Native Plants
![](../_images/smarty_plants.gif)
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.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
![](../_images/mr_smarty_plants_logo_web_200w.jpg)
rate this answer
![](../_images/star_00.gif)
Sunday - April 08, 2012
From: Lubbock, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Privacy Screening, Shrubs
Title: Screening Shrub for Lubbock TX
Answered by: Brigid & Larry Larson
QUESTION:
I am a landscape architecture student at Texas Tech University and am looking for a drought tolerant shrub to be used for screening a water well area. The location is the northwest corner of a yard with a wood picket fence around it. The shrub will be in full sun, and needs to be able to tolerate the north winter wind due to undeveloped property directly north of the lot. My initial thought was texas sage but the client informed me that they have not had very good success with the sage in the past.ANSWER:
Mr Smarty Plants thinks the LBJ Wildflower Center has a great design resource that you should add to your tools. In the "Expore Plants" topic of the webpage is a link named Recommended Species. If you follow that, there is a link for Native Plants for the Texas High Plains, and also, farther down the page, all of Texas by Ecoregion.
You didn't say exactly where your clients area was [because we have slightly different lists for "High Plains" and "Rolling Plains"] but I expect it is in or near Lubbock, so I used the High Plains Ecoregion list; we can further limit the search by sorting for "Full Sun" and "Shrub".
That returned a list of 5 candidates, ones that are very resilient to your weather and which gives you a bit of choice as to configuration. Why don't you consider these? [pictures below]:
Verbena halei (Slender verbena) 1-3 Ft.
Acacia angustissima (Prairie acacia) 1-4 Ft.
Amorpha fruticosa (Indigo bush) 6-10 Ft.
Rhus aromatica (Fragrant sumac) 6-12 Ft.
Cercocarpus montanus (Alderleaf mountain mahogany) 8-20 Ft.
I looked a little bit into the Salvia texana (Texas sage) that your client said did not do well. In its plant record it states that Salvia texana is a denizen of limestone soils from north-central Texas south to northern Mexico. This means that it is likely not well adapted to the weather and soil near Lubbock, so it would need extra care to thrive. If you have a plant that you would like to recommend for an area, perhaps you should look at the USDA distribution maps. A link to that is in the Plant Record on the line that says:
USDA Symbol: SATE3
From the Image Gallery
More Privacy Screening Questions
Hedge plant for Maui.
February 17, 2009 - Question: I live in Pukalani, Maui, Hawaii and would like to put a "living fence" around my yard for some privacy. Ideally, I want something that is going to grow fast and about 8+ feet tall for a h...
view the full question and answer
Small tree with blossoms for screen in Corpus Christi, Texas
July 26, 2010 - We are looking for something to plant along a back fence for privacy but don't want it to be a bush. What might work like a crepe Myrtle in the Corpus Christi area that would blossom towards the to...
view the full question and answer
Fence Shrub for Sugarland, TX
June 08, 2015 - Hello
I live in Sugar Land TX, I am looking for a fast growing shrub to plant along my six foot wood fence for a privacy screen. There is not a lot of room for them to grow in width but there is pl...
view the full question and answer
Evergreen for privacy screen in San Antonio
April 30, 2012 - I am looking to plant native fast-growing evergreens that will provide privacy (growing taller than our fence). We live in San Antonio and the Red Tip Photinia seems to be everywhere! I heard that t...
view the full question and answer
Deer resistant screening evergreens for CT
April 07, 2010 - I live in Connecticut, in a predominantly wooded environment. I am looking for a recommendation for a great screening tree, which I can use to block a view of Neighbors behind me. It would need to b...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |