Hi, I wish to plant 20 fast-growing evergreens in a row to block the view of a busy road. We have already lost trees to pine beetle so I thought we should plant natives that are more resitent to pests &/or disease. What would you recommend & where could I buy trees that are already 4-5 feet high ?? Thank you for your time, Cheers from Jenny.

Greetings Jenny!

Okay, you want to go native...right? Does that mean native to Illinois or native to USA? Regardless, I am an advocate of pushing native Illinois species. However, there is a little problem advocating native Illinois conifers, since we only have eight of them. Not to mention three of them do not fair so well on most soils.

Native Illinois conifers include jack pine, shortleaf pine, white pine, red pine, northern white-cedar, eastern redcedar, baldcypress, and tamarack. Okay, you said "evergreen", which of course eliminates baldcypress and eastern larch because those two species are deciduous.

Now we are left with jack, shortleaf, white, and red pine; and our two "cedar" species. Unless you have sandy soils, jack, shortleaf, and red pine are probably not going to fair very well.

Finally, we are left with white pine, northern white-cedar, and eastern redcedar. If you want fast growing and native, then go the white pine route. Within 3-4 years of initial establishment the white pine will usually put on 2-3 feet of height growth, annually. Add some diversity and avoid a monoculture by interplanting some northern white-cedar (many different cultivars out there).

Now, if you do not want to go the Illinois native route, you may want to think about white fir, Norway spruce, or even Thuja ‘Green Giant’ (standishii x plicata).

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend one nursery over another. Therefore, you may want to contact your local Department of Natural Resources forester http://dnr.state.il.us/conservation/forestry/DISTFRSTMAP.pdf or the Illinois Nurserymen’s Association http://www.ina-online.org/ for a list of local nurseries to service your retail needs.

Hope this information helped!

Use of the White Pine along a roadway may be problematic since they do not do well with salt conditions that are found in winter on roadways. The white and red pine may be best choices but the same theory applies. Not salt tolerant.

Hello,

Very useful information here, much appreciated.

I'm interested in what Illinois native evergreen shrubs are available. I have just under 1 acre of woods that I'm doing restoration work on. I'd like to know options for a variety of full growth heights and widths. Any information would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I'm not sure when this message was posted, but I was doing some research and got this post as a hit. Let me cut to the chase - let's face it, as Illinoisans, and central Illinoisans specifically, we have little to no options for using natives to replace the insanely-fast growing cultivars that are commonly used as windbreaks/privacy screens in the landscape world. Yes, we have the white pine as a good and fitting alternative - but in a warming world (25-50 years) this tree simply won't be able to hang anymore at the very southern edge of its range. Also, there are the above-mentioned comments about salty soils and salt spray from the roadside. Here's my tree I must preach - currently, I live on a corner lot that originally (4 years ago) had just 1 "teenage" Eastern red cedar. I have a dramatic east-facing slope that the previous homeowner mowed regularly - but I thought it wiser to avoid that self-punishment and hardship and let nature with a guiding human hand replenish and plant that slope for me. As of this post, I have about 25 trees growing and thriving on that slope. The majority are baby Eastern red cedars that are putting on height - and relatively fast. The minority are Eastern redbuds. Those are growing quite quickly as well. I've personally seen approximately 1 ft to 1.5 ft of growth per year in both of these species. Get one "momma" Eastern red cedar and you'll have a bounty.

Sometimes in our American lives, we cannot have it all and all at once. We have to wait and occasionally we have just simply deal with it. And frankly, I'm quite flabbergasted that one of our very own foresters in a department of natural resources & environmental sciences would, at the end of his statement, recommend such unnecessary non-natives such as the white fir, the Norway spruce, and/or the Thuja 'green giant'. We're in the midst of an unprecedented era - an earth affected by so much human meddling, alteration, and foolhardiness, that we are now living in the Anthropocene Epoch. Everything we've ever known has to change - especially what we plant and how we think about our land. Natives only. Support wildlife and diversity. All the best.

I am still sickened with Dupage County Forrest Preserve Cutting down White Pine Groves apparently considering them as an invasive plant species. Would you have an opinion. There are still some isolated pine trees on the Herrick Lake acrage. NOW the many acres are treeless, in what they call Herrick Lake Restoration Project: https://dupageforest.prowly.com/168369-herrick-lake-restoration-project-starts-dec-20-will-cause-temporary-trail-closures