prunus carolianiana (cherry laurel)