my neighbor has a dense yaupon hedge but I don't know how long it took to get that way (older house).

I've done this and have the same "soil" that you have. I planted 15 yaupon hollies as a hedgerow about 10 years ago. I considered everything, but decided on the yaupons (Pride of Houston). If I remember, I got the 2 gal. size (budget issues and that was the largest hole I figured I could dig). I planted them about 7 feet apart and they are now about 5+ ft. tall. They still are not touching, but they are getting close. They would be denser if I had pinched the tips, but I have left them to do their thing. They grew much faster last year when we had so much rain in the summer, and I did fashion a cheap watering system for them, which I use once in a while. They do put on a show with the berries every winter and the mockingbirds love them. I would recommend them, but they aren't going to "fill in" your space in a couple of years. Hope that helps.
Carla in Leander

I don't think Pride of Houston (which I have) grows as fast as the male yaupons because the Pride of Houston expends alot of energy on the massive berry production. The neighbors on either side and across the street have the male yaupons and they are dense and have grown pretty fast, although I think you are looking at 5+ years if you start out with less than 5gal containers. If you want berries, plant a couple or so of the Pride of Houston, and use males for the rest.
Elaeagnus might work, it's reported to be invasive and some don't like it for that reason. I have only 1, and so far it's not been a problem,and is getting pretty dense. They will both get taller than 8ft, so if you can't handle taller and you don't want to trim alot, look for something else.

Photinia...I know that people sneer at it for being too common, but I LOVE photinia for fast hedges. I plant one-gallons and cut their tips and water them a lot, and I get good barriers in less than three years. No thorns, just dense bushes. They are not delicate or demanding. Hard to beat for that application.

Photinia is absolutely beautiful but it is prone to fungus so I don't think I'd plant them densely.

I think red tip photinias are beautiful when they are healthy. I think the problem with photinias is that they get so large and are usually planted where they have to be pruned severely and constantly to keep to a "size", and that weakens them and they are susceptible to fungus and disease. I've seen them where they are allowed to grow to their full potential and they look gorgeous and healthy. They would get waaaaayy bigger than 8 feet though. Chinese photinia might work. They are very pretty too.

I really hate to suggest this, but eleagnus loves those conditions and is extremely fast growing. However, it is on the Texas invasive list. I planted some against a chain link fence to screen off my neighbor. I bought a gallon size pot because I knew the soil was shallow & I would have to chip out rock to plant it.

It makes fruit that birds (and my dog) love, and I guess the birds and squirrels are planting them in my flower bed. I would say wind, but it's only in my flower beds where the ground is soft.

I didn't know pinching the tips would make a yaupon denser. I'll have to remember that trick. Also didn't know that the males grow faster.---Hmmm. I do need them to be big fast though.

While I love the intense red color of a Photinia, I probably won't use it because we had a gorgeous hedge of them at our old house, and one by one they developed fungal leaf spot and died.--Spraying with a fungicide didn't do a thing, nor did making the soil extra rich. I too have heard if you let Photonias grow to be the tree they really want to be that they're healthier, but for what I need, I can't do that. (There is a Photinia growing in the courtyard of Bedicheck Middle School in Austin that is phenomenal, but it has grown into a tree, not a bush.)

I'll have to do some research on eleagnus because I'm not that familiar with it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Redthistle,

This is years later, but I'm wondering what you decided in the end. I need to plant for privacy and am wondering how your hedge turned out?

Xtal

Temple

Glad you posted pics of the shrubs. A friend suggested a Yaupon hedge. She said I'd be surprised at how fast they grow. In the upper pictures is a taller plant. Is that also a Yaupon?

Thanks for sharing these.

No that's a tree in the back yard.