New neighbours, a busy road, a pool you would rather keep to yourself: most Sunshine Coast gardens have a boundary that could use a living screen. A good one softens the fence line, hushes the street, brings in the birds and gives you a green backdrop to look at instead of bare fence palings. Spring is a lovely time to plant one, and our nursery benches at Ninderry are full of screening plants right now. Here are two we keep coming back to.
Choosing the right screening plant
The secret to a screen you will love in five years is matching the plant to the space. Before you buy, think about:
- Height and width at maturity. A narrow bed beside a fence needs a slim plant; a big boundary can take a broad one.
- Hedge or screen. A clipped formal hedge and a soft, natural screen call for different plants and different spacing.
- Sun, shade and soil. Most screening plants want good drainage, and some cope with shade far better than others.
- How fast you need it. Bamboo closes a gap quickly; lilly pillies build a dense, long-lived hedge.
Not sure where to start? Our free Plant Matchmaking Service pairs you with the right plant for your spot, and the Hedging, Screening & Privacy Finder narrows our range down in a few quick questions.
Two screening plants on our benches now
Lilly Pilly Select Form
Syzygium australe ‘Select Form’
In the nursery now: 400mm pot, $80
- An Australian native that grows 4 to 6m tall and only about 1.5m wide, so it suits narrow beds along fences and driveways.
- Dense and fast, and it takes clipping well: hedge it as low as 1m or let it run up into a tall screen.
- Bronze-tinged new growth, glossy green leaves and pink-purple berries the birds come looking for.
- Good psyllid resistance, which keeps the foliage clean, in full sun or part shade.
Planting tip: For a tight hedge, plant 60 to 75cm apart and prune regularly once it reaches the height you want.
See it in our online shopGracilis Bamboo (Slender Weavers)
Bambusa textilis var. Gracilis
In the nursery now: 300mm pot, $75
- A tight clumping bamboo, so it stays where you plant it. Clumpers do not send out runners the way running bamboos do.
- Slender, upright culms grow to around 6 to 7m, with a clump spread of only 1 to 2m.
- One of the fastest ways to a green wall: allow about three years for a dense privacy screen.
- Happy in full sun to part shade, adapts to most soils that drain well, and copes with cold snaps.
Planting tip: It also grows well in large pots and planter boxes, which makes it handy on a balcony or courtyard boundary.
See it in our online shopLilly pillies, sorted by height
Lilly pillies are the backbone of the Australian native hedge, and the range runs from the dwarf ‘Allyn Magic’ at under a metre to the weeping Waterhousea floribunda, which can reach well over 10m. In between sit the 2 to 3m colour hedges like ‘Forest Flame’, ‘Cherry Surprise’, ‘Bush Christmas’ and ‘Pink Cascade’, then the 4 to 6m screening forms like ‘Select Form’, ‘Resilience’ and ‘Big Red’. Our Lilly Pilly Finder is built from our own guide to the range, sorted by mature height, so you can pick the one that fits your space without guessing.
Why we lean on natives, and where bamboo fits
Fairhill is a natives-first nursery, and lilly pillies show why: they are adapted to our soils and summers, they feed local birds, and they make a hedge that lasts for decades. Gracilis bamboo is not a native (it comes from southern China and Vietnam). We grow it because a tight clumping bamboo is one of the most reliable ways to screen a boundary quickly, with none of the spreading habit that gave running bamboo its reputation. Plenty of gardens use both: bamboo where height is needed fast, lilly pillies for the long hedge.
On the benches at the Fairhill nursery, Ninderry.
Planting a screen that thrives
- Dig a hole twice the width of the pot, loosen the roots and plant at the same depth it sat in the pot.
- Water deeply and regularly while the plants establish; both are tough once settled in.
- Mulch well to hold moisture through a Sunshine Coast summer and keep the weeds down.
- Tip-prune lilly pillies early and often: little and regular gives a denser hedge than one hard cut.
Common questions
What is the fastest growing screening plant for the Sunshine Coast?
Clumping bamboo such as Bambusa textilis var. Gracilis is one of the quickest, giving a dense screen in about three years. Among the natives, lilly pillies like Syzygium australe 'Select Form' grow fast and take hedging well. Both are grown at Fairhill's nursery in Ninderry.
Is Gracilis bamboo invasive?
No. Gracilis is a clumping bamboo, so it grows in a tight clump with a spread of about 1 to 2m and does not send out runners. That is what makes it a safe choice along boundaries in residential gardens.
How far apart should I plant lilly pillies for a hedge?
For Lilly Pilly Select Form, plant about 60 to 75cm apart for a dense hedge, then prune regularly to keep the height and shape you want. It can be kept as low as 1m.
Which lilly pilly is best for a narrow space?
Syzygium australe 'Select Form' grows to about 1.5m wide, and the Lilly Pilly Finder on our website lists the full range from shortest to tallest so you can match mature height and width to your spot.
Come and see them in person
Walk the benches, feel the leaves and ask our nursery team what will suit your boundary. The nursery is open every day from 8am to 4pm at 114 Fairhill Road, Ninderry.