If you plant trees along the property line, you create an effective yet attractive privacy screen. The best privacy trees for a fence line depend on how much privacy you want to achieve. Tall evergreen trees planted in a tight line create a dense, year-round hedge that keeps curious eyes from peering into your property. If you just want a seasonal or partial block, deciduous trees offer a softer and more welcoming focus with seasonal interest.
Before you jump into your big fence landscaping project, though, you’ll also want to figure out how much space you have, how tall you want the trees to be at maturity, and how much time you are willing to invest to maintain them. Take your USDA growing zone into consideration as well when choosing trees for your yard. If fierce winds blow in your region, your fence-line trees can also double as a much-needed wind break.
Let’s take a look at the best and most beautiful trees for fence lines. These gorgeous picks will not only hide a less-than-lovely fence, but add privacy to your yard and interest to your landscape all year long.
Best Trees for Fence Lines
Here are seven of my favorite picks for a fence line. These trees are a mix of evergreen and deciduous varieties and all of them thrive in either full sun or partial sun. Find the perfect one for your space!
1. Arborvitae 'Emerald Green'
Botanical name: | Thuja occidentalis 'Emerald Green' |
Hardiness: | USDA zones 2-7 |
Height at maturity: | 12-20 feet (4-7 m) |
Dense, evergreen conifers are generally good picks for privacy fences. ‘Emerald Green’ arborvitae is shaped like a slender pyramid and, when multiple are planted in rows, they create a year-round living privacy screen. The needles are a shiny green and make a great backdrop for the small red-brown cones. This tree requires little help to thrive once it is established.
Order your Emerald Green arborvitae trees from Lowe's today.
2. Red Buckeye
Botanical name: | Aesculus pavia |
Hardiness: | USDA zones 6-9 |
Height at maturity: | 15-20 feet (5-7 m) |
If you’ve never seen a red buckeye tree in bloom, you’re in for a treat! This beautiful deciduous tree leafs out early, then offers its spring blooms, which are huge panicles of stunning magenta flowers.
Expect fruits, too. In autumn, the dark nuts with white centers fall to the ground hidden inside of spiky shells that are fun to step on and crack. But don’t eat the nuts inside! Eating enough of them can kill a child, a dog, and even a horse.
Find native bare root red buckeye trees for sale on Etsy.
3. Skip Laurel
Botanical name: | Prunus laurocerasus |
Hardiness: | USDA zones 4-9 |
Height at maturity: | 10-20 feet (3-7 m) |
Some refer to skip laurel as cherry laurel but both names mean the same, low-maintenance evergreen tree. Plant several trees close together along your fence line and you can trim them into an attractive hedge.
This plant is as different from arborvitae as an evergreen can be, with shiny green leaves and white spring blossoms. The red berry-like fruit it grows is pretty as a picture, but also beneficial for wild birds. But don’t think about sharing the berries – they are toxic to people and pets.
Get your skip laurel from Lowe's to start planting a privacy hedge.
4. American Hornbeam
Botanical name: | Carpinus caroliniana |
Hardiness: | USDA zones 3-9 |
Height at maturity: | 20-35 feet (7-11 m) |
The American hornbeam grows slow and needs some elbow room. But what a great tree! It has blue-gray bark, a tall trunk, and a narrow canopy. This makes it work well for planting in lines along fencing.
Add flowers at the base and walk away. You’ll have very little maintenance to add to your garden to-do list because the hornbeam resists pests and diseases well.
Buy a pair of American hornbeam seedlings from Amazon for under $30.
5. Fragrant Tea Olive
Botanical name: | Osmanthus fragrans |
Hardiness: | USDA zones 8-11 |
Height at maturity: | 20-30 feet (7-10 m) |
If you want a smaller evergreen broadleaf, consider the fragrant tea olive. This small tree has lots of dense stems filled with long leathery leaves. The spring flowers are beautiful and fragrant – to me they smell like orange blossoms.
This plant that also makes an amazing fragrant hedge doesn’t grow as fast as skip laurel, only adding a few inches a year. But once it’s fully matured, it can last half a century.
Get your fragrant tea olive from Fast Growing Trees.
6. Crepe Myrtle
Botanical name: | Lagerstroemia indica |
Hardiness: | USDA zones 6-9 |
Height at maturity: | 10-21 feet (3-7 m) |
If you live in the South, you’re sure to have seen crepe myrtle trees, beloved for their eye-catching flowers from July through September. There are so many cultivars available, you are sure to find something you love. They are fast-growing – a couple feet a year – and offer four-season impact with fragrant flowers, great fall foliage color, and peeling bark.
Shop a wide variety of crepe myrtles from Fast Growing Trees.
7. ‘Little Gem’ Magnolia
Botanical name: | Magnolia grandiflorum 'Little Gem' |
Hardiness: | USDA zones 6-10 |
Height at maturity: | 15-20 feet (5-7 m) |
Now we move onto a beautiful tree that is evergreen in warmer zones, but deciduous in others. The Little Gem magnolia is a pint-size version of the Southern magnolia and the perfect size to line a fence.
You’ll love the shiny green leaves and fabulous white blossoms – what a fragrance! – that cover the tree in spring. You’ll get flowers just a few years after planting.
Pick up a Little Gem magnolia for your fence line from Lowe's.
