Shrubs or trees for privacy/NW Missouri

Living along a gravel road, with I-35 on the other side of it with maybe 100+ feet of space between our road and the highway, my wife would like to plant some fast growing trees and/or shrubs on our side of the road. She likes the look of evergreens, and would like them to act a barrier to help lessen the dust from the road that blows over to the house.

Any suggestions for what does well in this neck of the woods? There is a small (2-3’) berm or ridge running parallel to the road, and aerial electric lines atop that. So, prefer not to plant stuff that would grow tall enough to need maintenance under the electric lines.

Forsythia grow fast, can form a hedge and they top out around 7 ft.  Not evergreen, but beautiful early spring flowers and dense dark green foliage most of the year.

Mk Neal wrote:Forsythia grow fast, can form a hedge and they top out around 7 ft.  Not evergreen, but beautiful early spring flowers and dense dark green foliage most of the year.

Thanks, that sounds like a good idea. I think we are in zone 5b now, I’ve thought about maybe looking at some type of bamboo too. We are too cold to grow timber bamboo, but smaller varieties might do alright. As a trucker, I’ve noticed a couple areas along highways that I’ve seen some growing in Missouri.

Not sure how the dust situation will change in the winter… haven’t lived along a gravel road for decades. Been thinking how nice it would be to make berms like Paul has, and plant the roadward side with lots of perennial flowers and native species and yardward side with small fruit or nut trees and shrubs.

Hi leif;
I live on a gravel road and have for most of my life.
In the winter it all depends on moisture.
We can have solid frozen ground in the shady spots , a mud bog where the sun sorta hits.
And out in the sunny spots, it dries up and throws just as much dust as high summer!

No winning unless you pay for mag chloride to be sprayed on your road.
That does work well and lasts quite a while.

thomas rubino wrote:Hi leif;
I live on a gravel road and have for most of my life.
In the winter it all depends on moisture.
We can have solid frozen ground in the shady spots , a mud bog where the sun sorta hits.
And out in the sunny spots, it dries up and throws just as much dust as high summer!

No winning unless you pay for mag chloride to be sprayed on your road.
That does work well and lasts quite a while.

Ah thanks Thomas! Well, we’ll just have to wait and see them. I doubt I’d have any interest in paying to spray something… like always dusty cars, just a fact of life these days. I’ll take it! :)

Native eastern red cedar grows fast for evergreen screening. There are commercial varieties of arborvitae for sale too. I planted bamboo and American pillar arborvitae but both aren't doing much after 3 years.
I also planted a row of sunchocks and each single tuber grew into a bush of 10 ft tall and 3 ft wide quickly. They work very well for privacy screening and my chickens like staying under the shade too.  Only disadvantage they are not evergreen.

May Lotito wrote:Native eastern red cedar grows fast for evergreen screening. There are commercial varieties of arborvitae for sale too. I planted bamboo and American pillar arborvitae but both aren't doing much after 3 years.
I also planted a row of sunchocks and each single tuber grew into a bush of 10 ft tall and 3 ft wide quickly. They work very well for privacy screening and my chickens like staying under the shade too.  Only disadvantage they are not evergreen.

Hadn’t thought about sunchokes… will have to look into the cedars as my wife loves evergreens. (Maybe because they don’t have any in her native Bolivia?) Not sure how tall the cedars grow naturally, but thanks for the input! :)