Privacy Hedges in the Middle of Nowhere - Caution: Abuse

Q. What can I use for a privacy hedge that will be less than 10 feet tall?

Probably the most mispruned plant in the Las Vegas Valley. I looked through about 20 pictures of Texas Ranger I had but they were all pruned! But these are its flowers.

A. ‘Green Cloud’ or ‘Gray Cloud’ varieties of Texas ranger, a.k.a. Texas sage, will grow to that height with irrigation, keep their leaves (if it’s a warm winter) and become denser as they are hedge pruned. Plant them 3 to 4 feet apart when growing them for a privacy hedge, mix compost into their backfill when planting, and water the heck out of them the first couple of days. They can handle the heat and drought when not surrounded by other plants.

This is a horrible picture of it because it has been pruned by mindless maintenance companies but Texas ranger or Texas sage comes in different varieties. The first ones to come out were the Cloud versions, Green Cloud and Grey Cloud because of their leaf color. They are full sized at about 8 feet tall. They stay evergreen through the winter if it doesn't get too cold. There are other varieties that are shorter like 'Compacta' and 'Bertstar Dwarf'.

Texas rangers are native to the Chihuahuan desert of the US and Mexico. After they are established, they will not require frequent irrigations unless you want them to grow rapidly. But they will require deep irrigations if you want their roots to grow deeply, become more tolerant of hot weather and drought.

Dr. Devitt and I were walking to lunch when we saw this. Two mistakes made by maintenance companies when pruning these plants include pruning at the wrong time of year (above) and hedging them repeatedly when they are not in a hedge.

These medium sized shrubs handle either rock or woodchip mulch. Lightly fertilize them in the spring with a second application of high nitrogen fertilizer (think ammonium sulfate, 21-0-0) in mid to late November and watering through the winter helps keep them evergreen through the coldest winter.

This is what happens to Texas ranger when it is attacked by a hedge shears over and over in about five to eight years. DONT PRUNE THEM WITH A HEDGE SHEARS IF NOT IN A HEDGE!!!!!