Fast Growing Evergreen Trees for Privacy: 10 Species Ranked by Growth Rate

Most people shopping for privacy trees want the same thing: something evergreen that grows fast and blocks the neighbor’s view of their patio by next summer. The nursery will sell you whatever moves off the lot fastest, which is usually Leyland Cypress. And in five years, you’ll be back asking why your entire screen is turning brown and dying.

The smart move is picking an evergreen that grows fast enough to create privacy within 3-5 years without falling apart from disease, weak wood, or the wrong climate match. I’ve watched my neighbors in Northern California make every mistake on this list. Here’s how to skip the expensive ones.

How fast is “fast” for an evergreen?

Growth rates for evergreen trees fall into three tiers:

• Fast (3+ feet per year): Green Giant Arborvitae, Leyland Cypress, Murray Cypress
• Moderate-fast (2-3 feet per year): Nellie Stevens Holly, Cryptomeria, Norway Spruce, Eastern White Pine
• Moderate (1-2 feet per year): Deodar Cedar, Eastern Red Cedar, American Holly

A “fast” evergreen planted at 5-6 feet tall from the nursery creates a solid 10-foot privacy screen within 2-3 years. A moderate grower takes 4-6 years. That difference matters if your neighbor just built a second-story deck overlooking your backyard.

The 10 best fast-growing evergreens for privacy

1. Green Giant Arborvitae (Thuja standishii x plicata ‘Green Giant’)

The undisputed champion. Green Giant grows 3-5 feet per year, resists deer, shrugs off the canker diseases that killed millions of Leyland Cypress, and stays dense from top to bottom. It matures at 40-60 feet tall and 12-20 feet wide. Zones 5-8.

• Growth rate: 3-5 ft/year
• Mature size: 40-60 ft tall, 12-20 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 5-6 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Yes
• Budget: $50-100 per tree

The only real downside is size. Green Giant gets enormous. If your lot is under half an acre, it will overwhelm the space within a decade. On a big property with 20+ feet of depth along the fence line, nothing else comes close. We wrote a complete Green Giant arborvitae guide covering the spacing math and planting mistakes that cause problems.

2. Murray Cypress (x Cupressocyparis leylandii ‘Murray’)

Murray Cypress is the Leyland Cypress you should buy instead of a regular Leyland. It’s a cultivar selected for improved disease resistance, denser branching, and a tighter pyramidal form. Grows 3-4 feet per year and matures at 30-40 feet tall and 8-12 feet wide. Zones 6-9.

• Growth rate: 3-4 ft/year
• Mature size: 30-40 ft tall, 8-12 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 5-8 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Yes
• Budget: $40-80 per tree

Murray is more resistant to the canker diseases that devastated standard Leylands, though it’s not immune. It handles Southern heat and humidity better than arborvitae, which makes it the go-to fast evergreen for zones 8-9. It stays narrower than Green Giant, so it works on tighter lots. The catch: it still needs well-drained soil. Soggy clay kills it.

3. Nellie Stevens Holly (Ilex x ‘Nellie R. Stevens’)

The best broadleaf evergreen for fast screening. Nellie Stevens grows 2-3 feet per year with glossy dark green leaves and red winter berries. It matures at 15-25 feet tall and 8-12 feet wide. Self-fruitful, meaning it produces berries without a separate pollinator tree nearby. Zones 6-9.

• Growth rate: 2-3 ft/year
• Mature size: 15-25 ft tall, 8-12 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 5-8 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Moderate
• Budget: $40-100 per tree

Nellie Stevens fills the gap between the massive arborvitae and the slow-growing formal hollies. It takes shearing well for a managed hedge but also looks great as a natural screen with no pruning at all. The red berries attract birds in winter, which is a bonus if you like wildlife. It replaced Leyland Cypress as the top recommendation across most Southeast extension programs.

4. Cryptomeria (Cryptomeria japonica ‘Yoshino’)

The most underrated privacy tree in the Southeast. Cryptomeria ‘Yoshino’ grows 2-3 feet per year and matures at 30-40 feet tall and 15-20 feet wide. Zones 5-9. Soft, feathery foliage with a graceful pyramidal form. Dense from top to bottom without pruning.

• Growth rate: 2-3 ft/year
• Mature size: 30-40 ft tall, 15-20 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 8-10 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Yes (seldom browsed)
• Budget: $50-120 per tree

Clemson Extension and Virginia Tech both recommend Cryptomeria as a top Leyland Cypress alternative. It resists the canker diseases that kill Leylands and tolerates the humidity that stresses arborvitae in the Deep South. The reddish-brown bark adds winter interest. One warning: Cryptomeria foliage can bronze slightly in cold winters below zone 6, though ‘Yoshino’ holds green color better than most cultivars.

5. Norway Spruce (Picea abies)

The cold-climate privacy workhorse. Norway Spruce grows 2-3 feet per year when young and matures at 40-60 feet tall with graceful weeping secondary branches. Zones 2-7. The Morton Arboretum rates it as one of the most reliable large conifers for the Midwest and Northeast.

• Growth rate: 2-3 ft/year
• Mature size: 40-60 ft tall, 25-30 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 12-15 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Moderate
• Budget: $60-150 per tree

Norway Spruce handles the humidity and diseases that kill Blue Spruce east of the Rockies. It’s faster growing, more disease resistant, and more attractive at maturity than almost any other large conifer for eastern climates. Use it for windbreaks and property-line screening where you have room for its 25-30 foot spread. Our evergreen trees guide covers Norway Spruce care in more detail.

6. Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)

The fastest-growing native conifer in eastern North America. White Pine puts on 2-3 feet per year when young and matures at 50-80 feet tall. Soft blue-green needles in bundles of five. Zones 3-8.

• Growth rate: 2-3 ft/year
• Mature size: 50-80 ft tall, 20-40 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 10-15 ft apart
• Deer resistant: No (deer browse young trees heavily)
• Budget: $40-100 per tree

Here’s the honest problem with White Pine for privacy: the lower branches self-prune as the tree matures, leaving bare trunks at eye level after 10-15 years. A single row of White Pine won’t give you a solid wall. For privacy, plant a staggered double row or underplant with a shorter broadleaf evergreen like Nellie Stevens. White Pine also can’t handle road salt, air pollution, or compacted soil. Plant it on good soil away from roads.

7. Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara)

The best large evergreen for warm climates where arborvitae and spruce struggle. Deodar Cedar grows 1-3 feet per year with silvery-green needles on gracefully drooping branches. Matures at 40-70 feet tall. Zones 7-9.

• Growth rate: 1-3 ft/year
• Mature size: 40-70 ft tall, 20-40 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 15-20 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Yes
• Budget: $80-200 per tree

Deodar Cedar is one of the best large evergreens for Sacramento and NorCal. It handles our zone 9 heat and clay soil, and it’s drought tolerant once established. The pyramidal form with weeping branch tips is more elegant than any arborvitae. The trade-off is space. This tree gets wide. It’s a specimen tree that happens to provide excellent screening, not a hedge plant. Our fast-growing trees guide has more on Deodar Cedar performance.

8. Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

The toughest native evergreen on this list. Eastern Red Cedar handles drought, clay, rocky soil, alkaline conditions, salt spray, urban pollution, and zones 2-9. That’s the widest adaptability range of any evergreen tree commonly planted in North America.

• Growth rate: 1-2 ft/year
• Mature size: 30-65 ft tall, 8-25 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 6-10 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Yes
• Budget: $30-80 per tree

It’s not the fastest grower, but it’s the most bulletproof. Red Cedar is the tree you plant on that impossible spot where the soil is terrible, the drainage is bad, and every other tree you’ve tried has died. The blue-gray berries feed birds all winter. The columnar cultivar ‘Taylor’ stays just 3-4 feet wide and works beautifully as a narrow screen. See our columnar evergreen trees guide for more on Taylor Juniper and other narrow options.

One caveat: if you have apple trees nearby, Eastern Red Cedar hosts cedar-apple rust. Keep them 500 feet apart.

9. American Holly (Ilex opaca)

Classic Christmas holly with spiny dark green leaves and bright red berries in winter. American Holly grows 1-2 feet per year and matures at 15-30 feet tall. Zones 5-9. You need both male and female plants within 200 feet for berry production.

• Growth rate: 1-2 ft/year
• Mature size: 15-30 ft tall, 10-20 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 8-12 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Moderate
• Budget: $60-150 per tree

American Holly is slower than the others on this list, but it makes up for it with year-round density and wildlife value. The red berries attract cedar waxwings, mockingbirds, and robins through winter. The dense branching screens effectively even in winter. It works well as a component in mixed screens alongside faster growers like Green Giant or Nellie Stevens.

10. Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera)

The Southeast’s native screening machine. Wax Myrtle grows 3-5 feet per year on native soil, tolerates flooding, drought, salt spray, wind, and poor soil. Zones 7-10. Aromatic foliage naturally repels deer and mosquitoes.

• Growth rate: 3-5 ft/year
• Mature size: 10-20 ft tall, 8-15 ft wide
• Spacing for screening: 5-8 ft apart
• Deer resistant: Yes (aromatic foliage)
• Budget: $25-60 per tree

Wax Myrtle is technically a large shrub rather than a tree, but at 15-20 feet tall it functions as a fast evergreen screen in zones 7-10. The waxy gray berries attract birds all winter. One concern: the aromatic foliage contains flammable compounds, so don’t plant it within defensible space in fire-prone areas. Our privacy shrubs and hedges guide ranks Wax Myrtle alongside other screening options.

Growth rate comparison chart

Species	Growth (ft/yr)	Mature Height	Width	Zones	Deer Resistant
Green Giant Arborvitae	3-5	40-60 ft	12-20 ft	5-8	Yes
Wax Myrtle	3-5	10-20 ft	8-15 ft	7-10	Yes
Murray Cypress	3-4	30-40 ft	8-12 ft	6-9	Yes
Nellie Stevens Holly	2-3	15-25 ft	8-12 ft	6-9	Moderate
Cryptomeria ‘Yoshino’	2-3	30-40 ft	15-20 ft	5-9	Yes
Norway Spruce	2-3	40-60 ft	25-30 ft	2-7	Moderate
Eastern White Pine	2-3	50-80 ft	20-40 ft	3-8	No
Deodar Cedar	1-3	40-70 ft	20-40 ft	7-9	Yes
Eastern Red Cedar	1-2	30-65 ft	8-25 ft	2-9	Yes
American Holly	1-2	15-30 ft	10-20 ft	5-9	Moderate

Don’t plant Leyland Cypress

I know the nursery has them. I know they’re cheap. I know they grow 3-4 feet per year and look great in year three. Here’s what happens next.

Seiridium canker, Botryosphaeria canker, and Phytophthora root rot. All three are incurable once established. Across the Southeast, millions of Leylands have died from these diseases. Extension services from Clemson to Virginia Tech have stopped recommending them entirely. The Clemson HGIC Leyland Cypress Alternatives factsheet exists specifically because the losses are so widespread.

Plant Green Giant Arborvitae (zones 5-8), Murray Cypress (zones 6-9), or Cryptomeria (zones 5-9) instead. All three grow nearly as fast without the disease death sentence.

Why mixed screens beat monocultures

Penn State Extension’s privacy screening guide makes the case clearly: a single-species row is the most common approach and the most vulnerable. One disease outbreak takes out everything. The Clemson HGIC mixed screens factsheet recommends groupings of 3-5 different species instead.

A mixed screen doesn’t mean random planting. It means intentional variety. Here are three example combinations that work:

Cold climates (zones 3-6): Norway Spruce (background, 40+ ft) with groups of Emerald Green Arborvitae (midground, 12-15 ft) and American Holly (accent, 15-25 ft).

Mid-Atlantic and Southeast (zones 6-9): Green Giant Arborvitae or Murray Cypress (primary screen) with Nellie Stevens Holly and Cryptomeria mixed in every third or fourth spot.

California and warm zones (zones 8-10): Deodar Cedar (background specimen) with Eastern Red Cedar or Italian Cypress (midground) and Wax Myrtle (foreground fill).

The slight variation in color and texture actually looks more natural than a uniform wall of identical trees. And if one species develops a problem, you lose 30% of your screen instead of 100%.

Spacing for privacy screening

Get spacing wrong and you’ll wait a decade for coverage or fight overcrowding forever. The general rule is to plant at half to two-thirds of the mature width.

Single-row screen: The minimum approach. Works for most residential property lines. Space plants according to their mature width. Green Giant at 5-6 feet apart. Nellie Stevens at 5-8 feet apart. Norway Spruce at 12-15 feet apart.

Staggered double-row: Creates a thicker, faster screen. Offset two rows so plants in the back fill gaps between plants in the front. Requires 8-12 feet of total depth but allows wider individual spacing. Penn State Extension recommends this approach for windbreaks and noise reduction.

Cluster planting: Groups of 3-5 trees placed strategically to block specific views rather than walling off the entire property line. This creates a more natural look and uses fewer trees. It works well for screening a specific area like a patio or pool.

Don’t plant too close hoping to speed things up. Overcrowded trees compete for water, light, and nutrients. The stress leads to disease, thin growth, and dead lower branches. Clemson Extension emphasizes that proper spacing with good air circulation is the single most important factor in long-term screen health.

How to plant for maximum growth

Even the fastest evergreen will grow slowly if planted wrong. Follow these steps to maximize your screen’s growth rate:

Plant in fall. September through November is the ideal planting window for most evergreens. The roots establish through winter while top growth is dormant. Spring planting (March through May) is the second-best option. Our tree planting guide covers the step-by-step technique.

Dig wide, not deep. The planting hole should be 2-3 times wider than the root ball but exactly as deep. Set the root flare at soil level. Planting too deep is the number one killer of newly planted evergreens.

Water consistently for the first two years. New evergreens need 1-2 inches of water per week. Deep, infrequent watering beats shallow daily sprinkling. After the second growing season, most established evergreens are reasonably drought tolerant.

Mulch properly. 2-3 inches of wood chip mulch in a ring around the base, keeping mulch 3-4 inches from the trunk. Mulch conserves moisture, moderates soil temperature, and suppresses competing weeds. Never pile mulch against the trunk.

Don’t over-fertilize. Excessive nitrogen produces weak, leggy growth vulnerable to storms and disease. Don’t fertilize newly planted trees at all. Start in the second growing season with a balanced slow-release formula. Our tree fertilizer guide covers the right NPK ratios for each species. And if you’re buying during the off-season, our December landscaping purchases guide explains when nursery discounts are deepest.

Best fast evergreens by region

Northeast and Upper Midwest (zones 3-5): Norway Spruce, Eastern White Pine, Emerald Green Arborvitae. Green Giant works in zone 5 but struggles in colder areas.

Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley (zones 6-7): Green Giant Arborvitae, Nellie Stevens Holly, Cryptomeria. This region has the widest selection because most species handle the moderate climate.

Southeast (zones 7-9): Murray Cypress, Cryptomeria, Nellie Stevens Holly, Wax Myrtle. Avoid Norway Spruce and Emerald Green Arborvitae, which struggle with Southern heat and humidity.

Northern California and Pacific West (zones 8-10): Deodar Cedar, Eastern Red Cedar (Taylor Juniper cultivar), Italian Cypress. Green Giant works in cooler microclimates but can stress in zone 9b heat. For Sacramento-native tree options, Mediterranean-adapted species use far less supplemental water.

Great Plains and Mountain West (zones 4-7): Eastern Red Cedar (handles wind, drought, and alkaline soil), Norway Spruce, Eastern White Pine.

Frequently asked questions

What is the fastest growing evergreen tree for privacy? Green Giant Arborvitae at 3-5 feet per year in zones 5-8. In zones 8-9, Murray Cypress at 3-4 feet per year is the better choice. Both create a solid privacy screen within 2-3 years from 5-6 foot nursery stock.

How far apart should I plant evergreen trees for privacy? Space them at half to two-thirds of their mature width. Green Giant: 5-6 feet apart. Nellie Stevens Holly: 5-8 feet apart. Norway Spruce: 12-15 feet apart. Closer spacing creates faster coverage but leads to overcrowding problems within 10 years.

What evergreen privacy tree is deer proof? No tree is truly deer proof, but Green Giant Arborvitae, Eastern Red Cedar (and Taylor Juniper), Cryptomeria, and Wax Myrtle are all seldom browsed. Avoid Emerald Green Arborvitae in deer country. Extension services describe it as “ice cream for deer.”

What fast-growing evergreen works in shade? Most fast-growing evergreens need full sun (6+ hours). American Holly and Cryptomeria tolerate partial shade (4 hours). For shaded property lines, our shade-tolerant trees guide covers the best options.

Is Leyland Cypress still a good privacy tree? No. Clemson Extension, Virginia Tech, and most Southeast extension programs no longer recommend Leyland Cypress due to widespread Seiridium canker and Botryosphaeria canker die-offs. Plant Green Giant Arborvitae, Murray Cypress, or Cryptomeria instead.

How long until evergreen trees block my neighbor’s view? With fast growers (3-5 ft/yr), a 5-6 foot nursery tree reaches 10-12 feet within 2-3 years. That’s tall enough to screen most single-story views. For two-story screening, allow 4-6 years. Buying larger nursery stock (8-10 feet) costs more but saves 1-2 years of waiting.

Should I plant one row or two rows of evergreens for privacy? A single row works for most residential screening. A staggered double row creates a thicker, faster barrier but needs 8-12 feet of depth and twice as many trees. Double rows are worth the investment for properties exposed to road noise or constant wind.

What is the cheapest fast-growing evergreen for privacy? Eastern Red Cedar at $30-80 per tree and Wax Myrtle at $25-60 are the least expensive options. Emerald Green Arborvitae at $25-50 is cheap but grows slowly (6-12 inches per year). Green Giant at $50-100 gives the best value when you factor in growth speed.