Fast Privacy

Euonymus japonicus 'Chollipo' is a rapid-growing shrub to 12 feet tall and six feet wide. (Photo by Monrovia)

How much screening do you want and when do you want it? Only sporadic plantings may be necessary to screen the view of your yard from cars passing by, but you may want closely spaced plantings of dense-foliage evergreen shrubs (holly, yew, juniper, laurel, etc.) for complete year-round privacy in a favorite garden spot. If you can live with coverage only during the growing season, then you can choose a deciduous shrub or tree, or a fast-growing annual vine.

Do you need immediate privacy? If so, a fence or trellis is the obvious first answer. Large container plants can help as a stopgap measure. One homeowner who didn't want to mess with setting poles opted for a couple of tall stepladders placed side by side and anchored to the ground, and let morning glories and passionflowers take them over. Another option is to plant a very fast-growing tree such as river birch next to a slower growing species. After the slow-growing tree has gotten established and started growing, you can either move or sacrifice the fast-growing tree.

Once you've selected a species, hedge your bets. No plant is risk-free. If you want privacy you can count on, best mix it up a bit in your living screen by planting two or three different species. If a plant of one type suddenly becomes targeted by an insect or disease, chances are the other varieties won't be touched.

Do your homework before the trip to the nursery and take a reference book along with you. Plants within the same species can show considerable variation in growth rate. That beautiful cultivar you're about to buy seven of may actually be a very slow-growing plant. Here are some options:

Don't let the mature unpruned size of Leyland cypress intimidate you. The plant takes very well to pruning, as this 'Naylor's Blue' Leyland cypress clearly shows. (Photo by Monrovia)

• Leyland cypress (Cupressocyparis leylandii). Everybody's reaching for these fast-growing evergreens that grow up rather than out. If a Leyland cypress likes where it is, it can easily put on three or four feet — or more — in a single season. The usual color seen in the marketplace is dark green — that's perfectly fine, but there are also plenty of other colors — bluish-green ('Naylor's Blue'), gold ('Castlewellan Gold'), gray ('Haggerston Grey') and bright green ('Moncal'). Mature size: 50 to 70 feet (or you can keep this very malleable plant sheared into a hedge). (Zones 6-10)
• Carolina cherrylaurel (Prunus caroliniana). A large broad-leaved evergreen shrub. Heavily perfumed flowers appear in early spring. Grows incredibly fast in moist, well-drained soils. Mature size: 20 to 30 feet high, slightly less wide. (Zones 7-10)
• Loquat, Japanese plum (Eriobotrya japonica). A beautiful broad-leaved evergreen that only southerners can grow. Loquat flowers in fall or early winter and its edible fruit ripens in late spring. (Zones (7)8-10)

Hollies make a rugged, enduring privacy fence that's also good for buffering sound, but a lot of hollies are slow-growing. Look for fast-growing varieties when you shop.

• Holly (Ilex sp.). This family of shrubs and trees are indomitable plants that provide rugged enduring beauty with usually little sign of pests and disease. There are a lot of slow growers in the lot (and some deciduous ones as well), however, so be sure of the plant and cultivar (and its hardiness in your climate) before you bring it home. Some relatively fast growers: Ilex x 'Nellie R. Stevens', Ilex 'Adonis', Ilex 'Agena', Ilex 'Ajax', English holly (I. aquifolium 'Monier' or 'Ciliata Major').
• River birch (Betula nigra). A lovely multi-trunked specimen tree with flaking, off-white and cinnamon bark, the river birch doesn't get the bronze birch borer that afflicts other birches. A good solution if you need fast aerial screening for three seasons of the year. When the tree drops its leaves in the fall, however, you 'll lose all privacy. Because the branching is relatively thin, this is a see-through tree in the winter. Needs acid soil (pH 6.5 or lower) and a site that is moist a good part of the year. Mature size: 40 to 70 feet tall and almost as wide. Prune in summer; the tree bleeds profusely in spring. (Zones 3b-9)
• Redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea). You know this deciduous shrub as a winter-interest plant because of its red stems, but it also can provide a fast mid-size screen for the summertime. White flowers in late spring, white fruit in late summer. Mature size: 7 to 9 feet tall and a little wider. (Zones 2-7)
  

Fiveleaf akebia (Photo by Michael Dirr)

Vines

Vines — herbaceous and woody — can provide very fast vertical screening as well as soften the look of a fence or trellis. Among annuals, choose from moonvine, blackeyed Susan vine, lablab, morning glory. Among perennial and woody vines: trumpet creeper, cross vine, trumpet honeysuckle, clematis, Confederate jasmine, Carolina jessamine, Dutchman's pipe.

• Akebia (Akebia quinata). A fast-growing twining vine that is deciduous throughout most of its range. Mature size: 40 feet (or the height of its supporting structure). Zones (4)5 to 8.