Many people are rediscovering the pleasure of staying at home. The gardens are perfect places to relax after the day. Screen plants can provide privacy in your garden, hide an unsightly area, and provide shade. Hopseed Bush, Brush Cherry, and Italian Cypress are three shrubs or small trees that are useful for screens, grow fast, or are drought tolerant. Some plants have all three qualities!

Creating your backyard paradise, these protective shrubs can also help create ‘walls’ to establish separate sections in a garden, so you can create different ‘garden rooms’ in your garden. Two of these are also good for planting in tight spaces between houses to help block out the world. Try these versatile plants in your Patch of Heaven:

Hop bush (Dodonae viscosa)

USDA Zone: 9-11

Sunset zone: 7-24

Sun: Full sun to partial shade

Water: moderate to low, drought tolerant

Hop Seed bushes come with bright lime green or dark purple leaves. Both versions have leaves about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide and are very glossy on multiple bushy branches. These drought-tolerant shrubs quickly grow to about 10 feet tall and nearly as wide. They take full sun to partial shade. Once established in the garden (1-2 years), they can survive on rain alone.

Hops bushes have a growth habit that is a bit airy, with lots of small branches, and the long leaves add to the lacy feel. They can be trimmed like hedges or trellises for a slightly denser effect. These are good for layering to create a full, lush feel on the edge. They’re perfect for the back of the bed (where the spray won’t reach), along fences, or as edge screens. In late spring, they develop large, papery seed pods, usually light brown, that stay for weeks and provide dramatic effect. Although the seed pods break down quickly in the ground, I do not recommend planting these shrubs near pools.

Brush Cherry, Carolina Laurel Cherry (Prunus caroliniana)

USDA Zone: 7 – 9

Sunset zone: 5 – 24

Sun: Full sun to partial shade

Water: moderate to low

Brush Cherry is another reliable and versatile garden shrub for quick screens and hedges. These bushes can grow up to 30 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet wide. Although I have seen mature stands of Carolina Laurel grow even larger. They can grow in full sun or partial shade. Once established, they can survive in drought conditions. However, in desert areas they prefer less sun and will appreciate more water during the hottest summer.

Brush Cherrys have a dense growth habit with many branches, so they are well suited to shearing as a hedge and can even be used for topiaries. If left untrimmed, they will still maintain their neat, bushy shape, but the inner growth will be leafless. They can also be trained as small multi-trunked trees. New growth is a rather reddish rusty color in the spring. They bear clusters of white flowers followed by clusters of small bright red cherries. Cherries can stain concrete and make a mess. If you don’t have enough birds in your area to care for the cherries for you, simply cut off the blossoms before they become established. This will also relieve the plant of the stress of producing seeds.

Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens)

USDA Zone: 7 – 9

Sunset zone: 4 – 24

Sun: Full sun to partial shade

Water: moderate to low, drought tolerant

Italian cypress trees are a familiar staple in the city, growing along border lines as tall screens. They grow up to 60 feet tall on single trunks and are usually 1-2 feet wide, but mature plants can be much wider. All cypress trees prefer full sun, but will tolerate partial shade and can survive on little water once they are established in a year or two.

Italian cypress trees are perfect shrubs for problem areas. They grow tall but are slim, so you can fit them into tight spaces. Their trunks will eventually reach about 12 inches in diameter, so your narrow bed should be at least that wide. Its growth habit is elegant and cylindrical, with most of its leaves pointing upwards. They lose a small amount of needles during the year, but litter is not a big problem with these trees. They don’t grow very fast the first year, but they will make up for their lack of growth in the second year. Continually trimming the top will result in a slightly thicker bush, but it is care-free and does not need trimming.

When planning for your shrubs to survive rain, it’s best to encourage deep root development early on by soaking your plants every few days rather than misting the topsoil every night. Even established plants appreciate a deep soak during a heat wave, when the weather has exceeded 100 degrees, or when it has been especially dry and windy.

These three plants are happily growing in my alkaline heavy clay soil in warm sunny Southern California. Good luck and happy gardening!