What is the fastest-growing tree for privacy that doesn't need much water?

For a fast low-water screen, desert willow and crape myrtle both grow rapidly and can be planted in a row, and the tree forms of oleander fill in fast. In cold climates, honey locust and hackberry make quick shade. Avoid arborvitae and Leyland cypress if drought is your constraint; they need steady moisture.

9 Fast-Growing Drought-Tolerant Trees for Quick, Low-Water Shade

Q: What is the fastest-growing drought-tolerant tree?

Chaste tree (vitex) is among the fastest, adding up to 24 inches a year, followed by desert willow, crape myrtle, honey locust, and hackberry, all rated rapid growers by NC State Extension. Arizona ash is fast too but relatively short-lived. For fast-enough shade in a dry climate, Chinese pistache is the best all-around pick even though it's only medium speed.

Q: Can a tree be both fast-growing and drought-tolerant?

Yes, but it's less common than you'd think. Many of the fastest-growing trees (willow, poplar, silver maple) are fast because they guzzle water and stall in drought. The trees on this list grow quickly AND survive dry summers once established, which is a rarer combination. Fast growth still requires deep watering for the first two to three years.

Q: How fast do drought-tolerant trees grow?

The rapid growers here add 24-plus inches a year (chaste tree, desert willow, honey locust, hackberry, Arizona ash). Medium growers like Chinese pistache and ginkgo add 13-24 inches. NC State classifies growth as slow (under 12 inches a year), medium (13-24), and rapid (25-plus). Establishment watering strongly affects real-world speed.

Speed and drought tolerance rarely ride in the same tree. The fastest growers in the nursery lot, silver maple, poplar, willow, are fast precisely because they drink hard, and they stall or scorch the first dry summer. So a tree that grows quickly AND survives on little water once established is a narrower list than either quality alone.

These nine do both. Every one is rated a rapid or solid-medium grower by university extension databases and holds up through a dry summer once its roots are down. I garden in zone 9b in the Sacramento Valley, where “fast shade with a low water bill” is the whole ballgame, and these are the trees that actually deliver it.

One thing up front: fast growth still requires water for the first two or three years. Even a mesquite is only drought-tough once established, and getting there fast means deep, regular watering while the roots build out. The payoff is a tree that then runs on rainfall.

This is the speed-focused cut of our full drought-tolerant trees guide. For fast trees generally (not just low-water ones), see the fast-growing trees hub.

Fast-growing crape myrtle in full summer bloom, a drought-tolerant flowering tree

The fast-and-dry roster

Tree	Growth rate	Mature size	Zones	Type
Chaste tree (vitex)	Up to 24 in/yr	8-20 ft	7-9	Flowering
Desert willow	Rapid	15-25 ft	7-11	Flowering
Crape myrtle	Rapid	2-30 ft	6-9	Flowering
Honey locust	Rapid	60-80 ft	3-8	Shade
Netleaf hackberry	Rapid	50-70 ft	5-10	Shade
Arizona ash	Rapid	~50 ft	7-10	Shade
Honey mesquite	Fast	~30 ft	7-10	Desert shade
Chinese pistache	Medium	30-35 ft	6-9	Shade
Ginkgo	Medium	50-80 ft	3-9	Shade

Fast-growing flowering trees

Chaste Tree / Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus)

The fastest bloomer here, adding up to 24 inches a year and covering itself in lavender-purple flower spikes all summer. In Texas it’s sold as “Texas Lilac.” It stays a manageable 8-20 feet, has good drought tolerance once established, and draws bees. NC State notes two cautions: it can be weedy in the South, and it rots in soil that stays too wet, so err dry.

Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis)

A rapid-growing small tree, 15-25 feet, deep-rooted, and covered in pink trumpet flowers that draw hummingbirds spring through fall. Excellent drought tolerance, and it can be planted in a row for a fast, low-water screen. Perfect for hot, dry yards in the Southwest.

Desert willow covered in pink trumpet flowers

Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)

The rapid-growing flowering workhorse that blooms hardest in July and August, when your yard is most heat-stressed. Every size from a 2-foot dwarf to a 30-foot tree, so it fits any spot, and it resists drought once established. Don’t top it, and keep it off driveways (the flowers stain). Full detail in our crape myrtle growing guide.

Crape myrtle in full purple summer bloom

Fast-growing shade trees

Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos)

A rapid grower to 60-80 feet that casts light, filtered shade, so grass still grows underneath. NC State rates it highly drought- and salt-tolerant once established, plus deer-resistant, and it’s cold-hardy to zone 3. Buy a thornless, podless cultivar (var. inermis) to skip the 3-inch thorns and foot-long seedpods of the wild form.

Honey locust casting light, filtered shade

Netleaf Hackberry (Celtis reticulata)

The rapid-growing tough-site champion. The hackberry clan tolerates “salt, soil compaction, periodic flooding and drought once established,” and the netleaf variety is the arid-country form. Fifty to seventy feet, zones 5-10, with fruit that feeds birds. If you have compacted, alkaline, abused soil, this is your fast shade tree.

Arizona Ash (Fraxinus velutina)

Fast desert and riparian shade to about 50 feet, with yellow fall color and low water needs. The trade-off, per Lady Bird, is that it’s “relatively short-lived,” so plant it for quick shade knowing you may replace it in a few decades. As a true ash, verify emerald ash borer pressure in your area first.

Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa)

Fast desert shade once established, thanks to a taproot often larger than its trunk. It reaches about 30 feet with a wide crown. The catch: it’s drought-tolerant when young but “requires deep watering to become a tree,” so the fast growth comes with establishment water. Choose it as a yard tree, not something to naturalize.

Honey mesquite tree in a dry desert landscape

Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis)

Only medium speed, but it earns its place because it’s the best all-around fast-enough shade tree for a dry climate: 30-35 feet, drought-, heat-, and pollution-tolerant, with the fiery fall color almost no other dry-climate tree offers. Usable shade in four or five years in a warm zone. Buy a male ‘Keith Davey’. See our best shade trees for a backyard.

Chinese pistache in fiery red and orange fall color

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)

Medium growth, but nearly indestructible in a city and drought-, heat-, and pollution-tolerant, with the best golden-yellow fall color of any tree. Zones 3-9, 50-80 feet. Buy a grafted male; females drop foul-smelling seeds. A legacy tree that also happens to handle dry ground.

Ginkgo tree in brilliant golden-yellow fall color

Getting fast growth without killing the tree

The fastest way to a big drought-tolerant tree is, counterintuitively, to water it well for its first few years. Deep, infrequent soaks drive roots down; frequent shallow sprinkles build a weak, shallow root system that can’t survive the first missed watering. Follow the Sacramento Tree Foundation schedule: 5 gallons two to three times a week in year one, tapering to monthly by year three. A watering bag makes the deep soak automatic, and a moisture meter keeps you from the other failure mode, overwatering, which drowns young roots.

Mulch 4-6 inches deep out to the drip line, held off the trunk, and plant in fall so the tree grows roots on winter rain. Do that, and these trees hit usable size in a few years and then run on rainfall. More detail in our guides to mulching a tree and watering newly planted trees.

Frequently asked questions

What is the fastest-growing drought-tolerant tree? Chaste tree (vitex) at up to 24 inches a year, plus desert willow, crape myrtle, honey locust, and hackberry.

Can a tree be both fast-growing and drought-tolerant? Yes, though it’s rarer than either trait alone; many fast trees are fast because they drink hard and fail in drought.

How fast do drought-tolerant trees grow? The rapid growers add 25-plus inches a year; medium growers like pistache and ginkgo add 13-24.

Fastest low-water privacy tree? Desert willow or crape myrtle in a row, or honey locust and hackberry for fast cold-climate shade.

For the full list and every species detail, see our drought-tolerant trees guide, the California-specific cut, and drought-tolerant evergreen trees if you want year-round screening.