Native Plants

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Sunday - December 21, 2008

From: Magnolia, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Privacy Screening
Title: Spacing for wax myrtles as screen in Texas
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I have bought 30 wax myrtles, 15 gallon sized, and would like to plant them along my fence line, as a screen. How far apart is the recommended distance when planting plants of this size? Thank you!

ANSWER:

Morella cerifera (wax myrtle) is generally predicted to grow from 6 to 12 feet tall, with a similar spread. They can grow as high as 20 feet, often trained into a tree. You will want to grow them as shrubs without trimming them up, in order to achieve maximum screening. To follow this rather loose formula, if you have a shrub that is going to mature to 12 feet in spread, two shrubs should be 12 feet apart (trunk to trunk). The wax myrtle is fast-growing, but you will probably want to plant them closer together than that, for quicker effect. We would suggest 5 to 6 feet apart, and they should grow together fairly soon for your hedge, but not be so close together that they interfere with the growth of the others in the hedge.