Shrub · North Texas care guide
Morella cerifera
Nursery Pro tip: Fast native screen with a bayberry scent when you brush it. Takes wet feet.
A fast native evergreen with aromatic olive-green leaves and a loose, natural form — 10–15 ft, multi-trunked, and it grows in wet clay as happily as in dry sand. Waxy gray berries feed the birds. The quick, informal screen for a back fence.
Full sun to part shade; any soil, from the drainage ditch to the dry corner. 6–8 ft apart for a screen. Keep it 5 ft off structures — it's wider than it looks.
Fall through spring. Wide hole, ball at grade, native soil, Root Stimulator, mulch.
Weekly the first summer, then very little. Grows faster with water, survives without it.
None needed — it fixes its own nitrogen.
Any time. Shear for a hedge, or limb it up into a small multi-trunk tree. Takes hard pruning. Brittle limbs can split in ice storms; cut damage out in spring and it regrows fast.
Nearly pest-free. Ice damage is the main issue; keep it thinned so it carries less weight. Can look thin in a hard winter and fills back in by May.
Fast screen behind slower hollies and magnolias. Native bed with yaupon, Turk's cap, coralberry and inland sea oats.
Written for Rockwall's black clay, heat and winters by the Landscape Source team. Every yard is different — bring a photo by, or ask LS-Ai, and we'll tailor it to your spot.