Many of us have an ambivalent relationship with the public and their view of our outdoor spaces. Sometimes we want to show off our hard work, and sometimes we crave privacy. Achieving a sense of seclusion and creating a sense of privacy in compact spaces often necessitates the strategic use of plants in containers. Crucially, plants that provide rapid, dense coverage work best. However, while many traditional privacy plants excel in the ground, their adaptability to containers is not always straightforward.
Some of the best plants for privacy, certain flowering climbers, trees, and shrubs, can be very effective at adding height, interest, and filtering out the view, but simply do not thrive in confined environments. Plants that prefer a deeper, cooler root run are off the list. But, happily, several fast-growing plants provide effective screening fast and are perfectly happy to live life in a container.
This guide delves into a curated selection of plants that meet both the aesthetic and functional demands of privacy screening, as well as demonstrating exceptional performance in containerised settings.
5 of the best container plants for privacy
1. Gardenia
Best for: balconies or patios
Gardenia is grown in pots all over the Mediterranean, and its hard not to notice it as you walk around, not least for its intense summer fragrance. It's a prolific bloomer, and its fragrance is even more beautiful than its flowers. Because its fragrance is so delightful, it is best on balconies or patios, where there is high footfall, and its perfume can be enjoyed.
A great gardenia variety for privacy is the 'August Beauty' gardenia available from Perfect Plants, which has attractive evergreen foliage and 3-inch wide flowers in summer.
It can get up to a staggering 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide and provides year-round privacy. You can grow gardenia across the southern United States in USDA growing zones 7-9, and it will live out its lifespan in a container more than happily. You can even grow gardenia indoors, too, if you want to create a natural screen against a door or window.
Plant it, and watch the butterflies descend.
2. Maiden Grass
Best for: Coastal areas or full sun
If you’re looking for something a little less structured, something softer and more ethereal, then ornamental grasses will deliver on the desired effect.
There are several miscanthus varieties to choose from, but Miscanthus gracillimus, available from Perfect Plants, also known as maiden grass, is perfect for containers and grows up to 7 feet tall at maturity, so it delivers on the privacy promise. It has an extremely high growth rate, and it can spread, so keeping it in an outdoor pot is not just possible, but preferred.
It's worth noting that it is a hardy warm-season grass, suited to being grown across the United States in growing zones 5-10. If you live by the ocean, Miscanthus gracillimus grass is salt tolerant, so it's an ideal coastal plant, as well as looking particularly well suited to coastal regions, with its graceful, whimsical foliage and feathery plumes, which make for wonderful movement in your outdoor space. It is a sun worshipper, so depriving it of sunlight will make for a stressed plant, so it's best kept in full sun.
3. Podocarpus
Best for: small spaces
Podocarpus is the second-largest conifer genus after pines, and some can grow to a whopping 20 feet tall. All in all, this doesn't sound like it would bode well as a small garden idea.
However, Podocarpus 'Pringles', from Perfect Plants is a particularly compact evergreen variety and perfect for tight spaces to add vertical interest and year-round privacy. Admittedly, it grows fairly slowly, eventually reaching about 5 feet, but what it lacks in speed, it more than makes up for in its dashingly handsome and unusual appearance.
Podocarpus is remarkably tolerant of shaping and conforms to quite literally any desired planting space. It looks particularly smart as a dense vertical hedge in containers - a superb living wall idea.
4. Camellia
Best for: dappled shade
These perennially popular evergreen shrubs have the most delightful double flowers that always look smart, sleek, and sophisticated. If space is at a premium, camellias are easily trained against walls and fences, and pleasingly, container garden ideas can provide them with the ideal growing conditions.
If you aren’t blessed with a south-facing plot and are looking for the prettiest evergreen plants that will thrive in a compact space and without the need for full-throttle sun, you can stop your search here.
There are many types of camellia, so if you’re weighing up several different cultivars, look for the ones that will reach 8 taller and wider proportions - and choose a large container to allow it to grow. You can see the range of camellias at Nature Hills here.
If you plan to grow camellias and want to know how best to prune camellias, happily, they only need pruning every few years, and not until they are about four years old. Camelias grow in USDA hardiness zones 7-10, and whilst they appreciate some sun, they are woodland dwellers, so certainly by the afternoon, they prefer the shade to protect them from the heat.
5. Japanese holly
Best for: Low-maintenance or formal gardens
A wonderful, triangular-shaped evergreen shrub, Ilex crenata, or Japanese holly, works beautifully in traditional gardens and structured landscapes. Particularly perfect for flanking elements around doorways. Because it is so dense, it is great for preventing unwanted observers from being able to see in, as well as blocking unwanted views.
Happily, minimal pruning is required to maintain its lovely shape, it's well-loved for being low maintenance. It can be pruned to shape annually, and its glossy, dark green foliage provides year-round coverage. An excellent choice for creating a living screen in urban gardens or along narrow walkways.
Container specimens do exhibit slightly more restrained growth, getting to around 3 feet in height and 4-5 feet in width, so it's particularly suitable if you’re looking for a manageable size without compromising on privacy. Japanese holly are hardy in USDA growing zones 5-9, but are extremely tolerant plants and will happily cope with colder and warmer climates too.
Shop beautiful garden containers
Extra large terracotta pots are a non negotiable in most, if not all gardens to my mind. These will weather naturally and always look tasteful.
Many flowering climbers would work well for privacy too. This moss green trellis incorporates a convenient self-watering system and works as an attractive privacy screen.
This oversized concrete planter is a real behemoth. It would look extraordinary in a modern statement garden filled with foliage.
Of course, many beautiful plants work to provide a sense of privacy, including pretty fragrant privacy plants, pleached trees, and in wider landscapes, tall evergreen hedging screens. If you are working with containers, though, these five plants will fit the bill and provide the same filtration of light and frame or block views as required.
