Wanting privacy now is reasonable. A new house goes up next door, a neighbor’s deck suddenly looks straight at your patio, or the old hedge comes down and the yard feels exposed. Nobody wants to wait five years to sit outside comfortably.

The catch is that “fast” on a plant tag describes a healthy, established plant in good conditions, not the first summer after planting. The plants that grow fastest are also the ones that get biggest, and a shrub that adds 3 feet a year will keep doing that long after it has blocked the view.

So I’d ask a different question: which plant gets tall enough, soon enough, without outgrowing the space or eating your weekends? The 13 approaches that follow each answer it differently.

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13 fast-growing privacy planting ideas to compare

These are ways of planting more than plant names. Most good screens combine two or three of them.

1. Start with a temporary screen behind young plants

Set a freestanding screen, a row of reed fencing on stakes or a few tall planters where the gap hurts most, then plant the permanent shrubs 2 to 3 feet in front of it. You get privacy on day one, and the plants have a few years to catch up.

A 6-foot freestanding panel usually costs $80 to $250, far less than buying 7-foot shrubs. Leave enough room behind the plants to reach the screen, because you’ll want to remove it in year 3 or 4 without trampling anything.

2. Use a mixed hedge instead of one fast species

Alternate two or three compatible shrubs along the line, such as ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae, a native holly and a viburnum. One fast species planted in a long row looks tidy at first, but a single disease or a hard winter can take out the whole screen at once.

Leyland cypress shows why. It can add 3 feet a year, yet in the humid Southeast it often struggles with canker diseases after 10 to 15 years, leaving brown gaps in a once-solid wall.

3. Choose a climber for vertical speed

A vine on an existing fence or sturdy trellis is often the quickest living screen in a tight space, because it needs only 12 inches of ground. Annual vines such as scarlet runner beans or hyacinth bean can climb 8 to 10 feet in one summer from seed, while native trumpet honeysuckle (zones 4 to 9) reaches 10 to 15 feet over a few years.

Skip English ivy, Japanese honeysuckle and Chinese or Japanese wisteria. All three are listed as invasive in many states, and ivy and wisteria are heavy enough to pull apart a lightweight fence.

4. Pair quick grasses with slower shrubs

Tall clumping grasses fill a gap by their second summer while slow evergreens catch up. Switchgrass (native, zones 4 to 9) reaches 4 to 6 feet, and ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass sends up stems around 4 to 5 feet tall on a clump only 2 feet wide.

Grasses are cut back to 4 to 6 inches in late winter, so they leave a gap from about February to May. Avoid Miscanthus sinensis in the East and Midwest, where it seeds into natural areas.

5. Create a two-row offset planting

Plant two rows about 3 feet apart and stagger them in a zigzag, so each back plant covers the gap between two front plants. It looks solid years sooner than a single line, even with plants spaced at their full mature width.

It needs a strip at least 8 to 10 feet deep, which rules it out beside most patios. If you do have the room, it’s a cheap way to get a fuller screen sooner without crowding anything.

6. Use containers for the first growing season

Large pots let you test a position before you dig. Put two or three shrubs in 15 to 25 gallon containers, live with them for a summer, and see whether they block the view from your chair before planting them in the ground in fall.

Pots dry out quickly. In July heat, a 20-gallon container in full sun can need water every day or two.

7. Fill the base with temporary perennials

Young shrubs leave a bare, leggy band at knee height. Fill it with perennials you can lift and move later, such as catmint, daylilies or black-eyed Susans, planted 18 to 24 inches in front of the shrubs. They hide the bare stems and make a new hedge look finished in its first year.

For color that also screens, the ideas in flowering privacy plants that bloom while they block the view work well here. Plan to dig up and divide the fillers in year 3, once the shrubs need the light.

8. Select upright growth for narrow ground

In a strip 3 feet wide, choose plants that are narrow by nature. ‘Emerald Green’ arborvitae grows 12 to 15 feet tall but only 3 to 4 feet wide (zones 3 to 7), and ‘Sky Pencil’ holly stays 1 to 2 feet wide at 6 to 8 feet tall (zones 6 to 9).

The tradeoff is pace. Both grow about 6 to 12 inches a year, so a narrow plant is rarely the fastest one, but it never needs to be sheared off a walkway.

9. Plant for the final width, not today’s gap

A 3-foot nursery plant of ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae can reach 12 to 18 feet wide. Set it at least half its mature width from a fence or walk, which means 6 to 8 feet out, and space plants 5 to 6 feet apart for a hedge that knits together.

If that sounds too far, it is a sign to choose a smaller plant. The spacing advice in planting along a privacy fence covers shrubs that suit a 4 to 5 foot bed.

10. Let one small tree carry the upper view

When the problem is an upstairs window 12 to 20 feet up, a hedge won’t reach it for years. One well-placed small tree, set close to your seating rather than at the property line, blocks that angle much sooner, because a tree 10 feet from your chair covers more of the view than one 40 feet away.

‘Little Gem’ magnolia (evergreen, zones 7 to 9, 20 to 25 feet tall) or a serviceberry (deciduous, zones 4 to 9, 15 to 25 feet) both fit small yards. Keep any tree at least 10 to 15 feet from the house foundation.

11. Build density with branching habit

A tall plant you can see through doesn’t help much. Pick shrubs that branch from the base, such as arrowwood viburnum or inkberry holly, and pinch or lightly trim new shoots by a third in the first 2 years to make them bush out.

A plant that shoots up one leader may grow 2 feet taller in a season and still be easy to see through.

12. Plan replacements before a species fails

Buy one or two extra plants of each kind and keep them in pots in a back corner. If a shrub dies in year 2, you replace it with one the same age instead of a 2-foot baby that will lag behind forever.

When a gap has already opened, the fixes in filling gaps in a privacy hedge help you decide whether to replant, prune neighbors into the space or layer something in front.

13. Measure progress at the same season each year

Take a photo from your usual chair on the same week every year, say the first week of June. Side by side, those pictures tell you whether the screen is gaining 1 foot or 3 feet a year, and whether a shrub is lagging.

Comparing a June photo with an October one is misleading, because leaf cover changes so much between seasons.

Define the privacy job and deadline

Before choosing fast growing privacy plants, decide what you need to hide and from where. Most problems fall into one of three heights: a view over a fence at about 6 feet, a view across the patio at seated eye level of around 4 feet, or a window looking down from 12 feet or more.

Each height needs a different solution. A 4-foot grass solves the seated view; it does nothing for the upstairs window.

Separate first-season softening from a mature screen

Softening means the view is broken up enough that you stop noticing it. A row of tall grasses, a vine on the fence or a pot of bamboo can do that by the first summer.

A mature screen is a solid, layered wall of leaves, and that takes most shrubs 3 to 5 years. Plan for both: something quick for this year, something lasting behind it.

Start with the actual sightline

Sit in your usual chair and ask someone to hold a 6-foot pole or a broom upright where you plan to plant. Move it until it blocks the window or face you mind. That spot, and the height where it stops mattering, is your target.

You’ll often find the gap is only 8 to 10 feet wide, not the whole fence line. That changes the budget from a 60-foot hedge to three plants and a few perennials filling the base.

Translate fast into conditions, not a promise

A tag that says “grows 3 to 5 feet per year” means that rate once the plant is settled, in full sun, with steady water and decent soil. In the first year most shrubs put energy into roots and grow far less above ground. Gardeners sum it up as “the first year it sleeps, the second it creeps, the third it leaps.”

Pace also drops with shade, drought, heavy clay, deer browsing and a short growing season. The same arborvitae can grow twice as fast in Virginia as in Minnesota.

Ask what the site can support

Count the hours of direct sun on the planting strip in midsummer. Most fast evergreens need 6 or more hours; with 3 to 4 hours they still grow, but slower and thinner.

Then dig a hole 12 inches deep, fill it with water and time it. If water is still standing after 24 hours, the spot drains poorly, and arborvitae and yew will sulk there. A basic extension soil test, usually $15 to $30, tells you pH and nutrients. Last, look up your zone on the USDA map and pick plants rated at least one zone colder than yours if winters are windy.

Test the mature size before shopping

Measure four things: the length of the strip, its depth from fence to lawn or path, the height you need and the height you can live with. Write them down and take them to the nursery.

Before digging anywhere near a property line, call 811 a few business days ahead so buried utility lines get marked. That call is free, and it is the one step not to skip.

Avoid fighting a plant for width

Putting a plant that wants 15 feet of width into a 4-foot strip means shearing it 2 or 3 times a year forever. Heavy shearing also leaves woody, bare interiors on arborvitae that don’t grow back.

In tight spaces, a pot can be the better ground. Before you go that way, test whether a container screen has enough root room for the plant you have in mind.

Keep access and maintenance in the measurement

Leave about 3 feet between the mature edge of the plants and any path, gate or door, so you can walk past with a wheelbarrow. Leave 2 feet behind the hedge too, if you’ll ever need to reach the fence or trim the back side.

Think hard about height, too. A hedge over 8 feet usually needs a ladder or a hired crew, which can run a few hundred dollars per visit.

Choose a screen structure, not one magic plant

Evergreens such as arborvitae, holly and cherry laurel give year-round structure. Deciduous shrubs like viburnum and ninebark grow quickly and look softer but go bare for 5 or 6 months in cold zones. Grasses screen in summer and fall, and vines need a fence or trellis that already stands firm.

The screens that seem to fill in fastest mix them. Picture a line of evergreens with a few deciduous shrubs for summer bulk, plus a grass or vine covering gaps while everything grows.

Match winter presence to the way the space is used

If you only sit outside from May to September, a deciduous or grass screen may be all you need, and it lets winter sun reach the house. If the view into your kitchen window bothers you in January, put evergreens on that line.

Keep species and cultivars local

Your county extension office and a good independent nursery know which plants struggle with local pests, deer and soil. They also know which plants your state restricts. Privet, burning bush, Bradford pear and running bamboo are fast and cheap, and all are invasive or regulated in parts of the US.

Build resilience into the planting plan

A mix of 3 or 4 compatible plants is less likely to fail all at once. If bagworms hit the arborvitae or a late frost burns the cherry laurel, the rest of the screen keeps working while you replace the losses.

Use backdrop, middle and lower-edge roles

It helps to plant in three layers. The backdrop is the tallest plant, 10 feet or more, that handles the upper view. The middle layer, 5 to 8 feet, adds density at eye level. The lower edge, 1 to 3 feet, hides bare stems and makes the planting look finished.

Pick plants for each role that want the same sun and water, so one doesn’t drown while another is thirsty.

Plan the establishment window

How well you water in the first 2 years matters more for speed than which plant you bought. New shrubs need about 1 inch of water a week, given as a slow, deep soak once or twice a week rather than a daily sprinkle. A soaker hose or drip line along the row makes this realistic; a hose-end timer costs around $25 to $60.

Spread 2 to 3 inches of shredded bark mulch over the root zone and keep it 2 to 3 inches away from the stems. Plant in early fall or spring, when roots can grow before summer heat. Expect some gaps and the odd loss in year one, and check plants weekly for brown tips or wilting.

Use a temporary layer when privacy is urgent

Freestanding panels, tall planters with grasses or a row of potted bamboo can stand in front of the bare spots while the base fills in with perennials. Choose weighted or freestanding options so nothing needs fixing to a fence you may not own, and check your HOA or lease first if you rent or have one.

Know when fast is the wrong deciding factor

A slower plant that fits the space is often a better privacy choice than a vigorous one that creates years of pruning. If you have a 3-foot strip and limited time, a narrow evergreen that takes 5 years to fill in will serve you better than a ‘Green Giant’ you have to cut back every summer.

Speed is also the wrong goal when you are away often in summer, when the view only bothers you for 3 months, or when a single tall screen would shade your vegetable bed. In those cases, a screen, an awning or a pergola may solve the problem better than any plant.

FAQ

What are the fastest-growing privacy plants?

Among shrubs and trees, ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae and Leyland cypress are the usual leaders, often adding 3 feet or more a year once established. Annual vines and tall grasses are quicker over a single season. Both big evergreens reach 12 to 25 feet wide, so they suit large yards rather than narrow strips.

How quickly will privacy plants grow?

Expect little top growth in the first year, faster growth in the second and the advertised pace from the third year on. Most shrub screens take 3 to 5 years to look solid. Sun, water and your climate can halve or double that, so ask a local nursery how a plant performs in your area.

What grows fast but stays narrow?

Very few plants do both; narrow plants tend to grow 6 to 18 inches a year. Good compromises are a vine on a fence, which needs about 12 inches of ground, or ‘Emerald Green’ arborvitae at 3 to 4 feet wide. Columnar hornbeam is another option for a wider strip, reaching about 30 feet tall and roughly 10 to 15 feet wide.

Are fast-growing privacy plants high-maintenance?

Often, yes, once they reach the height you want. A plant that grows 3 feet a year keeps growing, and in a small yard that means trimming 1 or 2 times every summer. A plant whose mature size matches your space needs far less work over 10 years.

Should I plant one type or mix plants for a privacy screen?

A mix of 2 to 4 compatible plants is usually the safer choice for a screen longer than about 20 feet. A single species looks more formal and is fine for a short run of 3 to 5 plants. Keep everything in the mix happy with the same sun and water.

Final thoughts

Quick privacy usually means two things at once: something fast or movable for this summer, and plants chosen by mature size for the years after. Pick the spot carefully, respect the width and keep up the watering. Growth tends to take care of itself after that.

This weekend, sit in your usual chair, mark the gap with a pole, measure the strip and check your zone on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Take those three numbers to a local nursery before buying a single plant.

Last update on 2026-10-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API