I'm not familiar with this particular willow, but fast growing trees tend to be short lived and brittle. You don't want willows very close to your house (50' away at least). Willows have invasive roots and can clog sewer pipes, affect pavement, house foundations & septic systems. From what I've read they sound like they would work very well for privacy even in the winter when the branches are bare if planted close together.

My suggestion is to re-think your desire for FAST. Fast growing = fast dying = lots of problems.

Dan

What height are you wanting? Privacy during what seasons? Hybrid willows can only work good for the months they are leaved out. If you don't need them to be tall, you can pollard before every growing season to keep them manageable.
{{gwi:331621}}

Fast growing does not always mean fast to die.

Swamp White Oak is fast growing in my area, putting on 1.5-2' annually.

Same rate as a River Birch which is a shorter lived plant.

Both natives in WI.

gardenlady48,

A picture of your situation would be worth a thousand words of description. In general though unless you want a formal appearance, go with a mixed planting.

The benefits are many. If/when one tree randomly dies or breaks you won't be left with a straight row of trees and one broken ugly duckling which sticks out.

Also you can mix in your Willows and some evergreen trees with perhaps an evergreen shrub or two. I like Hollies myself but they're not the fastest growing fellas all the time.

I'm not familiar with your area. About how tall would you like this tree or trees to be? To frame what I'm talking about, consider these 2 options.

1.) Row of Emerald Green Arborvitae - not all that fast growing, rather narrow columnar form, can reach around 12 - 14' tall, if you started out with 5 footers planted at, oh, maybe 3' mid-trunk to mid-trunk distances, then within a few years you might have a good hedge to block the view.

2.) Green Giant Arborvitae grow much faster and get far taller.

Deer like arborvitae.

Some questions that might help us.

1.) How large a property lot do you have?

2.) How near your house would the trees be?

3.) How near the property line?

4.) Will there be powerlines overhead?

5.) Do you have a septic tank & leach field, and if so how far will it be from the trees?

6.) Are you determined to plant other things under it (can impact choice of a maple, for instance)?

7.) How tall do you want this to be? If your neighbor has a 2 story house with a window view overlooking your yard, that's different from 2 ranch-style single-story houses on level ground.

8.) Is this just sort of a visual barrier, or do you need a dense 'I can't see them at all' hedge?

9.) Do you need evergreens so it remains 'solid' in winter?

10.) Do you plan to do a lot of pruning, shaping, hedging or what-have-you, or are you a 'plant it & forget it once established' person?

11.) Is this a fenced in area, or well into the city, or do deer have access to the area? Deer can do a lot of damage to some plants.

Richard.

in my z5 sand ... oaks grow 3 to 5 feet per year, once established... frankly.. nothing but weed trees grow faster ...

if you have some dream of shade gardening then oak is the one...

if you dont care about gardening under or near your trees.. nothing beats a maple for fast ...

oaks last for centuries ... truly .. an investment for the ages ...

been there.. done that.. anything called 'fast growing' is NOT what you want ...

all that said.. diversity rules .... go with some oaks/trees .... then add some shrubs... and a few conifers ...

though i have nothing against arbs ... too much of a good thing is not good ... and if snow load is an issue ... be sure to include that in your equation.. you dont really want to be out there wrapping 100 arbs to avoid snow damage ..

also.. advise if dear are an issue

good luck

ken

For screening would think an evergreen would be more appropiate. While there are several other choices one can make, the Eastern Red Cedar make a nice screen of evergreen. When planted in full sun they make cones or pyramids of green down to the ground. Rate of growth reaches 30" per year down here with watering(not sure rate where you are). They are a native species to all of eastern US and are suitable for anywhere except a swamp. They are planted for wind-breaks, shade, bird-food/cover, screens, greenery, etc. They are the "go-to" evergreen, very dependable.

I'm not sure everyone would agree with the "go-to" label for Eastern red cedar. It is a very weedy species and is considered borderline invasive in various areas. Many of the features that make it so adaptable and appealing to wildlife are also the reason it spreads so freely. Just because a plant is a native species does not necessarily make it a good choice for intentional planting.

I'd agree that a mixed screen will be visually more appealing as well as provide a necessary degree of biodiversity and that conifers as well as deciduous species should be included. And in a mixed species screen, the rate of growth does not need to be uniform. The OP could pick a fast growing conifer - the 'Green Giant's are a good choice - to provide some rapid privacy together with some slower growing deciduous trees to fill out the screen.

have you considered Populus, they grow very fast i have some in the back of my yeard, they are 10 years old and already 35-40 feet tall and some of them are quite pretty, 'Populus alba's' leaves have a silverish/grey color on the back, and when the wind blows they almost shine, they also make alot of offsets (is that the word?)
another fast growing tree is 'Robinia pseudoacacia' is another fast growing tree, i have one thats gonna turn 3 years old this summer and it is already about 14 feet tall, but they tend to get quite tall and narrow so i would suggest that you planted some smaller more compact tree underneath like Salix or some bushes, like 'Prunus laurocerasus' its an evergreen that can grow to maybe 10 feet in your zone. in between you could plant some Syringa's they look quite pretty in the spring with their purple flowers.

of course its kind of hard to suggest anything when i dont know what kind of living fence you want and where you live and how big an area we're talking about.

Neither Populus nor R. pseudoacacia are appropriate for most suburban lots.

But of course we don't know what the OP has, so maybe on 3ac away from structures and infra those would be OK.

Dan

Dawn Redwood

Depends on where you live as to whether a plant will be overly aggressive. Eastern Red Cedars rarely come up on their own here in my area of south East Texas.

Populus deltoides aka Cottonwood is an ordinance violation in our municipality. It will destroy sewer pipes, your foundation, your neighbors foundation, etc. The cotton producing also are deemed a nuisance since it clogs air conditioners. I read up on this tree after my neighbor planted, and trust me, this is one of those "WHAT TREES NOT TO PLANT IN RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPE".

We planted Popple aka quaking aspen, which I believe is also in the populus family, but it was planted only because we were ignorant at the time. It does grow fast, but it also sends suckers all over my yard. Easy enough to mow, but when you dig, there are roots EVERYWHERE. For now, we are managing the height by lopping the top off each year during dormancy, long term it will be removed (long story), but it's not a tree you want close to a foundation since they tend to hollow as they age. My popple will be replaced with a Serviceberry.

I get the whole privacy thing though. We are on top of our neighbors. I don't know if you are a fan of lilac shrubs, but they are pretty in bloom. If I had a larger lot, I'd incorporate a few of these in different colors with deciduous and evergreen trees. Green Giant is also tolerant of salt, FYI. Not sure if you are near a roadside. Canadian Hemlock???

Good luck!