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Native hedges, screens and windbreaks: which trees to use and how far apart to set them
Natives for a clipped hedge, a year-round screen, a bird hedgerow or a windbreak: the spacing for each, how many rows a windbreak needs and which grow fastest.
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Which natives make a hedge, and how close to plant themWhich natives make a privacy screen, and which stay green in winterA hedgerow for fruit, cover and nestsA windbreak: which species, how many rows, how far apartWhy a mixed row outlasts a row of one speciesWhich natives take shearing, and which stay informalHow far from a property line, a wall or a driveWhere to startCommon questionsSourcesA hedge, a privacy screen, a hedgerow and a windbreak are four different plantings. A hedge is a row of shrubs kept to a line, set 1 to 2½ feet apart for shearing or 4 to 10 feet for natives left in their own shape. A screen blocks a view, so it must pass eye level, and only evergreens block it fully after leaf fall. A hedgerow is a wide, mixed band of shrubs and small trees 6 to 8 feet apart, grown for fruit, cover and nests. A windbreak takes at least three rows, two of them evergreen, set 16 feet or more apart and 75 to 100 feet or more from the house it shelters.
Which natives make a hedge, and how close to plant them
A sheared hedge needs trimming two or more times a year to stay dense, while an informal one keeps its natural shape and needs only thinning. Shrubs for shearing go 1 to 2½ feet apart, and shrubs grown naturally are spaced by their mature size.
Most native shrubs make informal hedges. These twelve are in our shop, the closest spacing first:
| Plant | Height, feet | Set apart, feet | Growth | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black chokeberry | 3–6 | 4 | Medium | Low hedge, wet or dry |
| Northern bayberry | 5–10 | 4 | Medium | Bird hedge on sand |
| Gray dogwood | 4–10 | 4 | Slow | Thicket screen |
| Washington hawthorn | 20–30 | 5 | Medium | Thorny hedge in sun |
| Silky dogwood | 6–12 | 5 | Medium | Bird hedge on wet ground |
| Winterberry | 6–12 | 5 | Medium | Wet hedge on acid soil |
| Arrowwood viburnum | 5–10 | 6 | Medium | Hedge in sun or shade |
| Spicebush | 6–12 | 6 | Medium | Screen in shade |
| Black elderberry | 6–12 | 6–8 | Fast | Fast informal screen |
| American hazelnut | 8–12 | 6–8 | Medium | Property-line hedge |
| Nannyberry | 12–18 | 6–8 | Medium | Tall screen |
| Blackhaw | 12–15 | 10 | Medium | Mixed hedge on dry ground |
Most of these grow about as wide as they are tall, so allow a strip that wide for an informal hedge. Our growth estimator puts a fast shrub at nearly 3 feet a year in youth, a medium one at about a foot and a half and a slow one at about a foot. New plants often add little in their first year while they root.
Which natives make a privacy screen, and which stay green in winter
A screen has to break the line of sight from eye level. Two or three staggered rows, each offset from the next, fill the gaps a single row leaves. Space the plants for their mature size rather than a quick effect, since crowded plants compete for water and light and decline.
Deciduous screens
Most fast natives for a screen are deciduous shrubs, black elderberry among them. Red elderberry makes a fast screen on cool sites, set 6 feet apart, and staghorn sumac a rough one on dry banks. A deciduous screen works mainly from leaf-out to leaf fall, though bare, twiggy shrubs still slow the wind, trap snow and give some privacy. American hornbeam and young oaks often hold their dead leaves well into winter, the habit called marcescence.
Evergreen screens
A view that must stay hidden in January needs evergreens, with deciduous shrubs mixed in. These native evergreens make a screen, coldest zone first:
| Plant | Zones | Height, feet | Growth | Set apart, feet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern white cedar | 2–7 | 40–60 | Slow | 10 |
| Rosebay rhododendron | 3–7 | 10–15 | Slow | 8 |
| Atlantic white cedar | 3–9 | 40–60 | Medium | 10 |
| Mountain laurel | 4–9 | 5–12 | Slow | 5 |
| American holly | 5–9 | 20–50 | Slow | 15 |
| Devilwood | 5–10 | 15–30 | Slow | 10 |
| Carolina hemlock | 6–7 | 40–60 | Slow | 15 |
| Yaupon | 7–9 | 10–25 | Medium | 8 |
Blue Whale Trees grows its American holly from one parent tree chosen for dense foliage and heavy fruit. Our fast evergreens are southern. Florida anise, hardy from zone 6, and Walter’s viburnum, from zone 7, add nearly 3 feet a year, though Walter’s drops some leaves in cold winters. Eastern red cedar is a moderate to fast evergreen on the screen lists.
A hedgerow for fruit, cover and nests
A hedgerow is a hedge left wide and mixed. Two rows of shrubs flanking a row of trees, each row about 10 feet from the next, make a band 20 feet wide. Plants go 6 to 8 feet apart in each row. Hedgerows work best for wildlife past 20 feet. The Vermont NRCS standard for wildlife hedgerows asks at least 30 feet at maturity and at least five native species.
Plant for a long run of fruit. In our Bird & Berry Hedgerow, serviceberry ripens in June, elderberry in August, and chokeberry and nannyberry in late summer and fall. Winterberry holds its fruit into February, and hawthorn and crabapple into spring. American plum makes a fast, thorny hedgerow along a fence line, its root sprouts coming up as much as 10 feet from the parent.
It closes as fast as its shrubs grow, nearly 3 feet a year for young elderberry and plum. Cut back the growth between the rows every two or three years, and prune in late winter, since March through August is nesting season.
A windbreak: which species, how many rows, how far apart
A windbreak shelters ground for 10 times its height downwind and twice its height upwind, reckoning the height of its tallest row at 20 years. It goes across the prevailing winter wind, usually on the north and west sides. Never close all four sides, which traps a pocket of dead air.
Rows and density
To shelter a house through winter, a windbreak must be at least 60 to 65 percent dense, and that takes two or more rows of evergreens. Deciduous trees alone reach no more than 50 percent once their leaves fall:
“Hardwood and deciduous trees, which shed their leaves in the fall, are not as effective as evergreen species for winter protection.” (Missouri Department of Conservation, Windbreaks)
Hardwoods grow faster and taller, so the guides mix the two. Three rows are the least that works: two of evergreens and an outside row of shrubs. The fullest design has eight rows in a band 110 feet wide, at least 16 feet apart, with the plants staggered from row to row:
| Row, windward side first | What goes in it | Set apart in the row, feet | Natives we grow |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Dense, low shrubs | 3–10 | Black chokeberry, gray dogwood, American hazelnut, northern bayberry |
| Second | Tall shrubs or small trees | 3–10 | Nannyberry, blackhaw, staghorn sumac, chokecherry |
| Third to sixth | Tall trees | 8–15 | Common hackberry, shagbark hickory, American basswood |
| Seventh and eighth | Evergreens, nearest the house | 10–15 small, 16–25 large | Northern white cedar; in the South, yaupon and devilwood |
Eastern white pine and white spruce, which with eastern red cedar are the usual native evergreens of a northern windbreak, are two we do not grow.
Where it stands
Set a windbreak 75 to 100 feet or more from the house and the drive, and no more than 350 to 400 feet away. Any closer, it piles snow by the house and blocks summer breezes. Extend the rows 50 to 100 feet past the buildings on the south and east ends, since drifts form at the row ends and the wind shifts.
Why a mixed row outlasts a row of one species
A row of one species is uniform and simple to trim, but one pest can open gaps along its whole length:
“If you have a screen consisting of just one kind of plant and a problem occurs, you risk losing the investment you made in an entire row of plants.” (University of Maryland Extension, Plants for Mixed Privacy Screens)
Native rows have such pests: viburnum leaf beetle strips arrowwood and nannyberry, and two or three years of it can kill a shrub. Hemlock woolly adelgid usually kills an infested hemlock within a few years unless it is treated. In a mixed row the loss of one plant shows less, and the mix feeds more wildlife. Windbreak guides ask for as many species as possible, too. The cost is the trim, since a mix cannot be sheared into one even shape.
American crabapple is very susceptible to cedar-apple rust, so it goes well away from red cedar. Washington hawthorn and downy serviceberry can show rust spots near junipers and red cedars.
Which natives take shearing, and which stay informal
Few natives take the shears:
- Take shearing: American hornbeam, northern white cedar, hemlock, yaupon, devilwood and Walter’s viburnum.
- Stay informal: most native shrubs, thinned rather than sheared. Heavy pruning weakens northern bayberry, and spicebush and arrowwood are shaped just after they bloom, on old wood.
For most yards, informal is the better choice:
“Most home gardeners would benefit most from selecting an informal hedge, as the maintenance requirements for a formal hedge are almost always more than anticipated.” (Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Selecting and Planting Hedges)
For a hedge of bare-root deciduous shrubs, cut them to 4 to 6 inches at planting so they branch from the ground. Shear young and often, with the base kept wider than the top so light reaches the lower branches. Hornbeam is cut in summer, since late-winter cuts can bleed sap.
How far from a property line, a wall or a drive
Set a row half its mature spread in from the property line to keep the crowns on your side, about 5 feet for nannyberry. The same half-spread keeps branches off a drive. Ohio’s NRCS standard sets every windbreak row at least 8 feet from a property line, a fence or a road, unless the neighbors agree to share it. Each planting wants its own distance from a house or a path:
| Planting | From a house, a wall or a path |
|---|---|
| American plum | 15 feet |
| Washington hawthorn | 12 feet, and back from paths |
| Black elderberry and American hazelnut | 10 feet |
| Northern bayberry | 5 feet |
Suckering shrubs cross lines on their own, so leave a mowed strip at the edge of gray dogwood, sumac or plum. The site check grades a spot against each plant’s own distance, and this link opens on American plum 15 feet from a wall.
Where to start
Choose the job, then the plants:
- A hedge or a screen: the shrubs and evergreens in the tables above, or the native shrubs in our shop.
- A hedgerow: the Bird & Berry Hedgerow, seven fruiting natives hardy together in zones 4 through 8, with the small trees set at the ends and along the back.
- A windbreak: evergreen rows nearest the house and a shrub row to windward, with each species tested in the site check.
Plant while dormant in a strip cleared of grass, mulch with leaves, and cage or fence young rows for two years. The companion species tool opens on nannyberry, a hedgerow anchor, and lists the natives that share its ground.
Common questions
Can American hornbeam be used as a hedge?
Yes, it is one of the few natives that takes shearing, and it often holds its dead leaves well into winter. It grows about a foot a year in moist soil, sun or shade, and is trimmed in summer.
How far apart should hedgerow plants be?
Set shrubs and trees 6 to 8 feet apart in a row, with the rows 8 to 10 feet apart. A hedgerow works best for wildlife once it is wider than 20 feet, about three rows.
What is the fastest growing native privacy screen?
Black elderberry and American plum add nearly 3 feet a year when young, but both are bare in winter. For evergreen privacy at that pace, Florida anise and Walter’s viburnum grow from zones 6 and 7 south.
Does spicebush make a good hedge?
Yes, an informal one for part or full shade: set plants 6 feet apart, three to five of them so a male grows among the fruiting females. Shape it just after its March bloom, since it flowers on old wood.
How many rows does a windbreak need?
Three at the least: two rows of evergreens and an outside row of shrubs. The fullest farmstead design has eight rows in a band about 110 feet wide.
Sources
- Selecting and Planting Hedges: Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (Aaron Steil and Richard Jauron, reviewed April 2026): sheared and informal hedges and their trimming, spacing of 1 to 2½ feet for shearing and by mature size otherwise, deciduous screens in winter, single-species and mixed hedges, cutting bare-root shrubs back at planting, the wider base, the quotation on informal hedges, and hornbeam, arborvitae and hemlock rated for shearing.
- Plants for Mixed Privacy Screens: University of Maryland Extension (Christa Carignan, updated April 2026): the quotation on losing a row of one kind, crowded plants that compete and decline, spicebush among the shrubs for privacy in shade, and eastern red cedar among the native evergreens for privacy.
- Mixed Screens: Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home and Garden Information Center: staggered rows offset to fill gaps, spacing by mature size rather than for a quick effect, evergreens for year-round cover with deciduous plants mixed in, and eastern red cedar rated moderate to fast.
- Creating a Wild Backyard: Hedgerows: Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife and Heritage Service: hedgerows that work best for wildlife past 20 feet wide, trees and shrubs 6 to 8 feet apart, rows 8 to 10 feet apart, two shrub rows flanking a row of trees in a band 20 feet wide, and cutting back between the rows every two or three years.
- Conservation Practice Standard: Hedgerow Planting, Code 422: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Vermont (April 2011): breaking the line of sight from eye level, and at least five native species and a width of at least 30 feet at maturity for wildlife food and cover.
- Hedgerows for the Home Garden: Penn State Extension (Holly List, Penn State Master Gardener, updated September 2026): pruning a hedgerow in late winter because March through August is nesting season.
- Windbreaks for Iowa: Iowa State University Extension and Outreach: windbreaks on the north and west sides and never all four, 100 to 400 feet from the house, rows extended 50 to 100 feet past the buildings, the eight-row design 110 feet wide and the three-row minimum, spacing within and between rows, the staggered pattern, as many species as possible, and the species often used in Iowa windbreaks.
- Conservation Practice Standard: Windbreak/Shelterbelt Establishment, Code 380: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ohio (October 2017): protection for 10 times the height of the tallest row at 20 years downwind and twice it upwind, at least 65 percent density to shelter buildings, the windward row at least 75 feet from a building or road, rows at least 8 feet from a property line, a fence or a road, and a mix of species against pests.
- Windbreak Density: Rules of Thumb for Design: USDA National Agroforestry Center, Agroforestry Note 36 (Richard Straight and James Brandle, 2007): more than 60 percent density for farmsteads and structures, at least two rows of conifers to reach it, and no more than 50 percent from deciduous trees alone in winter.
- Windbreaks: Missouri Department of Conservation: the quotation on deciduous trees in winter, faster and taller hardwoods mixed with evergreens, staggered rows, and a middle row at least 100 feet from buildings and roads.