Screening Plants

If privacy is the primary reason why you want to plant a hedge around your garden, using screening plants would be the most practical choice. And since privacy hedges are likely the most common type of hedge, there is a large number of species available that are suitable for this exact purpose. Most of these are evergreen hedge plants, because a hedge that retains its leaves throughout the winter is more likely to obscure your garden from view than the relatively open structure that most deciduous hedging plants have during the colder months of the year. Privacy is not the only thing that screening plants are good for, however. If you want to distract the eye from a rather unsightly view, a screening hedge is also a great solution.

Screening Conifers

Any list of hedging plants most suitable for screening purposes would certainly contain a large number of hedging conifers. Conifers are popular screening plants not only because their foliage is dense enough to ensure privacy throughout the year; most conifer species also grow relatively fast. The leylandii is obviously the fastest grower of them all, as it can increase up to a metre in height every year. Keep in mind that it does not form a dense screen quite as quickly as some of the slower growing species, such as the Lawson cypress and most thuja species, as leylandii hedges have a relatively open habit as saplings. Yew hedges do not grow very fast, but are incredibly dense, so if you have a bit of patience, they will certainly provide you with proper screening.

Evergreen Screening Plants

Conifers are hardly the only plants that can be used as screening hedges, however, so if you are looking for a hedge with a more informal character that will still retain its leaves in the winter, you could consider one of the many gorgeous cherry laurel varieties or the multi-coloured Photinia ‘Red Robin’. Both of these hedge plants require a bit of space, however. Though there are smaller varieties of cherry laurel, such as the ‘Zabeliana’ and the ‘Otto Luyken’, these generally do not grow tall enough to be suitable for privacy purposes. Ivy on a narrow frame is an excellent and very fast-growing screening solution for a small garden though. Do you live in a seaside town and are you worried that the difficult conditions there do not allow for a screening hedge? No need to worry. The broadleaf can serve as both a windbreak and a privacy hedge in your garden.

Screening Plants for Privacy Hedges

Anyone not looking for a beautiful flowering hedge or a prickly security hedge is likely looking for screening plants in order to grow a reasonably tall privacy hedge. Fortunately, due to the popularity of this type of hedges, the selection of available screening plants is large and varied. The plant that will fit the appearance and the conditions present in your garden is certainly among them.