The best Screening Plants for Fences

f you want to add privacy to your house or simply spruce up your garden, screening and hedging plants work like a charm to transform a plain old fence into a picture-perfect green facade. Even if you don’t have an existing fence to cover with a screening plant, you can opt for trees and shrubs with dense growth and thick foliage to serve as a natural barrier from a noisy street or nosey neighbours. Increasing green cover in your garden also helps with shading, temperature regulation, reducing pollution and improving air quality — a win-win!

Here are a few suggestions for the best plants for privacy screening and hedges in Australia.

Viburnum

Viburnum is an evergreen shrub that can grow up to three meters in height and two metres in width. This shrub performs well in Australia’s climate and is perfect to use for hedging and screening since it grows so quickly and can easily be pruned to the desired shape and size. Full sun to part shade is the ideal condition to grow a dense viburnum fence. Regular watering, pruning and a slow-release fertiliser during spring will support fast growth for best results. Viburnums bloom during spring to produce beautiful flowers and red berries to add a touch of colour and fragrance to your garden.

Bamboo

Bamboo is one of the most popular plants for hedging and fence screening. Bamboo instantly adds a tranquil tropical feel to a garden and presents a cost-effective, eco-friendly solution for enhancing privacy or blocking out noise. As a hardy and fast-growing plant, bamboo can reach heights of up to six metres in just over a year! Planting a natural bamboo fence will transform the appearance of your garden or backyard in no time — a worthwhile and long-term landscaping investment.

Boxwood

Boxwood is the ideal hedging and screening plant to grow in coastal areas and subtropical climates. Boxwood is known and loved for its dense growth and ability to be trimmed to perfection. This evergreen screening plant can be planted in containers or directly in the ground to create a neatly manicured fence. Some people prefer to let their boxwood grow freely to achieve a wild, bushy appearance as opposed to the tidy and sculpted hedge style. Whichever you prefer, this shrub with its colourful flowers during spring and summer will be a delightful addition to your home.

Red Robin

With its glossy green, red and purple foliage, Red Robin is just what you need if you want to add some colour to your home landscaping. This fast-growing shrub can grow up to four metres in height and three metres in width, making it perfectly suitable for hedging or privacy screening. The plant’s growth can be helped along with regular pruning and sufficient exposure to the sun. Red Robin is a resilient and low maintenance hedging plant that can withstand most weather conditions, including drought, frost, strong winds and coastal temperatures.

Cypress

Cypress is another tree that works wonderfully as a privacy screen. Also known as Callitris, this tree grows widely in Australia as it prefers warm temperatures and humidity. This hardy, low-maintenance tree quickly adapts to its surroundings and can tolerate a variety of soil types and lighting conditions. Cypress is an extremely fast-growing tree with thick foliage that should be trimmed a few times per year to encourage lush growth and form a dense fence screen. If cared for right, cypress trees can grow over a metre each year to create a beautiful green privacy screen for your home.

Orange jasmine

Orange jasmine is an evergreen shrub with a dense growing pattern that is especially popular to use as a hedge or privacy screen. Native to Australia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, this shrub grows up to three meters tall and three meters wide and can easily be pruned to maintain a certain shape or height. During spring and summer, the small white flowers produce a lovely fragrance that will turn your garden into a tropical oasis! Orange jasmine can be planted along an existing fence or on its own to provide privacy or section off an area of your backyard or garden.

Spring Colours is a plant nursery located in Sydney’s Dural neighbourhood. With over 30 years of experience in garden landscaping and delivering high-quality plants to plant lovers at great prices, we are committed to making the world a greener place and adding new life to your home and garden.

Contact us to find out about our wholesale service delivery or visit our store in Dural to browse our collection of plants! Find your Plant Nursery Dural and Dural Garden Centre here!