Best Evergreen Trees for Privacy Screening in Iowa

Privacy is one of the main reasons homeowners in Cedar Falls call us about planting trees. They want to block the view from a neighbor's second-story window, screen out the road noise, or create a private outdoor room where they can relax without feeling like they are on display. Evergreen trees are the best tool for that job because they keep their foliage year-round. A deciduous tree gives you privacy for half the year and bare branches the other half. Evergreens screen every day of every season. The trick is picking the right species for your space and your goals.

Arborvitae is the most popular evergreen screen in Iowa, and it is hard to beat for most situations. Techny and Emerald Green are the two varieties we plant most often. Techny grows to about 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide, with dense, dark green foliage that stays thick from the ground up. It handles Iowa winters well and does not brown out from windburn like some other evergreens. Emerald Green stays narrower at 3 to 4 feet wide and grows to 12 to 14 feet tall. That narrow profile makes it a great choice for smaller lots where space is tight. Space them 3 to 4 feet apart for a solid screen that fills in within a few years. Arborvitae prefers full sun but will tolerate some light shade, though the foliage will be less dense on the shady side.

White pine gives you a softer, more natural-looking screen that grows fast. In good soil with adequate moisture, white pine can put on 2 to 3 feet of new growth per year. That speed makes it a good choice if you want quick results. The needles are soft and blue-green, and the overall shape is looser and more open than arborvitae. White pine works best on larger properties where you have room for a tree that can reach 50 to 80 feet at maturity. It does not like heavy clay soil that stays wet, so it is not the best choice for every yard in Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Black Hawk County. But on the right site with good drainage, it is hard to beat for fast, economical screening.

Colorado blue spruce offers a formal, pyramidal shape that makes a strong architectural statement. The blue-green needles hold their color all year and stand out against the green of most other evergreens. Blue spruce grows slowly, maybe 6 to 12 inches per year, but it lives for decades and becomes a specimen tree that anchors the landscape. The lower branches stay on the tree as it grows, creating a full screen from ground level up. The trade-off is that blue spruce can get quite large, 40 to 60 feet tall and 15 to 20 feet wide at maturity. Give it plenty of room. It also needs good air circulation to prevent needle cast diseases, which can be a problem in our humid summers.

There are other options worth considering depending on your specific conditions. Eastern red cedar, which is actually a juniper, is native to Iowa and extremely tough. It handles drought, poor soil, and wind better than any other evergreen we plant. It grows in a pyramid shape and gets 30 to 40 feet tall. The foliage is dark green with a slight blue tint in winter. It is an underrated choice for challenging sites where other evergreens would struggle. Norway spruce is another good option for large properties. It grows fast, handles our climate well, and has dark green needles that hold up better than Colorado spruce in the winter wind.

Spacing is one of the most common mistakes people make with evergreen screens. Plant them too close together and they compete for light and nutrients, getting thin and leggy at the bottom. Plant them too far apart and the screen never fills in. For most evergreens, spacing them at half their mature width gives you a solid screen while leaving room for each tree to develop naturally. That means 4 to 5 feet apart for arborvitae and 6 to 8 feet apart for pines and spruces. We design and install evergreen screens for homeowners all over Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Black Hawk County. If you want privacy in your yard and are not sure which trees to plant, give us a call. We will look at your property and make a recommendation that fits.