The Best Privacy Hedges for Ontario

A Guide to Screening Plants That Thrive in Ontario's Climate

Whether you’re blocking a neighbour’s sightline, muffling road noise, or simply creating a more private outdoor space, a well-chosen hedge can do the job beautifully. Ontario's climate puts plants through their paces with cold winters, hot summers, and everything in between, so choosing the right species that achieves your goals is important. This guide walks through the key decisions: evergreen versus deciduous, plant species, height, fullness, and how much ongoing care you can expect to create your ideal privacy hedge.

We have focused this article on more formal, dense-coverage hedges with structured privacy in mind, highlighting those that are native to Ontario.

Evergreen vs. Deciduous: Privacy All Year or Just Part of It?

The most important decision you'll make when planning a privacy hedge is whether you want year-round screening or are comfortable with seasonal gaps. This comes down to one fundamental difference: evergreens keep their foliage through winter, deciduous plants do not.

Evergreen Hedges
Cedars, yews, boxwood, and other evergreens hold their foliage all twelve months. What you see in July is essentially what you get in January. This makes them the go-to choice for anyone who wants consistent, reliable privacy — especially important if your screening need is from a road, a neighbouring house, or a gathering area that gets used year-round. It's important to note that each plant has different species and varieties that can make a significant difference in growth habits, so do your research to ensure the variety you select has the characteristics that achieve your goals.

Deciduous Hedges
Shrubs like Nannyberry, Dogwood, and native viburnums put on a spectacular show in spring, summer, and fall — often with flowers, berries, and brilliant autumn colour — but they drop their leaves once temperatures dip. From roughly November through April, a deciduous hedge provides only a partial visual barrier. The branching structure does offer some screening, and in low-traffic or lightly observed areas this may be perfectly acceptable. But if your primary goal is privacy from a busy street or a close neighbour, a deciduous hedge on its own will leave you exposed for nearly half the year.

Common Plants Used as Privacy Hedges in Ontario

Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis)
The workhorse of Ontario hedgerows. White cedar fills out densely when topped, tolerates light shade and moist conditions, and grows to impressive heights without becoming unmanageable. It's the standard choice for full property screening and responds well to shearing. Cold-hardy and native to Ontario, it's well-adapted to our winters.

Emerald Cedar (Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd')
A cultivated form of white cedar with a tighter, more formal columnar profile. It grows to a neat point at the top, which means plants don't knit together as seamlessly as white cedars. Gaps between the pointed crowns can be visible, particularly when viewed from above or at an angle. Emerald cedars work well in formal settings or if you don't need a long wall-like hedge, but for a more full and seamless privacy wall, white cedar is typically the better performer.

Yew (Taxus x media or Taxus cuspidata)
Yews are among the most shade-tolerant hedging plants available and are exceptionally long-lived. They respond beautifully to pruning, can be shaped into tight formal hedges, and maintain a rich dark green colour year-round. Yews grow more slowly than cedars, which means less frequent trimming — but also a longer wait to reach full screening height. They're a better fit for medium-height screening needs or where a sculpted, formal look is the goal. Mature yews make excellent formal specimens. Note that yews are toxic to humans and animals, so this matters if children or pets have access to the area. Only one yew species is native to Ontario (Taxus canadensis), and it doesn't lend itself well to a formal hedge. The varieties most commonly used for hedging are non-native, so keep this in mind if native planting is a priority.

Boxwood (Buxus)
Boxwood is the classic low formal hedge — tidy, dense, and easy to shape. It's best suited to borders, foundation plantings, and garden edges where a refined look is the goal. Boxwood stays relatively compact, rarely exceeding a metre or so in height without significant time, making them less than ideal for tall privacy screening. Boxwood doesn't have strong branches and is sensitive to high prevailing winter winds, so annual burlap wrapping is recommended to protect it through Ontario winters (see Seasonal Maintenance below). It's the right plant for definition and structure, not seclusion. There are a bunch of different varieties of boxwood - Green Velvet, Green Mountain, and Chicagoland Green are superior for Ontario's cold hardiness zones.

Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa)
This Ontario native is a hardy, thicket-forming deciduous shrub, often used for erosion control, wildlife habitat, and naturalized landscapes. It grows 1–4 metres tall, featuring gray-brown bark, creamy-white flowers in spring, and white berries on red stalks in summer, thriving in diverse soils from full sun to partial shade. It spreads by suckers to form large colonies, making it ideal for screening and hedging, but it may require some maintenance to control spread.

Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago)
A native Ontario shrub that grows vigorously into a large, multi-stemmed screen. Nannyberry offers fragrant white flowers in spring, blue-black fruit attractive to birds in fall, and reasonable density through the growing season. Being deciduous, it loses its leaves in winter, but its height and arching habit create a naturalistic screen that suits informal or rural settings particularly well. If you're looking for a more natural look, Nannyberry doesn't need much pruning as it naturally has a rounded, globe-like growth habit.

Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)
Bayberry provides dark green foliage with a pleasant scent and is a native alternative to Boxwood. It stays a rich green through the hottest and driest summer months, and does best in full sun with medium to moist soil ranging from clay to sandy loam. Bayberry attracts birds and is drought tolerant, deer and rabbit resistant, and salt tolerant — making it a particularly good choice for exposed sites or properties near roads.

Columnar Trees for Maximum Height
Where height is the priority — screening a two-story view, for instance — columnar trees offer the best solution. Columnar forms of trees like Prairie Skyrise Columnar Aspen (Populus tremuloides), or Columnar Sugar Maple grow tall and narrow, taking up minimal horizontal space while providing significant vertical reach. These are particularly useful in tight spaces between properties where a wide hedge simply won't fit.

Height: Matching the Plant to the Screening Task

One of the most practical considerations is how tall you actually need your hedge to grow — and how quickly. Different plants max out at very different heights:

• Boxwood typically stays under 1 metre without many years of growth, making it suitable for low borders only

• Bayberry, Gray Dogwood, and Nannyberry commonly reach 2–4 metres, providing solid mid-level screening

• Yews can be maintained at almost any height through pruning, though they grow slowly

• Eastern White Cedar, left to grow freely or guided with light topping, commonly reaches 5–8 metres

• Columnar trees like Prairie Skyrise Columnar Aspen can ultimately exceed 11–13 metres, providing a skyline-level barrier

When planning, think not just about eventual height but about how long you're willing to wait. Cedars grow at a moderate pace — roughly 30–60 cm per year under good conditions — while columnar poplars are among the fastest-growing options if speed matters.

Fullness and Growth Habit: Getting the Look You Want

How a plant fills in horizontally is just as important as how tall it gets. Different species have distinctly different habits, and choosing the wrong form leads to frustration.

Eastern White Cedar, when topped regularly, branches out densely and the plants grow into each other to form a continuous wall. This “heading” encourages lateral branching and creates the seamless, solid look most people picture when they imagine a cedar hedge.

Emerald Cedar, by contrast, maintains its naturally narrow, pointed form even when trimmed. The tops taper to a point rather than flattening out, leaving visible gaps between plants — particularly noticeable in winter when viewed from certain angles. For a tight, gap-free hedge, white cedar is the better choice.

Yews are exceptional in this regard: they tolerate heavy pruning and can be shaped into almost any profile. A well-maintained yew hedge can be kept remarkably tight and uniform.

Gray Dogwood spreads by suckers and gradually forms a dense thicket rather than a tidy wall. This makes it excellent for naturalized or wildlife-focused screens, but it requires periodic management to keep it from spreading beyond its intended boundary.

Informal deciduous shrubs like Nannyberry grow in a more natural, arching form that suits relaxed, countryside-style settings but can look unkempt in a formal garden context if not managed.

Trimming: Keeping Your Hedge Dense and Tidy

All hedges benefit from pruning — even "informal" ones. Regular trimming encourages lateral branching, thickening the overall density of the plant. Without it, hedges tend to grow upward and outward with sparse interior branching, becoming leggy over time.

As a general rule:

• Cedar hedges benefit from a light shearing once or twice per year — typically in late spring after new growth emerges, and optionally again in late summer

• Yews are slow-growing and typically need only one trim per year, though they tolerate heavy cutting well if rejuvenation is needed

• Boxwood should be trimmed in late spring and again in late summer if a very tight edge is desired

• Deciduous hedges can be trimmed in late winter before new growth begins, or immediately after flowering if bloom time matters to you

When trimming cedars, avoid cutting back into old wood with no green foliage — cedars do not regenerate well from bare brown stems. Always leave some green growth on every cut branch.

Watering: Cedars Need Extra Attention Early On

Of all the common hedging plants, cedars are the most demanding when it comes to watering in the establishment phase. For the first two years after planting, cedars require consistent, deep watering — particularly during dry spells. Allowing young cedars to dry out can cause browning and dieback that's difficult to reverse.

Cedars also prefer naturally moist soil conditions. If you have a dry, sandy, or south-facing site that dries out quickly, cedars may struggle over the long term even after establishment. In those situations, yews (which are more drought-tolerant once established) or native shrubs adapted to drier conditions may be a better fit.

A soaker hose or drip irrigation system laid along the base of a new hedge makes consistent watering significantly easier and helps ensure uniform establishment along the full length of the planting.

Most other hedging plants — Yews, Boxwood, Dogwood, Nannyberry, Bayberry — are less demanding about watering once established, though all new plantings benefit from regular moisture in their first year.

Seasonal Maintenance: Protecting Hedges Through Ontario Winters

Ontario winters can be hard on hedges — not just because of cold temperatures, but because of the physical weight of heavy, wet snow accumulating on branches.

Young Plants: Burlap Protection

For the first few years, young hedge plants benefit from being wrapped in burlap before winter sets in. This is especially true for Boxwood, which can suffer from winter burn — a browning of foliage caused by desiccating winds and freeze-thaw cycles — and from branch breakage under snow loads. Burlap is best applied in late November before the ground freezes, and removed in early spring once temperatures are consistently above freezing. Avoid using plastic sheeting, which traps moisture and can cause more harm than good.

Boxwood: Wrap Every Year
Unlike cedars, which typically outgrow the need for burlap protection after a few seasons, boxwood should be wrapped every winter for the life of the plant. Boxwood is particularly vulnerable to the weight of Ontario's heavy, wet snow, which can splay and permanently damage branches. Annual burlap wrapping before the first snowfall is the most effective way to protect boxwood's shape and prevent breakage.

If wrapping boxwood feels like more maintenance than you bargained for, it's worth considering this trade-off at the planning stage. A low boxwood border alongside a cedar hedge can look stunning, but it does add a reliable annual task to the calendar.

Snow Removal
After heavy snowfalls, gently brush accumulated snow off hedge branches with a broom — working upward from beneath rather than pressing down. This is particularly important for cedars and yews that have been trimmed flat on top, as flat surfaces collect more snow than pointed or rounded profiles.

Choosing the Right Hedge for Your Property

There's no single "best" privacy hedge — the right choice depends on your specific situation: how much privacy you need and when, how much space you have, your soil and sun conditions, and how much ongoing maintenance you want to take on.

If year-round privacy is the priority and you have reasonable soil moisture, a well-established Eastern White Cedar hedge is hard to beat. It's also an Ontario native, so it's always our first recommendation. For formal gardens or shaded areas, yews are exceptional. Where height is critical and speed matters, columnar trees can reach screening heights faster than most shrubs. And for a naturalistic, wildlife-friendly screen in a more informal setting, native deciduous shrubs like Gray Dogwood or Nannyberry offer both function and ecological value.

Whatever you choose, consistent watering through the establishment phase and regular light trimming will give you a hedge that does its job beautifully for decades to come.