Privacy Trees & Evergreen Screens
Privacy trees and evergreen screens
Tired of seeing the road, the new house next door, or the neighbor’s shop? Big evergreens give you privacy the day they’re planted. We deliver and plant privacy trees across Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.
Start tall
We usually stock evergreens from 6 to 12 feet tall. Bigger trees cost more each but screen right away. A good screen often mixes a few tall anchor trees where you need privacy most with smaller ones along the rest of the line. See which evergreens are in the yard today on our availability list.
What works for a screen
- Arborvitae (like Green Giant): fast and dense, but it gets wide, so give it room.
- Spruce: big and full, and it needs space at maturity.
- Holly: glossy, good-looking all year, and a nice break in a long row.
- Southern magnolia (like Bracken’s Brown Beauty): big leaves all year and a fuller shape than most magnolias.
- Cryptomeria (Japanese cedar): soft texture and a popular alternative to Leyland cypress.
How five privacy trees compare
Here’s how the evergreens we stock compare. Mature width is what you space for (see below).
| Tree | Growth rate | Mature width (height) | Sun | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green Giant arborvitae | Fast: 3–4 ft a year in good conditions | 12–18 ft (40–60 ft tall) | Full sun to part shade | Tall, fast screen where you have the width |
| Norway spruce | Fast | 25–30 ft (40–60 ft tall) | Full sun | Windbreak or big screen on open ground |
| Nellie Stevens holly | Fast | 8–25 ft (15–30 ft tall) | Full sun to part shade | Dense mid-height screen, red winter berries, a break in a long row |
| Southern magnolia | Medium | 30–50 ft for the species (60–80 ft tall); Bracken’s Brown Beauty, the one we stock, is compact and dense, possibly 30 ft tall | Full sun to part shade | Anchor tree with big leaves all year |
| Cryptomeria (Japanese cedar) | Medium | 20–30 ft (50–70 ft tall) | Full sun to part shade | Soft-textured screen, the usual Leyland stand-in |
Don’t see it in the yard? We can order cryptomeria and other evergreens from our supplier year-round.
Stagger the rows and leave room
Two offset rows fill in faster and look fuller than one straight line. Here’s the rule of thumb:
- Space by mature width. Within each row, set trees about one mature width apart, trunk to trunk. Go by the table, not by how wide the tree is today.
- Stagger the second row so each tree covers a gap in the first.
- Keep at least half a mature width between a trunk and a fence, driveway or property line, so the tree doesn’t grow over it. Leave room from septic fields and overhead lines too.
- Example: Green Giant grows 12 to 18 feet wide. Plant each row 12 to 18 feet apart, offset the rows, and you get a tree every 6 to 9 feet along the line. Keep the trunks 6 to 9 feet or more off the fence.
- Want it to close sooner? Use the low end of the width range. Much tighter than that and the trees crowd, lose their lower branches, and some have to come out later.
Deer
No evergreen is deer-proof. Arborvitae and holly are winter favorites, so plan on repellent, wraps or fencing for the first few winters.
Privacy trees from Warrenton to Leesburg
Our yard is in Front Royal, and we deliver and plant screens across our service area. We’ve planted in Warrenton, and Loudoun County, Leesburg included, is part of our regular area.
Pricing
Tree prices on our availability list are pick-up prices. If you’d like us to lay out, deliver and plant your screen, installation is 75% of each tree’s price, plus delivery. Send us rough measurements of the stretch you want to screen and a few photos from where you sit, and we’ll sketch a layout and tree count with you. Trees we plant come with a one-year limited warranty. Ask us for the details, or read how we plant.
★★★★★
“They planted beautiful trees adding privacy and value to our mountain property. Highly recommend them for your privacy tree needs!”
A Google review