Sharing 3 of the best tall shrubs & privacy plants for shade that will grow fabulously under trees while looking pretty & providing curb appeal at the same time!
We live on a busy road & having privacy in our front yard is VERY important to us! Since fences can only be so tall, we added some tall privacy shrubs that would grow taller than our privacy fence.
Our privacy plants for shade needed to grow well with tall pine & spruce trees we have in our front yard.
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3 of the Best Tall Shrubs & Privacy Plants for Shade
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As they say in the gardening world, fall is for planting 🙂 so we decided to take advantage of cooler temperatures and do just that!
Because the road we live on is quite busy and the kids and Moose (our dog) play outside A LOT it was important to us to not only have more tall shrubs & privacy plants for shade but also have the front of our property look pretty & maintain some curb appeal.
We also were hoping to lessen the noise of the large mac trucks that regularly drive on our street, ha!
Planting Site, Zone & Soil PH to consider for Privacy Plants for Shade
Our front is fairly shady due to some very tall pine trees and a very old maple tree so we knew we had to chose tall shrubs & privacy plants for shade that were happy with some shade or were shade tolerant.
We live in planting zone 6 & the spot we planted our tall shrubs & privacy plants for shade is definitely part sun to part shade.
Our soil is also very acidic thanks to all the pine needles so we made sure the plants we bought can handle acidic soil.
Here are the 3 Best Privacy Plants for Shade we Planted
Skip Laurel – Tall Shrub or Privacy Plants for Shade that Can Handle Sun Too
The is HANDS DOWN one of my favorite evergreen tall shrub or privacy plants for shade!
It has dark shiny leaves and it has white flowers in the spring as well as dark berries in the fall.
It can be planted in full shade or full sun so it is very versatile.
It’s a perfect under story shrub for shady areas that is very dense. It grows 10 -12 feet tall by half as wide.
We have since planted them all along the outside & inside of our privacy fence.
They are not terribly cheap so we chose our planting spots very carefully.
We planted the skip laurels every other fence post or every 16 feet in front of our privacy fence.
Just look at how big they get after 5 years & look great as tall shrubs & privacy plants for shade!
Prairie Fire Crabapple Tree
We loved the idea of lining our property with pretty flowering deciduous trees.
This type of Crabapple is great because it doesn’t get terribly tall or wide only (15-20 feet wide & tall).
And…It does not need full sun which makes it a beautiful addition to our privacy plants for shade.
It turns a beautiful dark pink in spring & orange in the fall.
It also has red crabapples that stay on the tree well into winter that look beautiful contrasting with the snow.
We have since planted 5 of these trees, 3 we planted our first fall here & are growing splendidly.
I found them at Lowes for less than $30 each for a 5-6 foot tree.
Allegheny Viburnum
This semi-evergreen shrub grows over 10 feet tall and wide.
It also likes to be planted in part sun & it is a great tall shrub or privacy plants for shade.
It has white flowers and well as red berries.
I am not going to lie this privacy screen plant was an absolute beast to put in!
This guy flanks our driveway entrance opposite our giant old Maple tree so it was important to us to plant something pretty with year round interest.
We really wanted to get a Shade plant or shrub that would give us instant privacy so we bought a BIG one.
Jason was determined to save the $50 delivery fee so we brought this one home ourselves.
Against the advice of our local nursery I might add!
We rolled it off our truck using plywood & tarps.. We rolled, pulled & pushed it into it’s massive 5 foot wide 3 foot deep hole… Fun times 🙂
Overall, I am really happy with the privacy plants for shade we chose to place along the front.
I love how they all have year round interest & it will be fun to watch these tall shrubs & privacy plants for shade grow & slowly create a privacy fence for us.
Growth of Tall Shrubs & Privacy plants for shade after 5 years!
2 More Outdoor DIY projects for shade we did to add privacy to our farmhouse was to add the Cedar Privacy Fence to the front & adding a DIY Square Lattice Fence for Privacy to the back of our property for privacy off our kitchen deck.
by Tara Lehman
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Great tips, Tara! We’re planning to add more landscaping to our backyard this spring and this is exactly what I need!
Thank you so much Amy! Good luck with your landscaping this spring. I hope you had a great weekend. Take care, Tara
We are finally in our new home, the sod is in and fences are up; we had some landscaping done but with it being so late in they year to plant trees we have to wait for Spring, thank you for your insight and suggestions, they are on my Nursery/Landscape Wants list. First visit to your site, found you on DIY. 🙂 really like your site.
Hi Maggie, Congrats on your new home and good luck with your landscaping this spring! Thanks so much for your sweet comments about my site. Take care, Tara