Fast-track your privacy with these 9 hedge varieties

Posted on 23/05/2025

Fast-track Your Privacy With These 9 Hedge Varieties

Do you long for a secluded sanctuary in your backyard or want to block unwanted views from your neighbors? Create a natural privacy wall quickly with the right hedge plants. With the right hedge varieties, you can fast-track your privacy, diminish noise, enhance aesthetics, and add year-round greenery to your space.

In this article, we'll guide you through nine of the best hedging options--each offering rapid growth, incredible coverage, and unique benefits. Whether you have a small garden, a large yard, or coastal conditions, there's a fast-growing hedge to suit every space and need.

Why Use Fast-Growing Hedges for Privacy?

• Instant screening: Shrubs and hedges offer immediate coverage compared to traditional fencing or walls.
• Aesthetic appeal: Green boundaries enhance curb appeal and add texture and color.
• Environmental benefits: Hedges absorb noise, dust, and air pollutants--plus provide wildlife habitat.
• Cost-effective: Once established, living privacy screens require less maintenance compared to repairing fences.
• Versatile: Choose from evergreen, flowering, or even edible varieties to match your garden goals.

Ready to fast-track your privacy? Discover these top-performing hedge plants--and learn which is right for your landscape.

1. Leyland Cypress (Cupressocyparis leylandii)

Why It Stands Out:

Leyland Cypress is a classic choice for anyone seeking rapid privacy hedging. This evergreen conifer grows up to 3 feet per year under optimal conditions and forms a dense, lush barrier with minimal gaps.

• Growth rate: 2-3 feet per year
• Max height: 40-60 feet (can be kept at desired height with pruning)
• Advantages: Tall, dense, fast-maturing, low-maintenance
• Best for: Large properties, windbreaks, visual and noise screening

Tip: Plant 3-4 feet apart for the quickest screening effect. Avoid waterlogged soil for optimal growth.

2. Privet (Ligustrum spp.)

Sleek & Versatile

Privet is renowned for its quick coverage and ability to thrive in urban and suburban settings. Both common privet and Japanese privet are popular, as they accept shaping and clipping for a crisp, formal finish.

• Growth rate: 1-2 feet per year
• Max height: 10-15 feet
• Advantages: Tolerates heavy pruning, urban pollution, and diverse soil types
• Best for: Formal hedges, living fences, compact boundary screening

For a fast-track privacy screen, prune twice yearly to maintain chosen height and density.

3. Photinia x fraseri 'Red Robin'

Color, Character & Quick Growth

Photinia 'Red Robin' brings vibrant color to privacy hedges, with glossy, deep green leaves and eye-catching red spring growth. It grows rapidly and can be clipped for both informal and formal hedges.

• Growth rate: 1-2 feet per year
• Max height: 12-15 feet
• Advantages: Decorative red foliage, drought-tolerant once established, wildlife-friendly
• Best for: Garden boundaries, urban spaces, mixed hedges for added color

Did you know? Photinia can be underplanted with evergreens for an extra-thick privacy hedge.

4. Laurel (Cherry Laurel - Prunus laurocerasus)

Evergreen Powerhouse

If quick coverage is your goal, cherry laurel is one of the fastest-growing evergreen hedges in temperate zones. Its broad, waxy leaves create a solid, year-round privacy screen that also buffers sound and wind.

• Growth rate: 1-2 feet per year
• Max height: 15-20 feet
• Advantages: Dense, shade-tolerant, works well in clay soils
• Best for: Shaded boundaries, roadside screens, rapid coverage

Note: All parts of cherry laurel are toxic if ingested--avoid planting near food crops or pet play areas.

5. Bamboo (Clumping Varieties)

Modern Privacy Screening

Bamboo provides a unique and contemporary look, with its vertical stems and lush, feathery foliage. Choose clumping bamboo species (not running types) for controllable, non-invasive privacy hedging that establishes rapidly.

• Growth rate: Up to 3 feet per year for some species
• Max height: 10-30 feet (depends on selection)
• Advantages: Quick to establish, evergreen, modern look, wind-resistant
• Best for: Urban gardens, patios, screening balconies and decks

For year-round privacy fast, try Fargesia robusta or Fargesia murielae--both are clumping, cold-hardy, and contained.

6. Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens)

Timeless and Tidy

Boxwood hedges have adorned gardens for centuries, prized for their dense, evergreen coverage and classic appeal. While not the absolute fastest, improved cultivars like 'Green Velvet' and 'Winter Gem' offer moderate, steady growth and are ideal for lower privacy screens and borders.

• Growth rate: 6-12 inches per year
• Max height: 6-10 feet (tall types), 2-3 feet (dwarf types)
• Advantages: Shapeable, formal appearance, deer-resistant
• Best for: Entryways, property edges, compact spaces

Tip: Plant boxwoods densely for maximum privacy, and trim regularly to maintain robust growth.

7. Viburnum tinus

Seasonal Interest and Speed

Viburnum tinus offers privacy swiftly--and rewards gardeners with clusters of fragrant white-to-pink flowers in late winter and spring, followed by attractive blue-black berries. This tough, drought-tolerant evergreen is perfect for fast hedging in most climates.

• Growth rate: 12-24 inches per year
• Max height: 6-12 feet
• Advantages: Flowering, bird-attracting, tolerates urban conditions
• Best for: Mixed shrub borders, family gardens, pollinator-friendly screens

Viburnum tolerates clipping for neat hedges or can be left natural for a wilder privacy barrier.

8. Thuja Green Giant (Arborvitae)

The Champion of Privacy Shrubs

Thuja 'Green Giant' is a superstar in rapid privacy hedging. This speedy evergreen achieves heights of 20-40 feet in record time, making it one of the most popular choices for hedges, borders, and windbreaks across North America and Europe.

• Growth rate: 3-5 feet per year under ideal conditions
• Max height: 30-40 feet (can be pruned lower if needed)
• Advantages: Pest and disease-resistant, uniform growth, adapts to a variety of soils
• Best for: Large properties, high privacy needs, quick results

Planting Tip: Give each Thuja Green Giant at least 5-6 feet of spacing to allow for healthy growth and optimal density.

9. Pittosporum tenuifolium (Kohuhu)

Glossy Foliage Meets Fast Results

Native to New Zealand, Pittosporum hedges are fast-growing, attractive, and modern in appearance. They boast wavy-edged, silvery or green leaves and neat, upright growth, making them superb for quick-growing privacy hedges in contemporary gardens.

• Growth rate: Up to 2 feet per year
• Max height: 10-15 feet
• Advantages: Evergreen, tolerates tough conditions, offers subtle fragrance
• Best for: Urban gardens, coastal areas, small spaces needing quick solutions

Pittosporum can be pruned regularly for a glossily formal hedge or left to take on a billowing, architectural look.

How to Choose the Right Hedge for Quick Privacy

Every garden and property has unique needs. Here are some factors to consider when fast-tracking your privacy with hedge plants:

• Growth rate: If you need screening fast, select varieties that offer at least 12-24 inches of growth per year.
• Mature size: Ensure the hedge won't outgrow your space or block light more than you desire.
• Climate compatibility: Some hedges suit cool climates; others love subtropical conditions--match to your local environment.
• Maintenance level: Some hedges need regular pruning for thick, neat growth--others require less shaping.
• Desired style: Whether you want a formal, clipped look or something wild and natural, your hedge variety choice matters.
• Evergreen vs. deciduous: For year-round privacy, evergreen hedge plants are best.

Pro Tip:

Combine two or three hedge types for a layered privacy effect--for instance, pair a quick-growing bamboo with a flowering viburnum. This tactic creates visual depth and all-season interest.

Establishing Your Privacy Hedge: Planting and Care Tips

• Soil preparation: Dig a generous trench, improve soil with compost, and ensure good drainage.
• Spacing: Follow plant-specific guidance--crowding slows growth and ventilation, while spacing too wide delays privacy.
• Watering: Consistent moisture is crucial during the first two years to establish strong roots.
• Mulch: Apply a 2-3 inch layer of organic mulch to conserve soil moisture and control weeds.
• Pruning: Regular trimming encourages bushy, dense growth and keeps your hedge thick and tidy.
• Feeding: Use a balanced slow-release fertilizer in spring to promote lush, healthy foliage.

Remember: Even the fastest-growing privacy hedges need basic care--water early and deeply, prune regularly, and watch for pests or diseases.

Final Thoughts: Transform Your Outdoor Space--Fast

It's never been easier to fast-track privacy in your garden with living, vibrant hedges. Whether you prefer the classic Leyland Cypress, colorful Photinia, or a modern bamboo screen, these nine hedge varieties combine speed, beauty, and practicality in your search for seclusion.

Choose your favorite fast-growing hedge plant, follow our planting tips, and you'll soon enjoy not just solitude, but also a touch of living elegance. Beat the wait--and the neighbors--by starting your privacy hedge project this season!

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the fastest-growing hedge for privacy?
  Thuja 'Green Giant' and Leyland Cypress are two of the top performers, with growth rates up to 5 feet per year.
• How far apart should I plant fast hedges?
  The ideal spacing varies by plant, but generally 2-6 feet apart works for most species--consult the specific guidelines for your chosen hedge.
• Can I mix hedge varieties for a privacy screen?
  Absolutely! Combining different hedge plants creates a more wildlife-friendly, beautiful, and robust privacy barrier.

Fast-track your privacy today by picking from these nine top hedge varieties--and enjoy your own green, peaceful retreat in record time!