Fastest Growing Privacy Trees: Building Your Living Privacy Screen Faster Than You Think
Published On: Jun 1, 2026
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There is a reason privacy trees remain one of the most popular landscape investments homeowners make.
A good privacy screen does more than block a view. It creates a sense of enclosure. It quiets the world a little. It softens the wind, frames outdoor living spaces, and turns a backyard into a place where you can truly relax.
The challenge is that privacy takes time — or at least it used to.
Today's fastest-growing evergreen trees can provide remarkable screening in just a few growing seasons. Some can add several feet of growth each year, transforming an exposed property into a private retreat surprisingly quickly.
But speed isn't everything.
The best privacy tree is the one that balances growth rate, durability, adaptability, and long-term beauty. Let's look at some of the fastest-growing privacy trees available and where each one fits best in the landscape.
Thuja Green Giant: The Gold Standard of Privacy Trees
When homeowners ask me for the best overall privacy tree, I almost always start with Thuja Green Giant.
There is a reason this tree has become the most planted privacy tree in America. It grows quickly, adapts to a wide range of conditions, develops a dense evergreen screen, and generally stays healthy with very little intervention.
Under favorable conditions, Green Giant can grow 3 to 5 feet per year, allowing homeowners to achieve meaningful privacy much faster than traditional evergreens.
What makes Green Giant particularly valuable is its versatility. It performs well as:
- Property line screening
- Windbreaks
- Backyard privacy walls
- Pool screening
- Large-scale landscape buffers
Its rich green foliage remains attractive year-round, and its strong resistance to deer browsing makes it especially valuable in suburban and rural landscapes where deer pressure is common.
For many homeowners, Green Giant represents the perfect balance between speed, reliability, and long-term performance.
Leyland Cypress: Fast, Tall, and Dramatic
If privacy speed is your primary goal, Leyland Cypress remains one of the fastest-growing trees available.
This classic privacy tree can easily grow 2 to 4 feet per year, creating a dense evergreen screen in a remarkably short time.
The foliage has a softer texture than many arborvitae varieties, giving mature screens a more relaxed, elegant appearance. A row of mature Leyland Cypress creates a beautiful living wall that can dramatically transform a property.
Leyland Cypress excels in:
- Large acreage properties
- Long property boundaries
- Windbreak installations
- Coastal landscapes
- Large-scale screening projects
The key to success with Leyland Cypress is spacing. These trees need room for airflow and future growth. Homeowners who resist the temptation to plant too closely are often rewarded with healthier trees and fewer disease issues down the road.
Murray Cypress: The Workhorse Privacy Tree
Many gardeners discover Murray Cypress after researching Leyland Cypress, and for good reason.
Murray Cypress delivers many of the same benefits:
- Rapid growth
- Dense evergreen screening
- Excellent wind resistance
- Attractive year-round color
Many homeowners appreciate its adaptability and cold tolerance, making it useful across a broad range of climates.
For large rural properties, farm boundaries, and expansive privacy projects, Murray Cypress is often one of the most economical ways to create a substantial evergreen screen relatively quickly.
Blue Ice Cypress: Color, Texture, and Privacy
One of my favorite alternatives to traditional green privacy screens is Blue Ice Cypress.
Most privacy plantings are green. Blue Ice Cypress brings something different.
Its striking silver-blue foliage adds color and texture while still providing excellent screening value. The foliage almost glows in morning and evening light, creating visual interest even during winter when many landscapes feel flat.
Blue Ice Cypress offers:
- Fast growth
- Excellent drought tolerance once established
- Unique blue-gray foliage
- Strong wind resistance
- Exceptional ornamental value
In the landscape, I often use Blue Ice Cypress where privacy and beauty need to work together — as a privacy screen, windbreak, accent row, property line planting, or part of a mixed evergreen screen.
The blue foliage also pairs exceptionally well with darker green evergreens like Green Giant, creating a layered screen that feels far more sophisticated than a single-species planting.
American Pillar Arborvitae: Fast Privacy for Narrow Spaces
Not every homeowner has room for giant screening trees.
That's where American Pillar Arborvitae shines.
This upright evergreen grows quickly while maintaining a narrow footprint. It provides substantial privacy without taking up a large portion of the yard.
American Pillar is ideal for:
- Side yards
- Fence lines
- Narrow planting strips
- Urban landscapes
- Smaller suburban properties
Many homeowners are surprised by how much screening American Pillar provides while taking up so little horizontal space.
Cryptomeria Radicans: The Underrated Privacy Tree
If you want a privacy screen that looks a little softer and more natural, Cryptomeria Radicans deserves serious consideration.
Its rich green foliage has a feathery texture that feels more relaxed than the rigid appearance of some traditional privacy hedges. At the same time, it grows quickly enough to compete with many of the more commonly planted screening trees.
Cryptomeria Radicans works particularly well in:
- Naturalized landscapes
- Woodland transitions
- Mixed evergreen borders
- Large residential properties
It's one of those trees that often gets overlooked until people see a mature planting — and then they want one.
Eastern Red Cedar: Native Privacy with Wildlife Value
For homeowners interested in native plants, Eastern Red Cedar is an excellent choice for privacy.
While it may not always match the growth rate of Green Giant or Leyland Cypress, it provides something equally valuable: habitat.
Eastern Red Cedar supports birds, provides shelter for wildlife, and creates year-round screening while remaining highly adaptable to difficult conditions.
It handles:
- Drought
- Wind
- Poor soils
- Heat
- Wildlife-friendly landscapes
This is the privacy tree for gardeners who want their landscape to work harder ecologically.
Designing a Better Privacy Screen
One of the biggest trends I'm seeing today is moving away from single-species screens.
Instead of planting fifty identical trees, many homeowners are creating layered privacy plantings using multiple species.
Imagine:
- Green Giant provides the backbone
- Blue Ice Cypress adds color contrast
- Cryptomeria bringing texture
- Hollies adding year-round density
The result feels more natural, more resilient, and far more visually interesting.
It also reduces the risk that a single pest or disease issue affects the entire planting.
The First Three Years Matter Most
No matter which privacy tree you choose, success comes down to establishment.
During the first few growing seasons:
- Water deeply and consistently
- Mulch around the root zone
- Avoid over-fertilizing
- Monitor moisture during drought
- Water well before the winter freeze
The homeowners who invest the most attention during the first three years are usually rewarded with the healthiest screens twenty years later.
Woodie's Take
When people ask for the fastest-growing privacy tree, they are usually asking something deeper.
They are asking how quickly they can create a backyard that feels comfortable.
How quickly they can create a place where grandchildren can play, where family dinners can happen on the patio, where the world feels a little quieter.
For most homeowners, Thuja Green Giant remains the best all-around privacy tree. In large spaces, Leyland Cypress and Murray Cypress offer incredible growth rates. With its unique color and beauty, Blue Ice Cypress adds something special to the landscape. And for narrow spaces, American Pillar Arborvitae solves problems few other trees can.
The best privacy screen isn't just a row of trees.
It's the beginning of a landscape that feels like home.