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10 Fast Growing Evergreen Trees for Privacy

Using evergreen trees for privacy in your yard is a great way to add natural beauty with all the benefits of a privacy fence. Who doesn’t want a little privacy now and then? It seems like every time you turn around, there’s another subdivision popping up in your backyard.

The needs and reasons for a privacy hedge are endless. Growing a living privacy fence can block out unsightly features in a landscape.  Different shrubs are great for blocking out or dampening sound from a nearby highway or a noisy neighbor.

Create a Living Privacy Fence

A living privacy fence can bring color and life to an otherwise arid landscape. It can also serve as a windbreak for a particularly open yard and protect other features of the landscape. Bringing shade to a otherwise hot sunny area is another great benefit.

Evergreen Trees and shrubs are a natural solution for these problems and can easily add value to your property. They’re also great for the environment, providing shelter for wildlife and reducing erosion from wind and rain.

Most of these trees and shrubs can provide a bit of shade after a few years, but for that privacy screen you want a plant that has some width coverage as well. You don’t want to have to trial a plant for years to see if it’s the one you want.

If you’re looking for a way to create an awesome living privacy fence, check out this list of evergreen shrubs and trees that make for a great privacy fence as they grow to maturity!

evergreen trees for privacy

Italian cypress

The Italian Cypress’ elegant shape and appearance is always an eye catcher. It will fit in narrow spots in your yard due to its size.

Plant these elegant evergreen privacy trees along your property line to create a beautiful natural border. Italian Cypress bring a Mediterranean feel to your landscape!

Height: 60-70 ft

Width:10-20 ft

Growth Rate: 12 – 24 inches a year

Growing Zone:7-10

Murray Cypress

Murray Cypress

The Murray Cypress is a really fast growing evergreen tree used for creating noise screens, as well as being used for a privacy screen. It is a cultivar of the very popular and overused Leyland Cypress. The Murray Cypress is much more disease resistant and insect resistant than the Leyland Cypress. It is very adaptive to many soil types. The Murray Cypress will grow up to 3 foot in height a year!

Mature Heighth: 30 to 50 feet

Width: 6 to 10 feet

Growth Rate: 3 to 4 feet a year

Growing Zone: 6-10

flowering tree for privacy

Oleander

These beautiful plants are extremely drought tolerant, so do very well in southern Alabama. They are grown near condos at the beach so can tolerate sand and salty sea spray pretty well.

Spring through Fall they dazzle us with flowers in shades of white, red and pink. Hummingbirds love them!

These evergreen shrubs create a lush privacy screen year-round when planted close together. Definitely one of the best Spring hedges! 

Frost may damage this but you can cut it to the ground and most of the time it will survive a freeze.

Mature Height: up to 20 ft

Width: 10 ft

Growth Rate: 1 to 2 feet per year

Growing Zone: 8-10

privacy shrub

Bottlebrush

These evergreen shrubs bloom into a showy red bottlebrush shaped cluster of flowers sporadically throughout the year.

Hummingbirds absolutely LOVE these! I have seen 50 or more hummingbirds on my sister’s huge hedge of bottlebrush.

Over time they develop a thick trunk like a tree and can be up to 25 feet tall.

Mature Height: up to 25 ft for some varieties

Width: 10-15 ft

Growth Rate: Can grow a foot or so a year

Growing Zone: 8-11

privacy hedge

Silverbell (Eleagnus)

This is one of my favorite shrubs for a border. They can get huge very quickly but if you train them, they are a welcome plant to the landscape with many desirable features.

First off, they are beyond easy to grow and will grow almost anywhere. They have a silvery color to their leaves that gives them the common name of Silverbell. Also, the flower they produce is part of this.

In the Fall, they sprout tiny white flowers that have a pleasant fragrance that fills the breezy Fall air.

Further into the Winter, the flowers turn into red berries that birds love to eat. You can eat them too and they taste a bit like a Comquat but they are much tinier.

Mature Height: 6-15 ft  

Width:6-15 ft

Growth Rate: 3 to 4 ft a year

Growing Zone: 5-9

trees for privacy

Holly

There are many kinds of Holly trees that will do the trick here. Most holly produce red or orange berries during the Fall and Winter months adding a big splash of color for your holiday season landscape.

Very disease and pest resistance is an added plus. Most holly have stiff leaves with thorns but they are a few variety with soft leaves if that’s what you’re looking for.

Mature Height: 15-20

Width: 12-15

Growth Rate: up to 2 ft per year depending on variety

Growing Zone: 5-9

Wax Myrtle

Wax Myrtle

There are standard and dwarf varieties to fit your landscaping needs. These multi trunked shrubs are covered in pale green evergreen leaves.

The foliage of wax myrtles has a slightly spicy fragrance. Pale blue berries form on the “female” plant in the winter. Makes a great screen plant due to its fullness.

Mature Height: 6-12 ft

Width: 10-15 ft

Growth Rate: 1 -2 ft a year

Growing Zone: 7-10

fastest growing trees for privacy

Thuja Green Giant

You have probably seen these before. They are all over the place, and for good reason. They grow amazingly fast and are easy to care for.

Disease and drought resistant like most other evergreen trees, but their towering size alone is what sets them apart. Resistant to deer and pests as well. Adaptable to almost any soil type.

Mature Height: 20-40 ft

Width: 6-12 ft

Growth Rate: 3 to 5 ft a year!

Growing Zone: 2-7

privacy hedge, evergreen trees for privacy

Leyland Cypress

Yet another evergreen that can give you that much needed privacy rather quickly. The Leyland Cypress is the most popular privacy tree in the United States. Not only will it grow quickly, but it will grow in a uniform shape that requires little pruning to look great.

Mature Height: 40-60

Width: 8-12

Growth Rate: 3 – 5 ft a year

Growing Zone: 6-10

best trees for privacy

Emerald Green Thuja

These amazing trees are perfect for the smaller yard. Reaching a moderate size, they are easy to keep trimmed and looking great. Very drought tolerant.

Mature Height: 6-12 ft

Width: 3-4 ft

Growth Rate: as fast as 3 ft a year

Growing Zone: 3-8

evergreen trees for privacy

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Sarah

    Love these ideas! About a year ago, my husband and I got our fence redone by a local contractor since we both are older and have bad backs. We choose a featherlock slat fence to give our home more privacy from our neighbors especially now that we have grandkids. Next time we need a new fence (hopefully not for a while), I would love to do something natural instead using Leyland Cypress!

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