Evergreens You NEED! - Plant for Privacy, Wind Protection and Noise Reduction!

As we head into Winter, there’s a good chance your yard may start to feel a little…exposed. After deciduous perennials, trees and shrubs drop their leaves, your garden loses all those layers of interest, privacy screening, wind protection and noise reduction for an entire season. 

That’s where evergreens come in! With the right planting design, you can achieve a landscape that encapsulates you in year-round natural comfort. In this post, we’ll be introducing you to our favorite evergreens for just that purpose, and giving some pro tips on how best to incorporate them into your yard.

Starting off, we have the Green Giant Arborvitae—one of the best evergreen privacy screens you can buy. With its shiny green foliage and formal growth habit, this tree gives you amazing structure and color, reaching 20-30 feet tall and up to 10 feet wide! Green Giants are incredibly deer resistant, and as they grow, they maintain a very dense look without any intensive pruning.

These trees do best in full sun, but they can even thrive in part shade! Green Giants also have little to no diseases or pests to worry about, and when it comes to fertilizing, simply give them an application of slow release fertilizer in the Spring, and another in the Fall. If you’re planting a hedge of Green Giants, the recommended spacing is six feet on-center. This will help the trees to grow freely, forming a hedge without suffocating each other. 

Next up is the majestic Leyland Cypress. If you’re looking for a fast-growing evergreen privacy screen that is also highly deer resistant, this is the tree for you. At a growth rate of 2-3 feet per year, the Leyland Cypress can max out between 30-50 feet tall and 10-15 feet wide. Like the Green Giants, these trees also experience little to no impact from pests or diseases, and require very minimal care. 

Leyland Cypress prefers full sun but tolerates part shade, and when it comes to spacing, you’ll want to keep them between 12-15 feet apart when planting a hedge. You’ll need to make sure your soil is well-draining, as Leyland Cypress hates wet feet. 

The largest conifer in Eastern North America, the White Pine is loved for its majestic structure and the fact that it can climb up to 80 feet tall and 40 feet wide. They’re also loved for their use in decorating for the holidays—you can trim some branches or collect pinecones to add to your arrangements.

White Pines even produce one of nature’s finest mulches simply by dropping their needles! Just let those needles lay where they fall for a natural boost of fertilizer and moisture retention. 

Another beautiful North American native is going to be the Canadian Hemlock. These evergreens have short, stubby needles that are actually really fragrant when you crush them. They climb to about 70 feet tall and are fairly shade-tolerant, so they’re great for a wide variety of spots in your landscape. 

Whenever someone says they want something deer-resistant, evergreen, and with broad leaves, the first plant we steer them towards is the Skip Laurel. Even in the coldest of colds, these shrubs offer deep, glossy greens. 

Skip Laurels work amazingly when planted as a hedge, reaching a max height of about 12 feet, though you can easily trim them back to maintain them as you like. 

If you have a sunnier spot in the yard and you’re looking for an evergreen with a more refined, uniform look to it, a Norway Spruce might be the right tree for you! These have that classic Christmas tree look to them, growing very conically with arching branches. They grow between 2-3 feet per year and reach a max height of about 60 feet tall. They also produce cones that are great for decorating! 

They Blue Colorado Spruce is also known for its dense, uniform growth with one main exception: it’s blue! This tree stands out as a focal point in the landscape, and like the Norway Spruce, it grows really densely and provides excellent habitat for wildlife and birds. 

Another noticeable difference between Norway and Blue Spruces is that the latter grows much more slowly—only about a foot per year. This means the Blue Spruce is a great choice if you want a tree that will keep its shape and stay a similar size for longer. 

Next up in our evergreen arsenal is the Eastern Red Cedar, which is actually one of our native Junipers! These are planted for their gorgeous foliage and reddish bark, which stand out in the Winter landscape. They also produce the vibrant blue berries that Junipers are known for. They grow between 1-2 feet per year, maxing out at around 50 feet. They can also withstand a ton of environmental stressors since they’re a native pioneer species. 

If you want even more Winter color, you can always opt for a Photinia. These broadleaf evergreens keep their reddish hues throughout the winter, so you’ll always have some nice color to enjoy. These stunning Winter shrubs can grow about 10-15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, making them a great choice for planting a screen hedge, or they can be trimmed to whatever size you like. 

By including these incredible evergreens in your landscape, you’ll have a yard that’s dressed for any season, turning Winter from bare to Bountiful. So what are you waiting for? Our Winter evergreen displays are up and ready for you to come find your favorites today.