7 Best Arborvitae Varieties for Privacy Screens in the US (And Where to Buy Them Online)
For homeowners, property managers, and landscaping professionals dealing with open sightlines, road noise, or neighboring structures, dense evergreen screening is rarely a decorative decision. It is a functional one. The choice of plant determines how quickly a barrier forms, how well it holds through winter, and how much maintenance the screen demands over the following decade. Getting that choice wrong—selecting a variety that thins at the base, grows too slowly, or fails in regional conditions—means starting over with significant time and cost already spent.
Arborvitae has become one of the most widely used screening trees in the United States precisely because the genus covers a broad range of climates, growth habits, and site conditions. But not all arborvitae perform equally. Some varieties are bred for narrow urban lots. Others are built for exposed, wind-heavy sites. A few are suited to the wet soils of the Pacific Northwest, while others tolerate the cold, dry winters of the upper Midwest. Understanding these differences before purchasing is what separates a screen that works from one that requires constant replacement or correction.
Why Arborvitae Dominates Residential and Commercial Privacy Plantings
Arborvitae—species within the genus Thuja—are cone-bearing evergreens that retain dense foliage from the ground up, which is the defining characteristic of any effective privacy planting. Unlike deciduous trees that lose coverage for several months each year, or evergreens that tend to thin at the lower canopy as they mature, most arborvitae varieties hold their branch density at eye level throughout their lifespan. This makes them structurally reliable for screening purposes rather than simply ornamental.
The genus also responds predictably to spacing, which matters in both residential and commercial applications. Plant them at consistent intervals and the canopy eventually closes into a continuous wall. Plant them too far apart and the screen never fills. That predictability—something not all fast-growing trees offer—is a significant reason property developers, municipalities, and landscape contractors return to arborvitae repeatedly.
For those evaluating arborvitae for sale from nurseries or online growers, it is worth understanding that variety selection directly affects how soon a planting reaches functional screening height, how the tree behaves in your specific soil and climate, and what the long-term maintenance load looks like. Purchasing the wrong cultivar for a site is one of the most common and avoidable mistakes in privacy screen planning.
The Difference Between Species-Level and Cultivar-Level Selection
There are two primary species used in privacy screen applications in the US: Thuja occidentalis, the Eastern or Northern White Cedar, and Thuja plicata, the Western Red Cedar. Within each species, dozens of cultivars have been developed and selected for specific growth characteristics—height limits, column width, soil adaptability, and cold hardiness among them.
Selecting at the species level without attention to the cultivar often produces unpredictable results. Two trees sold simply as “arborvitae” from different nurseries may have meaningfully different growth rates, mature widths, and winter browning tendencies. Named cultivars exist precisely to give buyers a consistent, documented set of performance characteristics. When reliability matters—which it always does in screening applications—cultivar selection is not optional.
Green Giant Arborvitae
Green Giant is a hybrid between Thuja plicata and Thuja standishii, developed for its exceptional growth rate and broad climate adaptability. It is one of the most widely planted privacy screen trees in the eastern and central United States and has become a standard recommendation for properties that need substantial coverage within a few growing seasons. Its dense, pyramidal form holds well without pruning, and it tolerates both heat and moderate drought better than many Thuja occidentalis cultivars.
Where Green Giant Performs Best
Green Giant is particularly well-suited to USDA hardiness zones five through eight, which covers most of the eastern seaboard, the mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, and parts of the Midwest. It does not perform as reliably in zones three and four, where prolonged hard winters can cause significant winter burn or dieback. Its root system also prefers well-drained soil, and sites with persistent standing water or heavy clay require soil amendment or a different variety.
The tree’s rapid vertical growth makes it a frequent choice for properties where the goal is to establish a mature-looking screen in a compressed timeline. However, its eventual size—significantly taller than most residential lots require—means it is better suited to larger properties or commercial sites where height is not a constraint.
Emerald Green Arborvitae
Emerald Green, also sold under its Danish cultivar name ‘Smaragd,’ is a compact, slow-growing selection of Thuja occidentalis. It maintains a narrow, upright form throughout its life and rarely requires pruning to hold its shape. This predictability in form and modest mature size make it the most common choice for residential privacy screens where space along a property line is limited.
Reliability in Cold Climates
One of Emerald Green’s defining characteristics is its consistency in cold hardiness zones, performing reliably from zone three through zone eight. According to the USDA’s plant hardiness guidelines, this range encompasses most of the contiguous United States, which explains why the cultivar has become a near-universal recommendation in northern states where other varieties struggle to overwinter without significant damage.
Its foliage retains a consistent green color through winter without the bronze or brown discoloration seen in some other Thuja occidentalis cultivars. For property owners who depend on year-round visual screening, that seasonal stability matters more than it might initially seem.
Steeplechase Arborvitae
Steeplechase is a newer cultivar developed as an improvement on Green Giant, selected for faster establishment, tighter branching, and stronger resistance to bagworm, which is one of the most damaging insect pests affecting arborvitae in the eastern US. It has gained significant traction with landscape contractors who install large privacy screens and need a tree that performs consistently from planting through establishment without repeated intervention.
Practical Considerations for Large Installations
For projects involving multiple trees planted in a continuous row, pest vulnerability is a genuine operational concern. A bagworm infestation that goes untreated can defoliate sections of a screen within a single season. Steeplechase’s improved resistance reduces that risk without eliminating it entirely, making it a more defensible choice for installations where monitoring and treatment are difficult to guarantee. It also displays strong growth in the lower canopy, addressing one of the common failure points in privacy screen plantings where lower branches thin out over time.
Thuja Green Giant vs. North Pole Arborvitae for Cold-Zone Properties
North Pole arborvitae is a Thuja occidentalis cultivar developed specifically for reliability in zones three and four, where Green Giant’s performance drops off. It holds a dense, narrow column form similar to Emerald Green but with improved cold hardiness and slightly faster growth. For properties in Minnesota, Wisconsin, upstate New York, and northern New England, North Pole is often the more responsible recommendation.
Why Climate Zone Matching Overrides Growth Rate Preferences
A tree that grows quickly but suffers repeated winter damage will not outperform a slower-growing tree that establishes cleanly and maintains its density. Buyers who prioritize growth rate figures without accounting for zone compatibility often find themselves replacing trees after two or three winters—an outcome that costs significantly more than selecting the appropriate cultivar from the start. Growth rate is only meaningful in the context of consistent, healthy establishment, and that begins with climate alignment.
Arborvitae for Wet or Clay Soils
One of the limiting factors in arborvitae selection that receives less attention than it deserves is drainage. Most arborvitae cultivars, including Green Giant and Emerald Green, prefer well-drained, moderately moist soil. Sites with heavy clay or seasonal saturation create root conditions that cause slow decline rather than visible, immediate failure—which means the problem often goes undiagnosed until the planting is well past the return window from the nursery.
Selecting Tolerant Varieties for Problem Sites
Among the commonly available cultivars, Thuja occidentalis selections generally show somewhat better tolerance of wet conditions than Thuja plicata hybrids. Within that species, varieties selected from the native range of Eastern White Cedar—which naturally grows in swampy and boggy areas of the Northeast and upper Midwest—tend to perform more reliably in saturated soils. When site drainage cannot be improved before planting, cultivar selection becomes even more critical, and a consultation with a regional grower or extension service is worth pursuing before purchasing at volume.
Spring River and Other Regional Cultivars
Not all arborvitae cultivars are available nationally. Some, including Spring River and a handful of others developed by regional nurseries, are selected for hyper-local performance characteristics—specific soil types, humidity levels, or local pest pressure. These regionally adapted cultivars sometimes outperform nationally marketed varieties in their intended geography but are unavailable through large online retail channels.
The Value of Sourcing From Specialty Growers
Specialty growers who propagate regionally adapted stock offer something that general retailers cannot: trees that have been selected and grown with local conditions in mind. When evaluating arborvitae for sale through online channels, it is worth reviewing whether the grower ships from a climate comparable to your planting site and whether the cultivars they carry are documented to perform in your hardiness zone. Trees grown in significantly warmer or more temperate climates and shipped to colder zones sometimes struggle with the hardening process required for winter survival, even when the cultivar itself is rated for the zone.
What to Confirm Before Purchasing Arborvitae Online
Online purchasing of privacy screen trees has expanded significantly, and the availability of healthy, well-sized arborvitae through direct-from-grower channels has improved the economics of large installations. However, purchasing through an online channel requires more diligence than purchasing from a local nursery where you can inspect the root system and ask questions directly.
- Confirm the exact cultivar name, not just the common name, since “arborvitae” and even “Green Giant” can vary between propagators.
- Verify the hardiness zone rating for the specific cultivar and confirm it matches your planting location.
- Ask about the growing conditions at the nursery, particularly whether trees are container-grown or field-dug, as each has different establishment timelines.
- Review the grower’s shipping and handling practices, since root damage during transit is one of the leading causes of poor establishment in mail-order trees.
- Confirm the return or replacement policy in case trees arrive in poor condition or fail to establish within the first growing season.
Closing Considerations for Privacy Screen Planning
A privacy screen planting is a long-term infrastructure decision, not a seasonal purchase. The arborvitae varieties covered here each serve a specific combination of climate, soil, spacing, and maintenance tolerance. No single cultivar is universally superior. What matters is how well the variety fits the conditions of the specific site and whether the buyer has enough information to make that match accurately before committing to a full installation.
The most consistent failure pattern in privacy screen plantings is not the choice of arborvitae over another genus—it is selecting within the arborvitae group without accounting for the details that determine long-term performance. Growth rate, soil drainage, cold hardiness, pest vulnerability, and mature width all interact in ways that become apparent only after several growing seasons. Taking the time to understand those interactions before purchasing is the single most reliable way to avoid the cost and delay of replanting.
For those ready to move from selection to sourcing, working with growers who specialize in this genus and carry documented cultivar stock will consistently produce better outcomes than purchasing from general garden retailers where cultivar accuracy and growing history are harder to verify.