A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Windbreaks in zone 9b

I'm looking for something pretty but functional. The winds get pretty strong in the spring and summer here, and because we live out in the country we get all the dust from the road in front of our property... not to mention our garden ornaments end up in the middle of the lawn because of the wind gusts.

Someone recommended Oleanders, but unsure on whether they'll grow tall enough.

Thanks in advance.

oleander is good, also umbrella trees grow quickly

Oleanders can grow 20 ft or more tall. They are an excellant windbreak. But they also grow fairly wide and may take up as much of your lawn as gets dusty. Take what into consideration

Something to keep in mind on oleanders is they are very posionous. So if you have animals or small children that may want to eat the leaves they are not a good choice. Even if you use their wood for a fire the smoke is poisonous. They are very pretty plants and excellent windbreaks. We have them all over the place in So Cal.

Gardengal, that is a good point... and considering that we are in the late stages of our adoption & placement of 2 little ones, I would hate to have something in my garden that can harm them. So Oleanders are out of the question. Any other suggestions?

PS
There's a house down the road from us that has really tall windbreak... I don't know what they are, they're similar to bamboo shoots, if I upload a pic, can anyone help me Identify it?

put it down in mystery plants. Someone will know and they keep an eye out for things to identify down there.

That could be cane. I don't have the botanical name at the moment, but it is rather invasive. Does it go dormant each year?

No, it's pretty hardy from what I've seen. Stays green, and must multipy as it gets denser every year. I'll go by there tomorrow and post a pic.

Ok folks, I was finally able to go take a couple of pics of this windbreak... they aren't good but considering that I was trying not to get bit by a couple of mean dogs, I'd say they're alright lol

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