I’ve planted my fair share of privacy screens over the years, and I’ve made just about every mistake a first time planter can make, from spacing trees too close together to picking a variety that couldn’t handle my region’s winters. After trial, error, and a lot of research at the garden center, here’s my honest breakdown of the best privacy trees you’ll actually find at Home Depot, along with what makes each one worth considering.
What Makes a Good Privacy Tree
Before jumping into specific varieties, it helps to understand what separates a genuinely effective privacy planting from one that leaves gaps or dies off within a few years.
Growth Rate and Density
The best privacy trees combine a reasonably fast growth rate with dense, consistent foliage that doesn’t thin out as the tree matures. A tree that grows quickly but drops its lower branches over time won’t give you the ground level coverage most homeowners actually want.
Year-Round Coverage
If privacy matters to you in winter as much as summer, evergreen varieties are the obvious choice. Deciduous trees can still work for seasonal screening, but they’ll leave you exposed once the leaves drop each fall.
1. Emerald Green Arborvitae
This is consistently my top recommendation for smaller residential lots, and it’s one of the most commonly stocked privacy trees at Home Depot garden centers nationwide. Emerald Green Arborvitae grows in a narrow, columnar shape, making it ideal for tight side yards or property lines where you don’t have much horizontal space to work with.
Growth rate: Moderate, typically 6 to 9 inches per year.
Mature height: 12 to 14 feet, with a spread of only 3 to 4 feet.
Best for: Narrow spaces, formal hedge rows, and homeowners who want a tidy, manicured look without heavy pruning.
Spacing Tips for This Variety
Plant these roughly 3 feet apart for a solid, continuous hedge within a few growing seasons. Wider spacing works if you’re patient and don’t mind gaps in the early years while the trees fill in.
2. Leyland Cypress
If you need coverage fast and have more room to work with, Leyland Cypress is one of the quickest growing privacy options available, often adding 3 to 4 feet of height per year once established.
Growth rate: Fast, among the quickest of any privacy tree.
Mature height: 40 to 60 feet if left unpruned, though regular trimming keeps it manageable at a more reasonable height.
Best for: Larger properties needing quick, tall coverage, particularly for blocking road noise or a neighboring structure.
A Word of Caution on This Variety
Because it grows so aggressively, Leyland Cypress requires more maintenance long term than slower growing alternatives. It’s also more susceptible to certain fungal diseases in overly wet or poorly drained soil, so make sure your planting site has decent drainage before committing to this variety.
3. Green Giant Arborvitae
A close relative of Emerald Green but built for bigger spaces, Green Giant Arborvitae combines a genuinely fast growth rate with the kind of dense, full coverage that holds up well over decades.
Growth rate: Fast, typically 3 feet per year once established.
Mature height: 40 to 60 feet, with a spread of 12 to 20 feet at full maturity.
Best for: Large properties wanting a substantial, low maintenance evergreen screen without the disease susceptibility that comes with Leyland Cypress.
Why This Is Often the Best All-Around Choice
In my experience recommending privacy trees to friends and family, Green Giant tends to strike the best balance between growth speed, disease resistance, and long term density. It’s a bit more expensive upfront than Emerald Green, but the faster establishment often makes up for the price difference within a couple growing seasons.
4. Skip Laurel
For homeowners wanting something a bit different from the typical conifer look, Skip Laurel offers broad, glossy evergreen leaves and a naturally dense growth habit that works beautifully as a flowering privacy hedge.
Growth rate: Moderate, roughly 1 to 2 feet per year.
Mature height: 10 to 15 feet, with a similar spread.
Best for: Homeowners wanting visual interest beyond a standard conifer wall, including seasonal white blooms in spring.
Shade Tolerance Advantage
Unlike most of the conifers on this list, Skip Laurel tolerates partial shade reasonably well, making it a smart choice for privacy plantings along the shadier side of a property where sun-loving conifers might struggle.
5. Thuja Green Giant vs Standard Arborvitae: Which Should You Choose
This comparison comes up constantly when I talk to other homeowners at the garden center, so it’s worth addressing directly. If your space is narrow, Emerald Green remains the better fit given its slim mature spread. If you have room to spare and want faster, more substantial coverage, Green Giant is generally the superior long term choice thanks to its disease resistance and rapid establishment.
Planting and Spacing Guidelines
Getting the spacing right from the start saves significant frustration down the road, so here are the general guidelines I follow for each category of tree.
Narrow Columnar Varieties
Space these 2 to 3 feet apart for a tight, continuous hedge. This spacing works well for Emerald Green Arborvitae specifically, given its narrow mature spread.
Wide Spreading Varieties
For trees like Green Giant Arborvitae or Leyland Cypress that spread significantly at maturity, space plantings 6 to 8 feet apart to allow for full growth without overcrowding, which can lead to disease issues and uneven growth patterns over time.
Soil and Sun Requirements to Check Before Buying
Before heading to the garden center, take a few minutes to assess your specific planting site.
Most privacy conifers, including both arborvitae varieties and Leyland Cypress, prefer full sun, generally at least six hours of direct light daily, and well-draining soil. Planting in consistently soggy or heavy clay soil without amendment is one of the most common reasons privacy trees fail within the first couple years.
Skip Laurel is more forgiving of partial shade, making it a smart pick for spots that don’t receive full sun exposure throughout the day.
Seasonal Timing for Planting
Fall and early spring are generally the best windows for planting privacy trees, since cooler temperatures reduce transplant stress while still giving root systems time to establish before the demands of summer heat or winter cold set in. Planting during the peak of summer heat is possible but requires significantly more diligent watering to help new trees survive the transition.
Maintenance Tips for Long-Term Privacy Screens
A few habits that make a real difference in how well your privacy planting performs over the years.
Water deeply and consistently during the first two growing seasons. Newly planted trees haven’t developed the root systems needed to handle drought stress on their own yet, regardless of how drought tolerant the mature variety eventually becomes.
Apply mulch around the base, but keep it away from the trunk itself. A two to three inch layer of mulch helps retain moisture and regulate soil temperature, but mulch piled directly against the trunk can encourage rot and pest issues.
Prune strategically rather than aggressively. Light annual shaping keeps fast growing varieties like Leyland Cypress from becoming unwieldy, without shocking the tree with overly aggressive cuts.
Bringing It All Together for Your Property
Choosing the right privacy tree really comes down to matching the variety to your specific space, sun exposure, and how quickly you need coverage. For narrow side yards, Emerald Green Arborvitae remains hard to beat. For larger properties wanting fast, substantial screening, Green Giant Arborvitae is generally my top recommendation based on years of watching how different varieties perform over time.
For a deeper breakdown of full landscape planning beyond just privacy trees, including companion plantings and seasonal maintenance schedules, our complete home depot garden center privacy trees guide covers the full process from initial planning through years of ongoing care. And for broader landscape design principles that help you think through your entire yard layout, not just the privacy screening portion, the landscape design principles resource is worth exploring as you plan your project.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take for a privacy tree to provide full coverage?
Depending on the variety and starting size, most privacy trees take two to four growing seasons to establish a solid, continuous screen.
What’s the fastest growing privacy tree available at Home Depot?
Leyland Cypress and Green Giant Arborvitae are both known for rapid growth, often adding 3 feet or more per year once established.
Do privacy trees need full sun to thrive?
Most conifer varieties do best with at least six hours of direct sunlight daily, though Skip Laurel tolerates partial shade reasonably well.
How far apart should I space privacy trees for a solid hedge?
Narrow varieties like Emerald Green Arborvitae do well spaced 2 to 3 feet apart, while wider spreading varieties need 6 to 8 feet of space to avoid overcrowding.
Is fall or spring better for planting privacy trees?
Both work well, but fall and early spring generally offer the best conditions since cooler temperatures reduce transplant stress on newly planted trees.