Quick Privacy Solutions: Exploring Fast-Growing Bushes and Ideal Privacy Bush Ideas for Your Garden

In pursuit of creating a private garden oasis, fast-growing bushes are a gardener's best friend. They not only provide quick privacy solutions but also add beauty and character to your landscape. In this guide, we explore a variety of bushes and shrubs that are perfect for creating that secluded feel in your garden, with a special focus on those that grow rapidly.

1. Concha California Lilac (Ceanothus 'Concha')

• Characteristics: Known for its stunning blue flowers, the Concha California Lilac is not only a visual delight but also a fast grower.
• Growth and Care: Thriving in full sun, this lilac variety enjoys well-drained soils and offers a quick way to add both color and privacy to your garden.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Ideal for creating a vibrant, floral privacy screen that grows quickly and brings a unique aesthetic to your space.

For those looking to add height to their privacy screens, tall skinny trees for privacy can be a perfect complement to these vibrant lilacs, offering both color and vertical structure.

2. Pink Mophead Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)

• Characteristics: With its large, pink blossoms, this hydrangea variety is a beautiful addition to any privacy garden.
• Growth and Care: It grows well in shade to partial shade and requires moist, fertile soil to thrive, making it perfect for various garden settings.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: While not the fastest grower, it provides a lush, dense foliage perfect for filling gaps in your privacy landscaping.

3. Wax Leaf Privet Staked Column (Ligustrum japonicum 'Texanum')

• Characteristics: Offering lush green foliage, the Wax Leaf Privet is a popular choice for privacy hedges.
• Growth and Care: It's a hardy, fast-growing plant that does well in most soil types and prefers full sun to partial sun.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Excellent for creating formal, manicured hedges or as a natural privacy screen.

The Wax Leaf Privet's adaptability makes it a staple in many Southern California gardens, and exploring the other best privacy hedges for Southern California can offer more choices for creating a diverse and resilient privacy screen.

4. Cherry Laurel Columns (Prunus caroliniana)

• Characteristics: The Cherry Laurel is known for its glossy green leaves and white flowers, making it an attractive privacy option.
• Growth and Care: It grows fast in a variety of conditions, mainly including sun and partial sun, and is adaptable to different soil types.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Great for a tall, dense hedge, it can be pruned to desired shapes and heights.

5. Pittosporum Silver Sheen (Pittosporum tenuifolium)

• Characteristics: The Pittosporum Silver Sheen is admired for its silvery-green leaves and small, fragrant flowers.
• Growth and Care: Preferring well-drained soil and full sun to partial sun, it's a fast grower and can quickly form a dense hedge.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Ideal for a stylish, low-maintenance privacy screen that adds a touch of elegance.

Integrating other flowering privacy shrubs alongside Pittosporum can create a multi-sensory privacy barrier, combining visual appeal with sweet fragrances.

6. Bay Laurel (​​Laurus nobilis)

• Characteristics: Known for its aromatic leaves, which are commonly used in cooking, this shrub can also serve as an excellent privacy plant.
• Growth and Care: It thrives in well-drained soil and full sun to partial sun, and while it may not be the fastest grower, it provides dense foliage for privacy.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Perfect for creating a fragrant, culinary-inspired privacy screen.
• Also Known As: Sweet Bay

7. Compact Cherry Laurel (Prunus caroliniana)

• Characteristics: A smaller version of the Cherry Laurel, it’s ideal for tighter spaces.
• Growth and Care: Similar to its larger counterpart, it enjoys various soil types and sun to partial sun.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Best for smaller gardens where a dense, evergreen hedge is desired.

8. Australian Brush Cherry (Eugenia myrtifolia Syzygium)

• Characteristics: With its small, glossy leaves and red-tipped branches, the Australian Brush Cherry is a visually striking choice.
• Growth and Care: It loves the sun and requires regular watering, growing quickly to form a dense hedge.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Ideal for adding a touch of the exotic to your privacy landscaping.
• Also Known As: Magenta Cherry

9. Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae)

• Characteristics: Known for its striking orange and blue flowers that resemble a bird in flight, the Bird of Paradise is a bold and architectural plant.
• Growth and Care: Prefers full sun to partial shade and well-drained soil. While it's more drought-tolerant once established, regular watering promotes lush growth and vibrant blooms.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Though not a traditional hedge plant, its tall, clumping nature and large leaves can provide a dramatic visual screen and tropical flair to privacy landscaping efforts.
• Also Known As: Crane Flower

10. Lion's Tail (Leonotis leonurus)

• Characteristics: This perennial shrub is notable for its bright orange flowers that appear in whorls along its stems, resembling a lion's tail.
• Growth and Care: Thrives in full sun and requires well-drained soil. It's drought-resistant, making it an excellent choice for low-maintenance gardens.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: With its unique flowering and fast growth, Lion's Tail can add height and color to privacy screens, attracting bees and hummingbirds to the garden.
• Also Known As: Wild Dagga

11. Leyland Cypress (Cuprocyparis leylandii)

• Characteristics: The Leyland Cypress is a fast-growing evergreen known for its feathery, soft green foliage.
• Growth and Care: It thrives in full sun and requires well-drained soil, growing several feet per year.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Its rapid growth and tall stature make it a go-to choice for a quick, effective privacy screen.

12. Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii) 

• Characteristics: Known for its vibrant, cone-shaped flowers, the Butterfly Bush attracts butterflies and other pollinators.
• Growth and Care: It prefers full sun and well-drained soil, and can grow rapidly each season.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: While not the densest option, it adds a splash of color and life to privacy plantings.

13. Howard McMinn Manzanita (Arctostaphylos 'Howard McMinn')

• Characteristics: This evergreen shrub is admired for its smooth red bark, dense foliage, and clusters of pink to white flowers in late winter and early spring.
• Growth and Care: It prefers full sun to partial shade and is highly drought-tolerant once established, requiring little to no supplemental water.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Ideal for creating a low-maintenance, drought-resistant hedge that provides year-round privacy and interest.

14. Otto Quast Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas 'Otto Quast')

• Characteristics: Recognized by its dark purple flowers topped with showy purple bracts, resembling small, butterfly-like wings. Otto Quast is a compact and bushy variety of Spanish Lavender.
• Growth and Care: Best grown in full sun and well-drained soil, it's drought-tolerant and thrives in hot, dry climates.
• Use in Privacy Landscaping: Perfect for adding fragrant, colorful borders to privacy hedges or for use in mixed privacy plantings, providing sensory appeal with its aromatic foliage and flowers.

Frequently Asked Questions about Fast Growing Privacy Bushes

Which evergreen is the fastest to grow?

Among evergreens, the Leyland Cypress (Cupressocyparis leylandii) stands out as one of the fastest growers. It can increase in height by 3 to 5 feet each year, making it a top choice for quick privacy.

Is it necessary to fertilize fast-growing privacy bushes?

While fast-growing bushes often do well without heavy fertilization, providing them with balanced, slow-release fertilizer in early spring can promote healthier growth and denser foliage. Always follow the specific fertilizer guidelines for each plant species.

Sources:

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/find_a_plant/ 

https://plants.usda.gov/home