Best Fast-Growing Trees for Privacy Zone 5b

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Hello,

We are building a home on acreage in NE Indiana (zone 5b). We had a mound created from the excavation of our drive. The plan is to place trees on the mound to shield the neighboring subdivision from our land (20+ acres). What are your suggestions for fast growing privacy trees? I would like to plant several species to keep it somewhat natural looking and to add color in the fall. We plan to add a few evergreens but are looking at other options as well. We do have a lot of clay in our soil. Thanks so much!

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NHBabs z4b-5a NH

8 years ago

My soil is quite different from yours, so I won't make many specific tree suggestions, but here are some general guidelines to think about. Good decision to mix species since it will help prevent disease issues as well as look more natural. Plan to plant in a staggered fashion at least a couple of layers deep, and include some shrubs or understory trees to help fill in along with the evergreens. This will also help make it look more natural. While you may want some faster growing trees, they tend to be also weaker-wooded and more prone to breakage in storms as well as shorter lived, so use slower growing trees as well. Using largely native trees will make it look more like a naturally occurring woodland. If you have a trailer with a tank or some other way to water the trees easily during the first growing season or two, they will fare better than if left to their own devices. Mulch will also reduce competition from weeds and grass and help maintain moisture, though keep it away from trunks. Read up on proper planting techniques to be sure you don't set them back by amending planting holes or burying the root flare.

You may find also that having some smaller shrubs closer to your home to block specific views will help while the trees grow.

A few favorites that grew well in the clay soil of northern and central OH where I grew up are sugar maple, scarlet oak, and redbud. Spicebush is a large shrub that is good for its tiny early blossoms, berries, spectacular clear yellow fall color, and food for spicebush swallowtail butterflies.

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Select Landscapes of Iowa
8 years ago
Exclamation Planetree, Autumn Fantasy/Redpointe/Fall Fiesta Maples, Triumph Elm, Any Honeylocust, Arborvitae or Norway Spruce for evergreens, Any Linden (if Japanese Beetles aren't an issue), Emerald Avenue Hornbeam, and many oaks- Bur Oak (or the cultivar Urban Pinnacle), Regal Prince Oak, Red & Scarlet Oak, etc... Lots of choices and do think it is best to try and plant for diversity.
gondola75 thanked Select Landscapes of Iowa
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OK, I just found a potential tree for you! How about a Black Alder tree? I was researching Nitrogen Fixing trees and found this, then I thought about you :) http://advancedtree.com/tree_blackalder.htm "The Black Alder grows vigorously and has a central leader tendency. Its leaves remain dark, glossy green late into the fall. The Alder converts nitrogen from the air into its own fertilizer, producing a growth rate of up to 6 feet per year. With a total growth of 60ft by 20 to 24ft, it can be used as a screen or shade tree. (For Screening and windbreak plant trees 6 to 10 ft. apart.) The Black Alder needs plenty of moisture to get established and will grow in heavily compacted soil if a moderate amount of water is available. Alder will grow in extremely wet conditions." It grows in zones 4-7. I'm thinking of planting this in my side yard to replace a giant old Spruce that was uprooted during a Nor'Easter last month. I need some fast privacy and the soil is pure clay. 25 feet wide is perfect, and 60 ft. high isn't bad either. You will have a hard time finding something that fits your height requirement that doesn't require maintenance, so this seems to fit the bill best.
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HELP! Three weeks ago we bought a house in Zone 15 (Central Coast of California, "frost-free" area about 1/4 mile from ocean, no salt spray, wind-sheltered), tore out the raggedy old plantings and now face the street with no privacy! There's an live oak and a Giant Sequoia along our street frontage, so there's partial shade and the soil is acid. We need 2 or 3 types of fast-growing shrubs for privacy (allowed to grow naturally - we don't want a pruned, uniform hedge.) Need to reach 10 feet, if possible. Would any of these work for us? NEAR/UNDER THE OAK: purple hopseed bush (dodonea viscosa), bay laurel (laurus nobilis), mock orange (pittosporum tabira) or escallonia rubra. NEAR/UNDER THE REDWOOD: camellia, carpenteria, pittosporum tabira, laurus nobilia, rhododendron. Thanks!
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pix are worth a bazillion more of your nice words ... i cant understand a plant that remains only 3 feet wide.. but will get to 20 feet ... very limited selection ... annual growth is a function of first.. getting established.. and then genetics ... fert does not and will not change genetics.. and fertilizing a plant that frankly.. will never need fert.. is not the way to make them grow faster or better ... you need to start thinking in terms of garden or tree years ... rather than the wish for instant gratification of making neighbors disappear ... for that you need a pergola ... or some such ... ken https://www.google.com/search?q=pergola&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=CuiSVe3pAYeWNt2vgvgH&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=874&bih=745&dpr=0.9
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edlincoln
8 years ago
You can't get much faster then plain old white pine in Zone 5...and anything faster will be short lived.
Tulip Poplar? Baldcypress? Sycamore?

Since most fast growing trees tend to be short lived and weak wooded, be sure to plant some "understudy" trees for when the fast growing ones inevitable start to drop branches and die off.
gondola75 thanked edlincoln
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
8 years ago
Ed, white pines/Pinus strobus are common in New England, but not in IN, IL and OH or the southernmost parts of the other Great Lakes states of MN, WI, and MI. I don't know if it's climate or soil or a combination of the two. I am not sure how well they grow there - perhaps not quite as well as in this part of the country.
gondola75 thanked NHBabs z4b-5a NH
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
dont plant anything that claims to be fast growing ...

fast to grow.. fast to problems... fast to disease.. and death ... in tree years of course...

ken
gondola75 thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
wisconsitom
8 years ago
....and I will now, as I always do when Ken makes that claim, lay it to rest: True enough, there are some tree types which are both fast-growing and short-lived. True enough, there are some trees considered slow-growing which are also long-lived. But that simply does not indicate that this maxim is always-or even usually-true. Take one tree mentioned above-white pine. It is always and everywhere considered a fast grower. So how short is the lifespan of white pine? In good conditions, right around 500 years! Is that a short lifespan? No, I didn't think so.

Let's look at a couple more examples: Out in northern California and parts of neighboring Oregon, they've got this little tree called coast redwood. Extremely fast-growing, these things only last for a couple thousand years. Red pine-a tree which is planted by the millions in my state, is a fast grower and only good for about 400 years. See where this is going? You may have noted my examples are all conifers. There's a lesson in there for those who will learn. For those who won't, well, you've got Ken's pronouncement!

I would also like to disabuse any reader of the notion that white pine's range is limited to only far-northern regions of the Great Lakes states. A trip to Wisconsin Dells, the famous vacation land in my states south-central section would reveal white pines of extremely high quality and size that would rival those from nearly any other area. Likewise, in the Twin Lakes area which actually straddles the Wisconsin/Illinois border, white pine is numerous and healthy. All I'm saying is, regional differences matter, and in many cases matter far more than generalities.

Best Fast-Growing Trees for Privacy Zone 5b

NHBabs z4b-5a NH

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edlincoln

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