Let’s face it: the wind does not blow in Wyoming- it HOWLS! And everyone who has to deal with wind knows of its draining effects. We’ll lets turn the page, instead of complaining about the wind let’s do something about it. I’m talking windbreaks.
Windbreaks can be as large as those found on our farms and ranches but they can be small too – like in your backyard. So I’ve come up with three shrubs that are beautiful, extremely tough, and mitigate the wind. All are dense with branching from head to toe, which is critical to diffuse the wind.
Let’s start off with the blue velvet honeysuckle (Lonicera korolkowi var. floribunda). This is the premiere honeysuckle – probably in the world - and it was discovered at the Cheyenne Horticulture station. Its mature height is about 10 feet and a width of 10 feet. This standout windbreak specimen has small blue green leaves and pink flowers that bloom in profusion in June. It is extraordinarily well adapted to Wyoming soils and climate and once established, has built in drought tolerance.
Oh, two other things, I’ve yet to see a deer or rabbit or insect eat it and the Denver Botanical Garden is using it on their grounds as a beautiful ornamental!
The next is the New Mexico Privet or sometimes called the New Mexico Olive (Foresteria neo-mexicana). The New Mexico Olive has small light green oval leaves – excellent for diffusing wind, which turn a golden yellow in autumn. Height is 15 feet with width of 10 feet. The females produce small blueberry like fruit that the birds will flock to! As the bark matures, it develops an aspen-like white bark! Interestingly the new wood is black – it makes for an interesting contrast. Again, deer don’t like it, and it’s very adaptable to most soil types in the state with excellent drought tolerance to boot!
The last one to consider is our own Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum). There are several cultivars available, but I like the Wichita Blue and the Woodward cultivars of Rocky Mountain Juniper. This evergreen is found throughout Wyoming’s dry rocky escarpments. Like the New Mexico olive, the female produces dark blueberry like fruits that the birds covet. Deer will browse some on this plant but it's not really to their liking. Junipers in the home landscape can get to be 30 feet tall!
So if you want to mitigate wind, you need these three shrubs to a part of your design!
