What Kind of Plants Make a Good Hedge to Give Privacy?

Vines

• Vining and climbing plants screen a view or an area. Plants with vigorous growth habits and thick foliage form a dense wall that can't be seen through or around. Trumpet vines are a climbing vine that produces a lot of dense foliage. Sweet autumn clematis is a fragrant small-flowered clematis that produces masses of attractive foliage with vining branches and small, glossy green leaves. Vining and climbing plants require strong support to grow on and cover. Fences, trellises, arbors and post and wire structures must be installed before hedges with these types of plants are planted.

Herbaceous Perennials

• Many herbaceous perennials grow tall and have dense foliage that is perfect for creating privacy in the landscape. Artemesia, also called bitter wormwood, is an attractive plant that grows up to 4 feet high in a season and quickly produces masses of leafy branches, as well as seeding profusely to continuously provide thick foliage. Castorbean is a large plant that grows to 6 feet tall with umbrellalike leaves, creating a large mass of purplish-green foliage. Many bamboo varieties produce thick foliage and have dense growth habits for privacy and screening.

Flowers

• While flowers are not traditionally used for privacy screening, some flowers work very well to block views and create barriers. In tropical climates, canna lilies make great landscaping screening plants. The largest varieties reach 6 to 9e feet high, with beautiful tropical flowers, and block any view when planted en masse. Roses, especially large rambling varieties, produce thick foliage as well as beautiful flowers for attractive privacy hedges.

Shrubs

• Evergreen shrubs are traditional privacy plants, desired for their year-round greenery. Arborvitae, boxwood and yew all have upright growth habits with dense foliage for long-lived privacy hedges. Honeysuckle is a flowering deciduous shrub that provides red berries for birds. Lilac bushes are good privacy hedge plants for wet locations, in dwarf and standard varieties, producing fragrant spring blooms each year. Space shrubs far enough apart, with mature plant sizes in mind, for the healthiest growth. If an instant barrier is required, use mature shrubs or plants, although they will be more expensive than seedlings.