Privacy and Screening Plants

Screening is a height and density question before it is a plant question. The entries here are tall enough and full enough to block a sight line: palms and larger yuccas, evergreen shrubs such as camellia, ceanothus and manzanita, trees like strawberry tree and incense cedar, and vines like bougainvillea that will cover a fence once they have something to climb. Most are evergreen, which matters, because a deciduous screen stops working in the months you are most likely to be looking at a bare fence.

Read mature height and mature width together. A plant that reaches fifteen feet tall and four feet wide screens a narrow gap, not a run of fence, so a real screen usually means several plants set at roughly their finished width apart. That looks thin at planting and is still the right call. Growth rate varies widely across this group: a vine or a ceanothus fills in within a few seasons, while palms and camellias are slow, and the slower growers are worth buying in the largest size you can move.

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Common uses

Where the plants on this page usually go, and what to browse next.

A pool or spa privacy screen

Palms, whether clumping or single-trunk, add height and screening around a pool or spa without the wide root spread or heavy leaf litter of a large shade tree nearby.

Palms

A fence line for vines

A fence alone gives instant privacy while bougainvillea or trumpet vine takes a season to fill in on top of it, pairing an immediate barrier with color that develops over time.

Vines

A tall property line screen

Strawberry tree and incense cedar reach full screening height only after several years, so plan on a temporary shrub or fence panel filling the gap while a tree screen matures.

Trees

A windbreak along a fence

A row of dense evergreen shrubs along a fence cuts wind speed by breaking up the airflow rather than blocking it outright, which is often gentler on the shrubs than a solid wall.

Shrubs

Privacy Plants Buying Guide

How to choose, what to check before you order, and how plant orders are delivered.

Privacy plants are species tall and full enough, and usually evergreen enough, to block a sight line year round, and the right choice depends on how tall a gap you are covering and how fast you need it filled. This page mixes clumping and single-trunk palms, evergreen shrubs like camellia and ceanothus, trees such as strawberry tree and incense cedar, and climbing vines like bougainvillea that need something to grow on. Spacing plants at close to their finished width, not their current nursery size, is what turns a row of individual plants into an actual screen.

Palms for a narrow side yard

Clumping palms such as Dypsis send up multiple stems from the base and fill a narrow side yard or gap between a fence and a wall better than a single-trunk palm, which grows one tall column with little width near the ground. Areca-type clumping palms are also more tender to frost than a single-trunk palm like Chamaerops, so check the cold rating before planting one somewhere that gets a hard freeze. See the full palms selection for more sizes and species.

Evergreen shrubs and trees for a wider screen

Camellia and ceanothus are the most common evergreen shrubs used for a wider screen, holding leaf and shape through the year without the gaps a deciduous hedge leaves in winter. Strawberry tree and incense cedar do the same job at tree scale, staying full and green year round rather than dropping their canopy each fall. Shrubs planted in a row need less depth than a tree screen but usually need pruning to stay dense at the top instead of just the base. Browse the shrubs collection for more evergreen options.

Vines need a support at planting

Bougainvillea and trumpet vine are true climbing vines and need a fence, wire or trellis to grow on from the day they go in the ground, not after they reach full size. A vine planted for privacy along a fence line often fills in faster than a shrub or tree of comparable size, though bougainvillea is frost tender and can die back hard in a freeze, regrowing from the base once the weather warms. See the vines collection for supports and other climbing options.

Deciduous trees will not screen in winter

A handful of trees on this page, including hackberry and hornbeam, are deciduous, meaning they drop their leaves and stop screening for part of the winter even though they grow tall and wide the rest of the year. For a screen that has to hold up in December and January, choose from the evergreen palms, shrubs and trees on this page instead, and save the deciduous trees for shade or a mixed planting where a bare winter branch pattern is not a problem.

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FAQ

What are the best privacy plants for a small yard?

Clumping palms and compact evergreen shrubs work best as privacy plants in a small yard, since they screen a sight line without spreading as wide as a large shrub or tree canopy would. Camellia and a smaller palm species like Chamaerops fit a narrow bed along a fence or between a patio and a neighbor's window better than a wide-spreading tree. Check mature width, not just height, before choosing, since a small yard usually has less depth to work with than height.

How many feet apart do I need to plant privacy plants for a solid screen?

Space privacy plants at roughly their mature width apart, not closer, so the planting fills in solid without the plants competing hard for root space and light as they grow. A shrub or palm rated for a six foot mature width generally goes in about six feet from its neighbor, which looks sparse the first year or two but avoids the crowding and dieback that comes from planting too tight for a quick fix.

Do evergreen privacy plants lose their leaves in winter?

No, evergreen privacy plants keep their leaves through winter by definition, which is why camellia, ceanothus, incense cedar and most of the palms on this page are chosen for screening in the first place. A few trees in this collection, such as hackberry and hornbeam, are deciduous and will drop their leaves for part of the winter, so check the evergreen or deciduous label on the product page if year-round screening matters.

What plants for privacy grow fastest?

Vines like bougainvillea and trumpet vine are generally the fastest plants for privacy on this page, covering a fence or trellis within a couple of growing seasons. Ceanothus and some of the palms grow at a moderate pace, while camellia and larger single-trunk palms are slow and worth buying in the largest size you can afford if you need coverage sooner rather than later.

Can I use palms for privacy instead of a fence?

Yes, a row of palms can screen a view or a neighbor's window the way a fence does, and clumping types like Dypsis fill in wider and lower than a single-trunk palm, which stays narrow near the ground for years. Palms alone will not block sound the way a solid fence does, so pair them with a fence or wall if noise, not just sightlines, is the concern.

Will a vine work as fast as a shrub for privacy screening?

A vine on a fence, wire or trellis usually fills a gap faster than a shrub planted in open ground, since it climbs upward instead of building a full canopy from the base. Bougainvillea and trumpet vine can cover a six foot fence section within a couple of seasons given a support to climb, while a comparable shrub often takes several years to reach the same height and density.

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Screening palms for privacy

Screening palms work best in a row or a staggered cluster rather than as a single specimen, since one palm trunk is narrow and does not block much on its own no matter how tall it grows. Mixing a clumping palm with a single-trunk palm in the same row fills the gap between trunks that a row of identical single-trunk palms leaves at ground level. Screening palms also cast a lighter, more open shade than a solid evergreen shrub hedge, which matters if the bed underneath still needs some sun for other plants.

A tropical privacy screen in California

A tropical privacy screen built from palms and broadleaf evergreens works in the milder, closer-to-coastal parts of California but needs a cold hardiness check inland, where a hard freeze can damage or kill tropical-looking species that would be fine within a few miles of the coast. Areca-type clumping palms give the fullest, most tropical look but are also the most frost tender palms on this page, while Chamaerops and similar single-trunk palms give up some of that full, tropical look for real cold tolerance. Matching the tropical look to the actual winter low in your yard avoids planting a screen that has to be replaced after the first hard freeze.

Fast growing privacy plants for California

Fast growing privacy plants for California often trade quick coverage for extra maintenance once they reach full size. Trumpet vine in particular spreads by underground suckers as it matures, sending up new shoots several feet from the original planting site, which means a fast screen from this vine also means more pruning to keep it inside its intended bed. A clumping palm grows quickly without that spreading habit, filling a bed from its own base rather than sending runners into the lawn or a neighboring planting.

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