Hedges, Wind breaks, and Screens with California Native Plants.
Natives are great for hedges! Most species only need a little water to get established and then can be left on their own. They often attract birds and other wildlife and can be very deer proof. There are other natives that can be used for these purposes but we have found these to be the most effective.
These plants are good for giving you privacy from the neighbors or keeping their not-so-tidy yards out of your view. They can also be good for blocking future traffic. You can't stop traffic with a 6 inch tall plant so make sure it is well protected till it can protect itself. Or along these same lines they can be used to keep out trespassers. These plants are also good for hiding ugly fences or walls.
Manzanitas are evergreen and tidy. They are popular for their colorful red bark. The flowers are good for hummingbird birds. These are fairly deer proof and very drought tolerant. They make good hedges because they are clean, evergreen and many grow fast. To see more manzanitas see the
manzanita page.
10 feet This
Service Berry, is a very slow-growing, deciduous shrub with
edible blue berries 1/4" across. In moist coastal conditions it is
much faster.
10 feet Utah
Service Berry is a very different looking shrub that can be
used as a hedge in a mountain garden.
8 feet Arctostaphylos Baby Bear Manzanita Bush makes a wonderful evergreen shrub.
4-6 feet Arctostaphylos densiflora
Sentinel Manzanita is one wonderful shrub. It is one of the best
plants we have to support native
pollinaters and predators.
It is a buzz with life.
6-9 feet Louis Edmunds Manzanita makes a gray hedge that turns pink in spring.
6 feet Arctostaphylos glauca Ramona makes a great dryland hedge in most California Gardens.
Manzanitas make a great hedge if your within 50 miles of so of the ocean on the west coast.
6 feet Arctostaphylos densiflora Howard McMinn Manzanita makes a great 4 to 6 foot hedge in most California
Gardens. It tolerates regular water but can become fairly drought tolerant.
5 feet Arctostaphylos Ian Bush
Manzanita makes a fast five foot hedge in most California
Gardens. For some reason this manzanita grows to full size in about 3 years, and then seems to stop.
Arctostaphylos stanfordiana stanfordiana, Zin Manzanita grows into a 6-8 ft. bush and is used by native bees, flies, birds and still looks nice.
12 feet Arctostaphylos
Dr. Hurd makes a good twelve foot hedge in most California
gardens.
10 feet Austin
Griffin manzanita makes a good ten foot hedge in most of
California and flowers just after Christmas.
6 feet
Greenleaf Manzanita, Arctostaphylos patula.. If the snow load is not heavy
it will make a six foot, evergreen screen.
7 feet Mexican
Manzanita, Arctostaphylos pungens, can be used as a five to six foot hedge.Excellent
nectar plant.
10 feet Brewers
Salt Bush is useful to plant next to the neighbor you hate.(It
smells like cat pee.)
8 feet Coyote Bush is a very fast six foot bush.
7 feet Carpenteria
californica, Bush anemone needs some water but works in narrow
side yards.
There are lots of good Ceanothus for hedges. They are evergreen, colorful, and grow fast. Make sure you pick the right plant for your soil. Some Ceanothus prefer sand and some clay. DON'T PUT THESE ON DRIP! or they will be leggy, short lived, unhealthy and more susceptible to deer.
10 feet Buckbrush
can make a fast hedge.
Ceanothus aren't good for high deer areas
unless you plant the Ceanothus native on the site, or the ones with holly like leaves. For more
Ceanothus see the Ceanothus
page
8 feet Ceanothus
Julia Phelps can be spectacular.
8 feet
Mountain Haze grows fast, within about 2 years, to around 8
eight feet. It is also about 8 feet wide. Mountain
Haze is another good Ceanothus for
creating a hedge. It is fast, evergreen, and attractive!
12 feet
Ray Hartman Ceanothus grows
very fast. It reaches full sized, from a gallon sized container, in
about 3 years depending on the location. It grows OK in sand or clay
soil. Does well in the San Joaquin Valley.
8 feet Ceanothus
Remote Blue has glossy leaves.
A short movie about a Ceanothus, Mountain Lilac, hedge.
10 feet Ceanothus
Tassajara Blue in Escondido after 10 years rainfall only.
10 feet Ceanothus
thyrsiflorus Snow Flurry only works in mild areas like this spot in San Francisco
8 feet Woolly
Leaf Mtn. Lilac.
12 feet Island
Mountain mahogany is excellent for tall narrow hedges. It
grows about 12 feet tall and only 3 or 4 feet wide. It is evergreen
and nice looking.
12 Ft. Cupressus
forbesii, Tecate Cypress has been amazing from the Mexican
Border, in the desert, along the coast and through the San Joaquin
Valley.
12 feet Cercocarpus
betuloides can be made into a nice 10 foot hedge
12 Ft. Curl
leaf mountain mahogany,
Cercocarpus ledifolius makes a mountain cabin look
12 Ft. Gowen
Cypress, Cupressus goveniana ssp. goveniana smells like lemon.
12 Ft. Piute
Cypress , Cupressus nevadensis, can be used as a big gray screen.
10 Ft. Forestiera neomexicana, a deciduous desert oasis screen
12 Ft. Fremontodendron Pacific Sunset is really fast and big. Itchy, your neighbor pests will be scratching.
10 Ft. Garrya elliptica James Roof can be sheared or left alone, green foliage is all you'll see, until the weird flowers show up.
12 Ft. Toyon and Christmas Berry makes a huge screen that is great for wildlife.
8 Ft. Pale Ashy Silk-tassel Bush. can be used as a gray screen with weird flowers.
8 Ft. Silk Tassel Bush.. a wild looking hedge.
6 Ft. Oregon Grape is great wildlife hedge..
7
Ft. Mahonia
nevinii
is REALLY slow initially, but after a few years it makes
a GREAT hedge. Thorny and safe. Combine with a Ceanothus at first to
get speed.
5 Ft. Many Flowered Bushmallow can be very interesting as a hedge.
10 Ft. Pacific Wax Myrtle is not very drought tolerant, but it is fast. In heavy soil on drip irrigation(it tolerates drip well) it can go to full size in a year.
6 Ft. Wild Mock Orange. is deciduous, needs a little extra water, but will knock your socks off with it's fragrant flowers in summer. Who's out there in winter anyway?
20 Ft. Knobcone Pineis a small pine that can be used as a large screen
40 Ft. Bishop Pinecan be used in place of Monterey Pine.
50 Ft. Pinus ponderosamakes a large evergreen screen.
50 Ft. Gray Pine, Foothill Pineis fast gray screen.
70 Ft. Fremont Cottonwoodis huge and fast. Those of you on 2+ acres in the San Joaquin Valley that need shade and protection from that 70 year old neighbor that likes to naturally sun bathe.
12 Ft. Holly-Leafed Cherryis a slow growing evergreen bush. The hybrid form (with lyonii) is fast and it's the form you commonly see along the 101 freeway.
5 Ft. Rhamnus californica Tranquil Margarita is a very clean little shrub.
10 Ft. Rhus ovata, Sugar Bushmakes a though screen.
5 Ft. Ribes indecorum, or White chaparral currant is a deciduous shrub that will work in sun or part shade.
5 Ft. Fuchsia-Flowering Gooseberryhas thorns and flowers, maybe a few leaves in spring. A barrier to humans and cats, not birds.
6 Ft. Salvia leucophylla makes a really fast screen.
5 Ft. Black Sage
5 Ft. Musk Sage or Cleveland Sage makes a really fun border plant. Native from San Diego up into Riverside.
5 Ft. Salvia Pozo Blue also makes a really fun border plant.
75 Ft. Coast Redwood can be used as the "stop the UFOs" hedge
If you're after a windbreak you'll need to plant multiple species in a ragged line to be effective. Single species in a single line only give benefits for about 1/3 of the height. That is, a 100 ft. tall tree will only help your house if it's under the tree (about 30 foot from base of tree), If the line of trees and bushes varies in size and pattern you can slow the wind down to a breeze up to three times the height of the largest item, 300 ft.
12 Ft. Silver Buffaloberry can be used instead of Privet. On drip and planted at 3 foot spacing not much can make it through its thorns, except the birds.
30 Ft. Bay Laurel makes an excellent screen in areas out of the summer fog. In summer fog areas Bay can get Sudden Oak Death.
