Evergreen screening for small gardens

Most requests for "a fast evergreen screen" are really a request for privacy from an overlooking window or a neighbour's trampoline — in a garden that cannot spare more than a metre of depth. The plants that grow fast enough to solve the problem in two years are usually the ones that create a bigger problem in ten. Here is what actually works in a small space, with honest numbers on height, width and maintenance.

Start with the measurements, not the plant

Before choosing anything, answer three questions. How high does the screen actually need to be to block the sightline (stand where you sit and get someone to hold a cane at the boundary — it is often only 2 to 2.5 m, not 4 m)? How much width can you give up (a mature hedge is rarely thinner than 60–80 cm; a pleached tree or trellis needs 30–40 cm)? And who will cut it, how often, and from what access? Screening you cannot reach to trim becomes screening you resent. In small gardens, a screen that tops out naturally at the height you need beats a fast plant you must fight forever.

Why Leyland cypress is usually a mistake

× Cuprocyparis leylandii is the fastest hedging conifer in Britain, capable of a metre a year, and that is precisely the problem. It does not stop at screening height; left alone it exceeds 20 m. It needs cutting two or three times a year to stay dense, it casts heavy shade and drinks the border dry, and — critically for a small garden — it will not regrow from old brown wood, so a hedge that has got away from you cannot be cut back hard and rescued. It is also the plant behind the majority of high-hedge neighbour disputes. There are situations where a big rural windbreak justifies it; a small garden is not one of them.

Better hedges for small spaces

Yew — faster than its reputation

English yew (Taxus baccata, H7) carries an undeserved "too slow" label. Well planted and watered, it puts on 20–30 cm a year, giving a respectable 2 m hedge in six to eight years from 60 cm plants — and unlike Leyland it needs only one trim a year (August–September), stays dense, and regrows even from bare old wood, so mistakes are recoverable. It tolerates shade and any reasonable soil but will die in waterlogged ground; drainage is non-negotiable. All parts are toxic if eaten, worth knowing if children or livestock are a factor.

Portuguese laurel

Prunus lusitanica (H5) is the refined alternative to cherry laurel: smaller, darker leaves on maroon stems, tighter growth (30–45 cm a year), better on chalk and in exposure, and easier to keep at 60–70 cm wide. Trim once in late spring, ideally with secateurs on visible faces so cut leaves do not brown.

Holly

Ilex aquifolium (H7) makes a burglar-proof, wildlife-rich evergreen hedge that tolerates shade, pollution and coastal wind. It is slower (15–25 cm a year) and dislikes being moved, so start with small container plants and be patient. 'J.C. van Tol' is nearly spineless and self-fertile, giving berries without a pollination partner.

Osmanthus

Osmanthus × burkwoodii (H5) is an underused gem: small dark evergreen leaves, dense habit, happy in sun or part shade, easily kept at 1.5–2.5 m, plus strongly scented white flowers in April. Growth is modest (15–20 cm a year), which in a small garden is a feature.

Pleached trees: screening above fence height

Where the problem is an upstairs window looking down at you, a hedge tall enough to block it would swallow the garden. Pleached trees — clear stems of 1.8 m or so with a flat, trained panel of branches above — put the screen exactly where the sightline is, "hedge on stilts" fashion, while occupying only 40 cm of depth and leaving planting space below. Evergreen options include Photinia × fraseri 'Red Robin', Quercus ilex (holm oak), Ligustrum lucidum and Magnolia grandiflora; hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) is deciduous but holds its dead leaves through much of winter. Costs are real — ready-trained trees are typically several hundred pounds each and need a sturdy post-and-wire frame for the first years, plus a twice-yearly tie-in and trim — but for overlooked town gardens they are often the best answer per centimetre of ground lost.

Bamboo, honestly

Bamboo can make a superb fast evergreen screen or a neighbourhood-scale regret, and the difference is almost entirely which genus you buy. Clump-forming Fargesia species — Fargesia murielae, Fargesia nitida, Fargesia robusta (H5–H6) — expand slowly outwards and stay where they are put, reaching 2.5–4 m with a soft, arching outline. Running species, principally Phyllostachys, Sasa and Pseudosasa, send rhizomes metres from the parent, under fences, patios and into neighbouring gardens; escaped bamboo is now a recognised and expensive problem, and you can be liable for damage it causes next door.

If you want the taller canes and showy stems of Phyllostachys, plant it inside a purpose-made high-density polyethylene root barrier at least 60 cm deep, sealed at the joins, with the top edge left 5–8 cm proud of the soil so rhizomes cannot creep over — and inspect that edge every year. Better still in a truly small garden: grow Fargesia in the ground, or any bamboo in a large sturdy container, and accept that container bamboo needs generous watering and splitting every few years. Never plant an unidentified bamboo passed over the fence by a friend.

Trellis plus evergreen climbers: screening in 30 centimetres

Where even a hedge's width is unaffordable, a robust trellis or wire framework on the boundary (within permitted fence heights) clothed in evergreen climbers gives privacy in the least ground of all. The reliable evergreens and semi-evergreens for UK conditions:

• Trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmine, H4) — glossy leaves, scented white summer flowers; best on a warm, sheltered wall, slow for two years then good cover.
• Clematis armandii (H4) — large evergreen leaves and almond-scented March–April flowers; vigorous, needs shelter from cold wind and can look tatty after hard winters.
• Hedera helix or Hedera colchica (ivy, H5–H7) — the densest, most shade-tolerant, most wildlife-valuable option; keep it off house walls with failing mortar and trim annually.
• Lonicera henryi (H6) — semi-evergreen honeysuckle, quick and undemanding, lighter cover than ivy.

Climbers on trellis need tying in and an annual cut, and cover is thinner in the first two winters — plant in April or May and water through the first summer.

The legal bit, kept general

Two points are worth knowing before you plant. First, evergreen hedges over 2 m are covered by the high hedges provisions of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 in England and Wales (with parallel schemes elsewhere in the UK): a neighbour whose light or enjoyment is seriously affected can complain to the council, which can order a hedge reduced, with fees and enforcement attached. Keeping a boundary hedge at or below about 2 m avoids the issue entirely. Second, boundary structures such as fences and trellis are subject to permitted-development height limits, commonly 2 m (lower next to highways), so check before building tall frameworks. Planting generously your side of the boundary, rather than on the line, avoids most disputes about trimming and overhang. When in doubt, talk to the neighbour before the diggers arrive — screening planted after a row rarely improves relations.

Planting for success in year one

Whatever you choose, small plants establish faster and catch up with expensive large ones within a few years. Plant container-grown evergreens in September–October or March–April, improve the soil along the whole run rather than in individual holes, mulch, and water deeply and regularly through the first two summers — newly planted evergreen hedges fail from drought far more often than from cold. Trim lightly and early to build density rather than letting plants race to final height thin and leggy.

Sources and further reading

• Royal Horticultural Society — hedge selection, planting and bamboo control advice
• gov.uk — guidance on high hedge complaints and permitted development rules for boundaries
• Woodland Trust — native hedging and its wildlife value