Best Trees for Privacy
Are you looking to create a privacy screen? Maybe you’re trying to block out noise, improve air quality, or provide a lush green backdrop for your garden (all of which are great reasons to plant privacy trees). There are many options for privacy trees, based on your needs and desires. Below you will find our top picks for the best trees for privacy.
Most Popular Privacy Trees
Before you invest in privacy trees, consider dynamics like the purpose, the area where you’ll plant then, how tall you need your privacy screen to be (which makes the growth rate important), the care that respective privacy trees require, etc. We’re here to help!
While you’re in the brainstorm mode, it’s great to look at some of the best privacy trees so you get a true visual and thus a better idea of what you’re looking for. Here are our Top Trees for Privacy!
Thuja Green Giant
A vigorously-growing, pyramidal evergreen, The Thuja Green Giant will add a lush, green privacy screen to your yard in no time! This is one of the most popular privacy trees because it can grow in basically any landscape, thanks to its ability to tolerate a wide range of soil and hardiness zones and has little pest or disease problems. Grows best in zones 5-9.The Thuja Green Giant’s rich green color remains outstanding throughout hardiness range, and it is ornamentally appealing as a single specimen, a screen, or as a living frame for your landscape or garden. It’s a very fast grower — up to 3-5 feet per year with a mature height of 40 feet.
Italian Cypress
One of the more lush privacy trees, the Italian Cypress takes on a narrow, columnar form and tidy, well-groomed appearance without any pruning, making it a unique low-maintenance evergreen. This tree gets exceptionally tall, up to 30-40 feet tall but stays skinny and of small width. The Italian Cypress is not considered cold hardy for the northern states. It grows best in zones 7-9.
Its exceptionally dense blue-green foliage with scale-like leaves lends a very fine texture to any setting. Due to its height, this is one of the best privacy trees for framing or for use in formal landscapes. We offer a variety of sizes in case you were looking for a more established tree for your landscape.
Cryptomeria Radicans
Few privacy trees offer the enchanting look of the Cryptomeria Radicans. This awe-inspiring, breathtaking privacy screen grows unusually fast (12-16 feet within 5 years of planting… all we can say is wow!) and features foliage that is exceptionally dense, dark green and feathery, therefore offering good contrast to its blue-leafed evergreens.
One special note: you’ll need to space these privacy trees 5 to 6 feet apart for a dense privacy screen or perimeter planting.
Willow Oak
Moving away from the evergreen privacy trees, the Willow Oak is a deciduous tree has a willow-like, slender, glossy green leaves(Willow Oak got it’s name from the same leaves as Weeping Willow) and fast growth rate.
A member of the red oak group, it will grow anywhere from 40 to 75 feet tall in maturity! Yellowish green flowers will bloom beginning in April as its leaves begin to appear, and it’s excellent at tolerating pollution — making it one of the top urban privacy trees.
October Glory Maple
Looking for privacy trees with gorgeous red foliage? Look no further than the October Glory Maple! A rapid-growing red maple cultivar, it features glistening dark green leaves all through spring and summer that turn a radiant red late in fall and last several weeks.
It’s improved heat tolerance means that it can be grown all over the continental US, and it will grow 40-50 feet high with a 25-35 foot spread. A great statement piece in your yard!
Check out our other blogs on Privacy Trees and our blog on the top Hedges for Privacy.