Best trees for privacy

14 years ago

Hello everyone!

I've been on the hunt for the best privacy tress and shrubs for us, and am hoping some one can give me advice for the best type of tree for our situation.

We are looking to plant a row of privacy evergreen trees (around an 60 foot length) along the inside of our our 6 foot tall privacy fence. We need the trees to get at least around 20 feet tall to give us privacy from our neighbors deck, which is about 15 feet up. It really doesn't matter how wide they are, we have a fairly large yard. This area gets full sun all day, and although we are in the country it is protected from deer, and most critters since it's fenced in.

After doing my research I have come up with Green Giant, or Leyland's mostly because of how fast they grow vs. the relatively low price/easiness to find. I'm open to any other ideas though.

Also I couldn't find much on when to plant either of these, we'd like to get them in the ground within the next month, but we'd wait till spring if that was more ideal.

Thanks in advance!

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Comments (3)

brandon7 TN_zone7
14 years ago
Do a search of the forum for 'privacy' or 'Green Giant' or whatever. This topic has been thoroughly covered here over and over and over.
khopew
Original Author
14 years ago
I did search, Brandon, and found an overwhelming amount of info. That's how I came down to Leyland vs Green giant. ;) So I was hoping for some advice based on my personal situation/area.

Thanks!
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drrich2
14 years ago
Couple of thoughts.

1.) Leyland Cypress seems to be reputed to be prone to disease; definitely don't recommend planting all Leyland Cypress.

2.) Green Giants are popular, but don't always work for everyone. If they do for you, great, but anytime you plant a large number of just one species, you run the risk that a disease/pest that's bad news for that species can annihilate your whole stand in a season or two. And with named cultivars, where all your specimens are pretty much clones of each other, anything that can kill one can kill them all.

So, even if you mainly use Green Giants, how about mixing in some other species. Oakleaf Holly gets close to the minimum size you want, & is a hermaphrodite that's self-fertile (rather unusual for hollies). What about Golden Hinoki False Cypress 'Crippsii' and Colorado Blue Spruce? Do they get too large for you? Do they do well in your region? (I'm not familiar with your area).

If you do plant a 'monoculture' row of 2 evergreen species, I'd use it as a backdrop & plant something in front of it for some color variety; evergreen options could include Boulevard False Cypress, yellow evergreens like 'Yellow Ribbon' Arborvitae, and red Japanese Maples like Bloodgood, Emperor I and Fireglow.

Does your yard lend itself to a somewhat rough, 'natural' looking landscape, or is your area more strictly, geometrically landscaped so a straight row of one species is all that would look 'right?'

Richard.