Native Plants
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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.
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Sunday - June 28, 2009
From: Los Angeles, CA
Region: California
Topic: Privacy Screening
Title: Privacy screen in front of cinderblock wall in Los Angeles
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
I'm looking for a privacy hedge to plant along my backyard's cinderblock wall in Los Angeles, CA. I need it to grow 10 - 15 feet and it can't be toxic to dogs. Any advice would be great!ANSWER:
Since we are usually asked for evergreen shrubs for privacy screens, that is what we chose, which is a whole lot easier to find in Southern California than in Maine. We went to our Recommended Species section, clicked on Southern California on the map, and then did Narrow Your Search by searching on shrubs in the drop-down menu, and clicking on Narrow Your Search. You can repeat this search with other criteria, such as amount of sun, etc. None of these plants appeared on the following poisonous plants lists:
Poisonous Plants of North Carolina
Cornell University Plants Poisonous to Livestock
University of Pennsylvania Poisonous Plants
Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System
ASPCA Toxic and Non-toxic Plant List - Dogs
You can follow each plant link to the page on the individual plant and find out projected size and width, what kind of soil it likes, and how much sun it requires.
Shrubs for Southern California
Ceanothus impressus (Santa Barbara ceanothus) - 6 to 8 ft. tall, blooms blue March and April, part shade
Ceanothus leucodermis (chaparral whitethorn) - 4 to 8 ft. tall, blooms white, blue April to June, sun
Comarostaphylis diversifolia (summer holly) - slow-growing to 20 ft, blooms white May and June, part shade
Fremontodendron californicum (California flannelbush) - 6 to 12 ft., blooms ywllow June to September, low water use, part shade
Morella californica (California wax myrtle) - 10 to 25 ft., blooms white, yellow April to July, medium water use, sun or part shade - pictures
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March 30, 2009 - I live in Austin Texas and am looking for a small tree or large shrub that will obscure the view from my kitchen window into my neighbors. I am looking for an evergreen plant that gets no wider than ...
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