Want to carve out a secluded sanctuary in your backyard without waiting a decade for plants to mature? Finding fast growing shrubs that create privacy is the quickest way to transform an exposed yard into a comfortable, private retreat. Fences are fine, but nothing beats the lush texture, seasonal color, and natural beauty of a living wall. We know you want results now, not later! That’s why we’ve gathered the 12 fastest-growing shrubs known for their density and height, giving you the power to design a beautiful, natural barrier. Get ready to discover the perfect hedge for your landscape, quickly achieve the privacy you deserve, and connect with the immense ecosystem benefits of nurturing a dense, green boundary!
🌳 Foundation First: Planning Your Quick Privacy Screen
Relying on fast growing shrubs that create privacy requires a bit of planning, but the effort saves you years of waiting. To ensure success, you must choose plants that thrive in your local climate and soil conditions, and provide them with the best starting conditions.
H3: Assessing Your Site and Zone
Before selecting any of the fast growing shrubs, take a moment to understand your planting area:
- Sunlight: Does the spot get full sun (6+ hours), partial sun (4-6 hours), or shade (less than 4 hours)? Most fast-growing shrubs prefer full sun.
- Soil and Drainage: Is the soil sandy, clay-heavy, or loamy? Good drainage is key; few fast-growing plants tolerate standing water.
- Hardiness Zone: This is crucial. Every shrub has a USDA Hardiness Zone rating that indicates where it can survive winter. Knowing your zone ensures your investment lasts year after year.
Don’t feel discouraged! Matching the plant to the right conditions is the biggest secret to guaranteeing fast growth.
H3: The Key to Rapid Growth
When planting for quick privacy, the goal isn’t just to buy a tall shrub; it’s to select one with a high annual growth rate (AGR).
| Growth Rate Metric | Meaning |
| Slow | Less than 6 inches per year |
| Medium | 6 to 12 inches per year |
| Fast | 13 to 24 inches per year (or more!) |
We focus on the plants in the “Fast” category to help you achieve a dense screen in just a few seasons.
🌲 12 Fast Growing Shrubs That Create Privacy
To give you maximum options regardless of your climate or desired height, we’ve broken down our top 12 list into evergreen (year-round privacy) and deciduous (seasonal beauty) categories.
Evergreen Privacy Screens (Year-Round Coverage)
Evergreens are the champions of privacy, keeping prying eyes out 365 days a year.
- Leyland Cypress (Cupressocyparis leylandii): Famous for its lightning-fast growth, often reaching 3 to 4 feet per year! Needs space and full sun. (Zones 6-10)
- Emerald Green Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Emerald Green’): Excellent for narrow spaces, offering a tidy, columnar shape. Grows about 1.5 to 2 feet per year. (Zones 3-7)
- Green Giant Arborvitae (Thuja plicata ‘Green Giant’): A monster grower, capable of 3 feet per year. Provides a substantial, dense screen and is extremely cold-hardy. (Zones 5-9)
- Nellie R. Stevens Holly (Ilex cornuta ‘Nellie R. Stevens’): Offers glossy, dark green leaves and red winter berries. Grows quickly to an impressive height. (Zones 6-9)
- Skip Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus ‘Schipkaensis’): Features long, dark green leaves and a dense habit perfect for a hedge. Grows up to 2 feet per year. (Zones 5-9)
- Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera): Native to warm southern regions, this shrub offers fragrant foliage and excellent year-round screening. (Zones 7-11)
Deciduous Shrubs for Seasonal Screening and Color
These shrubs lose their leaves in winter but offer spectacular flowers, berries, or fall color when privacy is most desired in the warmer months.
- Hydrangea Paniculata (Hydrangea paniculata): While not technically a dense screen, massive varieties like ‘Limelight’ can reach 8-10 feet tall quickly, providing excellent summer screening and beautiful blooms. (Zones 3-8)
- Viburnum (Viburnum spp.): Many varieties, such as ‘Prague’ or ‘Nannyberry’ (V. lentago), offer large, fast-growing structures with beautiful flowers and berries for birds. (Zones 3-8, varies by species)
- Forsythia (Forsythia): Creates a very fast, thick spring barrier, primarily used for boundaries and windbreaks. Famous for bright yellow spring flowers. (Zones 5-8)
- Privet (Ligustrum): An old standby for fast hedges. While sometimes invasive, certain sterile varieties grow incredibly fast and dense. Needs frequent pruning to maintain shape. (Zones 5-8)
- Willow Hybrid (Hybrid Poplar): Though technically a tree, its shrub-like growth when pruned can create a screen 8-10 feet tall in a single season! Requires specific maintenance. (Zones 3-9)
- Bamboo (Clumping Varieties): While tricky, clumping bamboo (like Fargesia species) offers incredible vertical privacy very quickly. Important: Only use non-invasive, clumping types. (Zones 5-9, varies by species)
🪴 Expert Tips: Planting and Nurturing for Rapid Results
Choosing the right plant is only the first step. To ensure you maximize the growth rate of these fast growing shrubs that create privacy, you need to give them a great start.
H3: Proper Planting Technique
- Dig Wide, Not Deep: Dig a hole that is two to three times wider than the root ball, but no deeper. Planting too deep is the number one killer of new shrubs.
- Loosen the Roots: Gently tease the roots out of the shape of the pot before planting. If the roots are tightly coiled (root-bound), score them lightly with a knife. This encourages them to grow outward into the surrounding soil.
- Spacing is Critical: Give your shrubs enough space to mature. While you might want instant coverage, planting them too close leads to poor air circulation, disease, and slower long-term growth. Check the mature width of your chosen variety and plant them 1/2 to 2/3 of that width apart.
H3: Early Nurturing for Explosive Growth
- Deep Watering: Water slowly and deeply for the first year. Shallow, frequent watering encourages surface roots. Deep watering forces the roots to grow down, anchoring the plant and helping it sustain its fast growth.
- Mulch: Apply a 2-3 inch layer of organic mulch (wood chips or shredded bark) around the base of the shrub. Keep the mulch 3 inches away from the trunk itself. Mulch retains moisture, suppresses weeds (which steal nutrients), and regulates soil temperature.
(Internal Linking Opportunity: For a deep dive into soil preparation, read our article “The Essential Guide to Amending Clay Soil.”)
🍃 Troubleshooting: Why Your Fast-Grower Isn’t Growing Fast
It can be frustrating when you buy a shrub advertised as a fast grower and it just seems to sit there. Often, the issue is environmental, and you have the power to fix it!
Featured Snippet Potential: “Why is my privacy hedge growing so slowly?”
Your privacy hedge is likely growing slowly due to insufficient water, incorrect planting depth, or nutrient deficiency. If the plant is getting adequate sun, check the base: ensure it’s not planted too deep (which suffocates the root collar), and verify that the top 6 inches of soil are consistently moist during the first year. Feed the plant with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer in early spring to encourage fast growth and healthy root development.
Practical Solutions to Common Slow-Growth Issues
- Pest or Disease: Inspect leaves and stems for signs of pests (scale, aphids) or fungal disease (powdery mildew). If found, treat immediately with horticultural oil or fungicide, as plant stress drastically slows growth.
- Competition: Are weeds or lawn grass growing directly up to the base of the shrub? Competition for water and nutrients, particularly in the first few years, severely limits the growth rate. Maintain a clean, mulched circle around the base of each shrub.
- Poor Soil: If the soil is heavy clay, the roots may be struggling to expand. Solution: While you can’t replant every shrub, ensure future plantings are supplemented with compost and expanded soil around the root zone.
🚀 Maximizing Results: Next Level Screening and Long-Term Care
Once your fast growing shrubs that create privacy are established, a few pro tips will ensure your screen remains dense, healthy, and perfectly manicured.
Pruning for Density
The key to a dense privacy hedge is strategic pruning. Simply letting the plants grow tall often results in bare bottoms.
- Initial Pruning: During the first two years, focus on light tipping (cutting off just the growing tips) to encourage horizontal branching and bushiness, rather than maximum height. This creates a denser screen from the ground up.
- Hedge Shape: When trimming a formal hedge, always keep the bottom wider than the top. This ensures that the lower branches receive necessary sunlight, preventing the bottom from becoming sparse and brown.
- Timing: Prune evergreens lightly in late winter or early spring before new growth begins. Prune flowering deciduous shrubs (like Hydrangea) immediately after they finish blooming.
*(Internal Linking Opportunity: Master the art with our detailed guide, “Essential Pruning Techniques for the Home Gardener.”)
🌿 Conclusion: Claim Your Private Oasis!
You now have the knowledge and the list of 12 fast growing shrubs that create privacy needed to unlock the potential of your yard. You understand that rapid growth depends on the right choice of plant and diligent nurturing—from proper planting depth to strategic pruning.
The effort you put in now will be rewarded quickly with a lush, living green wall that offers peace, seclusion, and the wonderful connection of nurturing a vibrant ecosystem. Don’t delay the privacy you deserve!
Which fast-growing evergreen will you start planting this weekend to achieve immediate screening?