Trees That Grow Fast and Provide Privacy

Fast-Growing Evergreens

• Fast-growing evergreen trees provide dense screening for protection from wind, noise and view. Most evergreens need a well-drained full-sun location for healthy growth. Some evergreens that grow fast are dawn redwood, Leyland cypress, and arborvitae. Dawn redwoods are deciduous conifers that grow up to 70 feet high and 25 feet wide and are hardy in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 to 8. Young dawn redwoods grow 3 to 5 feet per year. Leyland cypress grows 3 feet per year in a symmetrical cone shape, is hardy in zones 6 to 10, and grows up to 120 feet high and 15 feet wide. Arborvitae, commonly called thuja, is a fast-growing evergreen with a columnar or pyramidal shape that grows 4 feet per year, up to 30 feet high and 10 feet wide, depending on the variety. They are hardy in zones 3 to 7. Evergreens are good foundation trees and good border trees along property lines, fences and outdoor buildings.

Fast-Growing Deciduous Trees

• A lot of deciduous trees take many years to grow big, but some fast-growing varieties will fill in an empty space within a few years. Lombardy poplar, river birch and wax myrtle are some of the fastest-growing deciduous trees for screening. Lombardy poplar is a fast-growing columnar tree that reaches 100 feet tall and 15 feet wide, in full sun or light shade. They can grow 6 feet per year in well-drained locations in full sun in zones 3 to 9. River birch grows 40 to 70 feet tall and 60 feet wide, in full sun and moist soil such as on river banks and lakefronts. It has papery, peeling bark with an orange, gray or lavender trunk underneath, and is good for very large spaces. It grows in zones 4 to 9. Wax myrtle grows 5 feet a year, up to 20 feet tall, in full sun or light shade, in zones 7 to 11. It is drought-tolerant and tolerates pruning well.

Fast-Growing Flowering Trees

• Flowering trees are ornamental landscape plants. Some of the fastest-growing flowering trees are the Yoshino cherry tree, the Redspire pear tree and the Thundercloud plum tree. The Yoshino cherry tree produces clouds of white blossoms in the spring. It grows in zones 5 to 8, up to 3 feet per year, and reaches 30 feet high. Redspire flowering pear trees are ornamental pear trees with white flowers. They grow up to 30 feet high and 30 feet wide, and grow 3 to 4 feet per year in zones 5 to 8. Thundercloud flowering plum trees produce fragrant pink flowers in spring. They have glossy purple leaves and grow a foot a year, reaching 20 feet at maturity. They grow in zones 3 to 7.

Planting Trees for Privacy

• When planting multiple trees for privacy screens, keep the trees' mature heights in mind. If a total screening effect is required immediately, consider using temporary fence panels or large ornamental perennials between young trees for the first few years while the trees grow in.