While a privacy screen made of plexiglass for balconies and terraces can certainly be the right choice, when edging a property, the choice usually falls on natural privacy options for legal and aesthetic reasons. In order to achieve privacy protection as quickly and effectively as possible, plants with sufficient height growth should be selected.
Which tall plants are suitable as privacy screens?
Evergreen hedges such as Thuja occidentalis, cherry laurel, box, beech, privet, barberry, tall shrubs or flowering bushes and sometimes even trees such as red spruce are suitable as tall plants for privacy. The plant you choose should ideally be fast-growing and densely branched.
Evergreen hedges made from proven hedge plants
There is a certain selection of hedge plants that are, so to speak, among the “classics” of privacy hedges:
- the different subspecies of Thuja occidentalis
- Cherry Laurel
- Buchs
Since boxwood grows very slowly, it is usually only suitable for low hedges. The cherry laurel, on the other hand, is extremely happy to grow and is also quite happy with shady locations. Among the different cultivars of Thuja occidentalis, the bushy-growing Thuja occidentalis 'Brabant' and the tightly columnar-growing Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' are among the most popular hedge varieties. Although not quite evergreen, they are still suitable as plant material for high hedges:
- Beech
- Privet
- Barberry
Tall bushes as privacy screens
Many flowering bushes cultivated in the garden reach heights of more than three meters under suitable location conditions. However, before planting a privacy hedge made of flowering shrubs, you should be aware that this type of living privacy screen cannot be trained and cut into quite as narrow a shape as a hedge made of cypress or beech trees. But flowering hedges are less intimidating than a “green wall” made of needles or leaves. They also represent ecological added value, as they offer many birds and insects nesting opportunities and sometimes even food in the form of their fruits.
Plant a particularly high privacy screen made of trees
If, from a legal or other point of view, there really is no need to take neighbors into account when edging the property, trees can also be planted as privacy screens. However, trees with a pronounced division into trunk and tree crown only make sense if they are supplemented in the lower area by a hedge of bushes when they are older. Ordinary red spruces (Picea abies), on the other hand, can first be cut like a hedge so that they form numerous branches in the lower area. As they get older, the spruce trees can reach heights of 20 meters or more with their tops, while still retaining their dense needle cover near the ground when there is sufficient light.
Tip
If tall plants such as red spruces are planted around the garden plot as a privacy screen, they not only provide good privacy protection, but also effective protection against annoying gusts of wind.
