Privacy trees advice

General Gardening
1

I have been trying to pick something to plant between our front fence and the road as a privacy screen. Here are some of the requirements:
-Zone 6A
-Grows reasonably quick
-Low maintenence
-Not too tall (telephone line overhead) or wide
-Nice if it was evergreen
-Edit to add: not poisonous to people or animals

I have kicked around the idea of redbuds and dwarf magnolias. I don’t really love the idea of a huge wall of arbor vitae or bamboo. It would be nice if it was a native tree. Have I missed anything? Any other ideas?

2

My parents did leyland cypress, being told they would grow to 12-15 ft … Ended up about 40 ft high.

So just be careful.

1 Like
3

Do you want a tree? Do you want it to hear fruit? For me personally I’m trying to grow huckleberry as a hedge, but that’s pretty slow growing.

Cherry laurel may fit the bill for you

4

It doesn’t have to bear fruit. I’m not sure I would use it anyways, being up next to the road and neighbors that do a lot of spraying.

5

In my area, hinoki cyprus, Waxleaf ligustrum, waxleaf privet, and dwarf alberta spruce are popular too

6

‘Holger’s’ hybrid juniper is a beautiful color changing one if you have good drainage.
Muffles road noise, also

7

Swiss stone pine. Privacy and pine nuts.

8

thuja green giant?

3 Likes
9

Thuja grow fast but get pretty big. They make a good privacy screen but I do have to hedge trim once a year to keep at 15 feet

11

Have you thought of maybe doing a vine hedge like kiwi, and use one of the aggressive growers? Won’t be green in the winter, but with a lot of mine coverage, you can get somewhat of a wall of vines.

You’d need to run posts etc but also an idea if you wanna go the vine route.

12

I guess it all depends on the soil. My only one was growing near the road on a very pure soil. It got to probably 13’ and never required pruning. But I am sure on the good soil they are capable to grow higher.

13

I did some research on privacy screens for my area (NC piedmont, Zone 8A) awhile back. Here’s an excel sheet with info I compiled, may give you some ideas:
Screening-Plants.xlsx (14.3 KB)

14

Poncirous Flying dragon

15

Z6a Southern Rockies here.

I have an apricot tree that has provided good privacy. I pruned it short on planting, bent the resulting shoots/branches as wanted and it worked out well. Attractive, pretty blooms, fall foliage, yet surprisingly rugged and undemanding for a fruit tree. Not huge. Doesn’t bear fruit much,(Moorpark,) but for a front-yard planting, maybe that’s an advantage.

Based on the excellent results I’ve had with their pear trees, I would gravitate towards the Harrow, Ontario introductions if I wanted significant fruit in Z6. They tend to have “har” in their names.

2 Likes
16

Little Gem magnolias are a fine choice.

Also Yew can get large. But, poisonous seeds.

17

You could use Goumi Berry but I don’t know if they’ll be evergreen in your climate?