Your home is your private retreat, a space where you deserve to feel completely at ease and away from the world’s prying eyes. In an age of city living and nearby neighbors, that sense of seclusion is a true luxury.
But how can you create a peaceful outdoor sanctuary, block nosy onlookers, and even dampen noise from the street? The answer is simple. Plant some fast growing shrubs and bushes to create a living privacy screen.
When making your selections, be sure to consider your local climate, the amount of space you have, your personal style, and how much maintenance you are willing to take on.
Here are 20 fantastic shrubs and bushes you can plant to boost your privacy and elevate your outdoor decor.
20 Fast Growing Shrubs and Bushes To Create Privacy
1. Privet (Ligustrum spp.)
While its popularity has waned in recent years, privet is still a phenomenal choice for establishing a private border around your home.
This deciduous shrub grows quickly, and its thick green foliage is a champ at creating a solid visual barrier.
For best results, plant them close to one another to encourage a dense wall of greenery that effectively blocks views and muffles sound.
Privet can add impressive height in just a few seasons, making it a leading candidate if you need privacy in a hurry.
Hardiness zones: 3-8
2. Leyland Cypress (Cupressocyparis leylandii)
Leyland Cypress is an absolutely exceptional option when you need a shrub for creating privacy. When fully mature, this tree can soar to incredible heights of 50 to 60 feet, and sometimes even higher. This makes it a perfect solution if your goal is a tall, formidable privacy wall.
The vibrant, needle-like foliage of the Leyland Cypress stays lush and green throughout the winter, ensuring your home remains beautifully concealed all year long.
Hardiness zones: 6-10
3. Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis)
For a dependable and timeless option, consider this green giant, which keeps its brilliant foliage all year. Its look is defined by densely packed branches and scale-like leaves that overlap, delivering excellent coverage and an attractive natural barrier.
Arborvitae is one of the fastest growing evergreen shrubs available, capable of shooting up between 12 and 24 inches in a single year. Just be aware that it can quickly dominate your space if left unchecked.
Hardiness zones: 2-7
4. Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus)
Your cherry laurel privacy hedge is capable of growing 12 to 24 inches each year, eventually reaching a height of 1.5 to 5 meters. Beyond just secluding your property, its dense, glossy evergreen leaves stay brilliant year round, promising consistent coverage and visual appeal.
This low maintenance shrub can be pruned and shaped to match your ideal privacy screen style, helping you maintain its form and promote even denser growth.
Hardiness zones: 4-9
5. Forsythia (Forsythia spp.)
It might not be an evergreen, but the woody branches of forsythia still contribute cover and structure to your living privacy fence.
The main attraction, however, is its burst of stunning yellow flowers that emerge in early spring, creating a cheerful and vibrant landscape.
Once the growing season kicks in, forsythia’s dense, arching branches will fill out to provide proper coverage. The foliage creates a lovely green background that beautifully complements the yellow blooms.
Hardiness zones: 5-8
6. Boxwood (Buxus spp.)
Boxwood is an ideal fit if you envision a classic, formal, and neatly structured hedge. This shrub’s small, tightly packed leaves and compact growth habit project an air of refined elegance that will elevate your garden’s overall look.
In terms of privacy, its evergreen foliage holds its vibrant green color all year, effectively blocking unwanted views and dampening noise. Select this shrub for a well behaved and easily manageable privacy screen.
Hardiness zones: 5-9
7. Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
This versatile shrub absolutely deserves a spot in your yard if you want to quickly establish a privacy screen while also boosting your outdoor style. It can add 12 to 24 inches to its height annually.
Its standout feature, however, is the colorful foliage that appears in a variety of shades, including green, red, and purple. Japanese Barberry also has thorns, which can help serve as a deterrent to intruders.
Hardiness zones: 4-8
8. Cotoneaster
When you plant a privacy screen with Cotoneaster, you have the option to create a formal hedge or a more relaxed, informal border. This shrub can grow between 12 and 24 inches per year, depending on the variety, and features dense branching with small, glossy leaves.
A Cotoneaster privacy screen, with its attractive red berries and delicate blossoms, can help transform your garden into a secluded oasis perfect for relaxation and enjoyment.
Hardiness zones: 4-8
9. Rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.)
Are you hoping to create a vibrant and colorful privacy screen? Plant a Rhododendron. Its stunning and lively blooms, featuring large, colorful flowers, will introduce a dose of natural beauty to your garden.
Meanwhile, the evergreen foliage ensures year round coverage and aesthetic appeal. While it isn’t the fastest growing shrub on this list, it will still offer you substantial privacy within just a few years.
Hardiness zones: 3-7
10. Arctic Willow (Salix purpurea ‘Nana’)
Thanks to its rapid growth, elegant appearance, and adaptability, this deciduous shrub is a charming and effective choice for creating a natural privacy screen.
It does shed its leaves in the autumn, which reduces privacy during the winter months, but the delicate green leaves make a comeback in the spring for a lush, full screen.
The Arctic Willow’s graceful, arching branches and slender leaves give it a uniquely attractive look.
Hardiness zones: 1-7
11. Red Tip Photinia (Photinia x fraseri)
Beyond its quick growth rate of 12 to 24 inches per year, this shrub is celebrated for its breathtaking red foliage. In the spring, new bright red leaves emerge, creating a dramatic and beautiful contrast against the older, green leaves.
Because it retains its leaves year round, it effectively blocks unwanted sightlines and reduces noise throughout every season.
Hardiness zones: 7-9
12. Fragrant Lilac (Syringa vulgaris)
There is so much to adore about this deciduous shrub as a privacy screen, from its speedy growth and gorgeous blooms to its intoxicating fragrance.
Its abundant, beautiful flower clusters, which bloom in a range of colors including lavender, purple, pink, and white, are a true spectacle.
And that’s not all. These blooms release a sweet, floral perfume that will fill the air around your home in late spring and early summer. Your fragrant lilac privacy screen will grow by an impressive 12 to 24 inches each year.
Hardiness zones: 3-7
13. Nellie Stevens Holly (Ilex x ‘Nellie R. Stevens’)
This broadleaf evergreen shrub looks a lot like a Christmas tree, with its dark green spiny leaves and cheerful round berries.
It is a dependable choice for crafting a fantastic and prickly privacy screen, as its thorns can effectively deter intruders.
At the same time, its lush and dense evergreen foliage will shield your home from curious eyes throughout the entire year.
Hardiness zones: 6-9
14. Firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea)
Firethorn is a lush evergreen shrub with dense foliage that provides not only privacy but also a security barrier. Its sharp spines make it a challenge to breach, which greatly enhances its protective capabilities.
This plant’s vibrant berries, which appear in the fall and winter, are edible, attractive to birds, and add a pop of seasonal color and interest to your garden.
Hardiness zones: 6-9
15. Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)
Incorporate this deciduous shrub into a mixed privacy border to create an even more effective screen. Its brilliant red stems will lend a splash of color to your landscape, especially during the winter months.
While it does shed its leaves in the fall, new foliage emerges in the spring, restoring its coverage.
Red Osier Dogwood grows quite fast, adding 12 to 24 inches in height each year and eventually rising to a mature height of 6 to 9 feet tall.
Hardiness zones: 3-8
16. Ninebark (Physocarpus spp.)
You can create a very thick privacy barrier with Ninebark by planting them close together. This allows their numerous branches and leaves to interlock, effectively blocking the view from the outside. Ninebark shrubs also provide visual interest throughout the year.
It showcases beautiful blooms in the spring, displays attractive foliage during the growing season, and boasts colorful leaves in the fall. This fast growing shrub is also available in both compact and tall varieties.
Hardiness zones: 3-9
17. Hedge Roses (Rosa spp.)
If you are willing to invest a bit more time in maintenance and care, you can create a privacy screen using hedge roses for a look of timeless, classic beauty. Hedge roses develop numerous branches and a great deal of foliage that together form a dense barrier.
Most varieties also feature attractive and often fragrant blooms, making your privacy screen even more visually appealing. Roses also deliver year round interest, with beautiful flowers, colorful foliage, and gorgeous hips or fruit.
Hardiness zones: 2-11
18. Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)
The fiery red foliage of the Burning Bush in the autumn creates a magnificent visual spectacle. While this deciduous, drought tolerant shrub does lose its leaves in the fall, it will produce a fresh set in the spring.
Burning Bushes are well suited for creating a mid sized privacy screen, as they typically grow to be 6 to 10 feet tall.
You can also easily manage the size and shape of your Burning Bush privacy border through regular pruning.
Hardiness zones: 4-8
19. Oleaster (elaeagnus x ebbingei)
The lustrous, silvery green foliage of Elaeagnus x ebbingei is both distinctive and capable of enhancing the aesthetics of your outdoor spaces. But that’s not all. As an evergreen shrub, its leaves will ensure that no one can see through your fence, no matter the season.
Hardiness zones: 7-9
20. Sweet Viburnum (Viburnum odoratissimum)
This attractive plant, with its 2 to 4 inch elliptical, glossy green leaves, is perfect for hedges or screens. It grows exceptionally fast, at 24 to 36 inches per year, and can reach heights of 10 to 20 feet or more. It also boasts a dense, multi branched growth habit.
Its small, white, and highly fragrant flower clusters only add to its considerable appeal.
Hardiness zones: 8-10
Conclusion
Crafting a privacy screen with shrubs and bushes is a wonderful way to achieve much needed seclusion while also enhancing the beauty and tranquility of your surroundings.
There is a fast growing shrub out there that is perfect for you, whether you are looking for a dense evergreen, a colorful deciduous variety, or something with vibrant blooms.
