Privacy with Plants: The Best Ideas for Your Dense Hedge

Are you looking for an attractive privacy screen for your garden or terrace? Then choose a living plant privacy screen - not a dull lamella. Plant privacy screens bring countless benefits and can quickly provide a secure and private atmosphere with the right selection of species. Read for yourself!

Hedges, the perfect privacy screen for the garden

Even though there are many options to protect your garden from prying eyes: hedges are undoubtedly the first choice for that. Just 50 years ago, mainly Thuja and Ligustrum were planted to ensure privacy in the garden or hide unsightly corners - today, many consider these robust shrubs as "green walls". Luckily, we now have a huge selection of different plants available that are suitable as privacy hedges. Many of them also offer additional qualities. How about the shiny-leafed holly Devil's Dream®, for example, ...

... a hedge that is not always just boring green but brings vibrant color and variety to your garden?

... a hedge that changes its appearance throughout the year and adds its own charm to each season?

... a hedge that serves as a nectar source for bees and other endangered insects during flowering and spoils birds with its berries in autumn?

... a hedge whose fruit decoration can also be used as durable home decoration in winter?

Ambience photo Devils Dream hedge

New favorite: Devil's Dream®, a hedge beauty with real added value

Admittedly, the red tip photinia (Photinia fraseri) with its interesting color change has been a popular alternative to traditional beech, privet or thuja hedges for several years. However, many garden owners found their growth too loose to feel truly protected.

A new variety changes that radically: Devil's Dream®, with its shorter shoots and good branching, forms a dense hedge after just a few years. Devil's Dream® grows loosely upright and bushy, with strong branching. Regular pruning further promotes branching, but is not necessarily required: those who prefer can let their privacy hedge grow naturally - Devil's Dream® looks just as good in its natural form as it does when neatly trimmed.

Another important difference compared to other privacy hedges or other Photinia varieties: Devil's Dream®, with its shiny, intensely fiery red sprouting, is probably the most color-intensive Photinia available.Thus, the visual barrier becomes the protagonist of garden design!

Devild Dream hedge as privacy screen in the garden

Would you like a little more?

Reliable privacy protection with spectacular color change, bee-friendly, bird food, and Christmas decoration - that's quite a lot of advantages for a privacy plant all at once. Surprisingly, the list of benefits of Devil's Dream® doesn't end there. Because Devil's Dream® is versatile like the yew, uncomplicated like the privet, easy to trim like the thuja, and diverse like the beech hedge. Its winter hardiness of up to -20 °C is also impressive and a compelling reason to choose this plant for privacy protection. After all, who wants their privacy to waver in freezing temperatures?

Red Leaves Devils Dream

Tip: Variable screening with plants in pots

Sometimes you want a cozy corner on the terrace all to yourself, and other times you want to shield a big terrace party from the prying eyes of neighbors. In these cases, choose a screening made of potted plants! By using planters on wheels or placing existing pots on plant rollers, you can always move your screening to wherever you need it. The Photinia fraseri Devil's Dream® is perfectly suited for this, as it is also great as a potted plant. Other screening plants that are happy to be part of this flexible program include certain varieties of thuja, firethorn, and barberry.

Even more ideas for your privacy screen made of plants

Maybe there are areas in your garden where you would like to have privacy screening but not a hedge. In that case, other plants that are dense and tall enough to provide the necessary protection are recommended. Here is a small selection: Grasses:

  • such as bamboo pampas grass, or certain varieties of Chinese reed
  • Perennials: such as Joe Pye weed and specific varieties of verbena or meadow rue
  • Climbing plants on trellises: such as clematis, honeysuckle, or rambling roses
  • Espaliers made of fruit trees or berry bushes
Devils Dream Hedge with wooden tool shed

And here's another tip

If you need screening that prevents views from above - for example, if your neighbor's window on the first floor directly overlooks your terrace - evergreen espalier trees on standard stems can be a great choice. They are also a smart solution if a lower wall needs to be raised upwards. The Photinia fraseri Devil's Dream® can be easily trained as a standard stem due to its excellent pruning tolerance, although not as a narrow espalier tree. Even in this "screening at a higher level," Devil's Dream® develops its enchanting color appearance. A true highlight as a visual barrier!