Create a sense of solitude with fast-growing plants that screen views while enhancing the garden.
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Fences might makegood neighbors, but they render a boring view.
When it comes to creating privacy, why not go green?
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When it comes to planting up privacy, you have options.
Read on for 18 of our favorite privacy plantings for Southern yards.
Growing 15 to 20 feet tall and 12 to 15 feet wide, Oakland holly makes a sizable planting.
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Dark evergreen foliage is shiny and smooth and light to dark green or variegated.
Plant as a hedge or to provide contrast in mixed borders.
Cleyera is drought-tolerant once established.
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Crossvine is an aggressive grower, making it ideal for screening.
It requires sturdy support and is great for covering fences and arbors.
This hardy vine tolerates heat, drought, and heavy shade, though it flowers better with more sun.
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Crossvine is fast-growing and will scramble up trees if you let it.
The vines bloom on new growth.
To keep it within bounds, prune it back to the desired size after it blooms in spring.
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Glossy, evergreen foliage provides year-round screening and a gorgeous backdrop to other flowering plants.
Camellias can be grown in Zones 7 to 9 and are worth the effort for those rose-like blooms.
Summer brings a blanket of fragrant white blooms perfect for cutting and drying.
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Plants tolerate shade, but bloom best with some sun.
Climbing hydrangea can be grown in Zones 4 to 8.
The thin, wiry stems climb by twining to cover a trellis, arbor, or fence.
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Thick, but soft textured needles are deep green and arranged in a spiral pattern along branches.
Podocarpus tolerates heavy pruning and can be shaped to suit your needs.
Plants do not tolerate wet soil.
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It performs well in theMiddle to Coastal Southand is heat and drought tolerant once established.
Fringe flower tolerates shaping and pruning to maintain desired size.
These low-maintenance beauties are drought-tolerant once established and are not bothered by deer.
Credit:John Ruter, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org
Fringe flower is hardy in Zones 7 to 9, with some cultivars suitable in Zone 10.
Plants are drought tolerant once established.
The one thing it doesn’t tolerate is poorly drained, wet soil.
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Not so for ‘Janed Gold’.
Its vibrant, golden foliage brightens gardens all year round.
Fragrant spring blooms attract butterflies and native bees, while shiny black fruits draw hungry songbirds.
Credit:Chris Evans, University of Illinois, Bugwood.org
The lustrous foliage resists deer browsing.
Established plants have good drought and salt tolerance.
Grow in Zones 7-10. you might grow it in Zones 5 to 9.
Credit:John Ruter, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org
The cultivar is named for its airy flower heads, that top the blue-green foliage in a cloud-like effect.
The seeds provide food for wintering songbirds.
Switch grass tolerates both wet and dry conditions, salt spray, and is drought tolerant once established.
Credit:John Ruter, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org
Multiple species and varieties are available, depending on the desired ornamental traits.
Florida anise tree,I.
floridanum, produces star-shaped crimson blooms against attractive olive-green foliage.
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The small anise tree,I.
parviflorum, is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, with several cultivars available sporting golden foliage.
Despite its name, it grows 15 to 20 feet tall.
Credit:Diana Kirby
It can also be used for lining sidewalks or other narrow spaces.
Several varieties are available with vibrant green to blue-green foliage.
Golden plumes emerge on sturdy stems in late summer and remain attractive throughout winter.
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Cut plants to the ground in late winter before new growth emerges.
Wax Myrtle
Diana Kirby
Wax myrtle grows in wet areas throughout the Southeast and west into Texas.
It can be grown in Zones 7 to 11.
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The small, oval, densely packed leaves can be clipped into any shape you desire.
Yaupon holly adapts to dry soil but should be watered regularly until established.
Tea olives tolerate Southern heat and humidity and adapt to any soil, even clay.
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Grow tea olive in Zones 8 to 11.
Aucuba
In ashady spot, Japanese aucuba can fill in where other evergreens won’t grow.
Gold-speckled or variegated cultivars light up dim areas and bear bright red berries in fall.
Aucuba can be pruned or left to grow to 10 feet tall, though there are more compact varieties.
Aucuba is hardy in all but the Upper South.
