The security post below got me thinking that I never got around to planting any shrubs this spring so I wanted to figure out what to plant for privacy between the road and fence. We planted spruces, but it will be a while before they’re big enough to do any good so I’d like to plant some large shrubs that will grow quickly to offer privacy in the meantime. We have limited acreage and they’ll have to be close to the fence so non-toxic is probably a must. We’re in Indiana if anyone’s familiar with any that might work. thanks!
arborvidae. They grow really quite quickly, are ever green (with no sap!) great GREAT wind breaks and require no care. Super hardy. I have about 30 enclosing my entire back yard. Its like a living fence-
Red tipped Photinia- they grow fast, are hardier than arborvitaes( don’t die as easily) and look nice too…
Honeysuckle. Smells heavenly in the spring. 
Second the photinia. They are super hearty, pretty, and grow about 15’ tall. You can also trim them up like a tree. Don’t plant roses next to them, tho, as they will pick up black spot.
Leyland Cypress is a deep screen, tolerates heat and dryness, grows VERY fast if watered constantly, evergreen, and the preferred screening for most estates.
Boo… the photinia sound great, but looking them up it says they are questionable to zone 6, best 7 and above. I’m a 5. 
There is a bush that grows almost as you look at it. In 5 years it can grow from 3’ to 9’. And it is pretty. I am going to plant it all along my road front.
Sad to say that I call it “Icky Anthus” but that is not its name. Fortunately, all the nurseries around here (NC) know what I am talking about and nod politely when I call it by the wrong name.
Perhaps someone reading this will know the correct name.
You might check out the dappled willow, which is hardy in zone 5. Willow is not poison for horses. I shear off my willow each spring, which gives me better, new-growth white color until about August. If you don’t shear, it goes to a rather plain green. Size can be controlled by how much you shear off.
There are other willows that make nice hedges, Black Pussywillow, some of the pink pussywillows that are both short and tall plants. There are other kinds of willows too. A double row of plants will help decrease visiblility.
They do shed leaves in winter, so rather open branching might be too visible.
I would not recommend Honeysuckle, it is VERY invasive here in the northern states. Is easily spread by birds eating the berries. Crowding out many native species.
Your County Extension Office may offer sales of trees and bushes in Spring and fall, for windbreaks and ground cover. Prices can be very good for big quantities, but plants are small to start.
Blueberries are getting more popular as plantings, you get both berries and terrific fall color. Highbush Cranberries grow quickly, have berries for you or the birds, good fall color. Both are natives, seem to manage the seasons pretty well. Not sure about toxicity for horses.
Those wild rose hedges are very popular with birds and small animals, but they do keep getting wider, tall and dense, can be a real bear to clean out. Not toxic to horses. Almost impossible to kill, which could be good or bad!
A mixed planting of bushes could give you some flowers or colors thru most of the season. A double row of plantings, trees or bushes, will make it much more dense for wind protection and visibility, save you heating fuel.
The evergreen bushes and trees are tight, you can get the larger plants and put them in for faster growth. A landscaper could put them in with balled roots, so you can have an instantly sizeable hedge very quickly. You do have to water heavily until the ground freezes because the roots are so small to allow moving. By second year, they usually have taken hold and just grow well. I am talking Blue Spruce, White Pine type trees, which are reasonable in larger sizes around here.
Not sure the arbovite or cypress types will grow quickly in your area, and they break with snow load or ice if you don’t care for them with proper trimming. Not sure how Arbovite or cypress works around horses who have nothing else to nibble. Toxic?, not sure. I had a horse eat a lot of a very spiky cedar one winter, just bored, hay was not finished. Had not bothered that tree for 2 years!!
I would do some homework, look around at bushes you admire, check the poison lists. Take photos of plantings you like, photo of leaves for getting IDs at a nursery. Then make a shopping list as summer ends. This is when the plant sales happen, with prices greatly reduced. Fall is a great time to plant. Even leafless, the bushes or trees will put out roots until the ground freezes. Again, keep them watered well if you lack rainfall. Mulch well. Gives them a jumpstart on anything planted next spring, with less attention needed. Tender shoots, new trees, might need rabbit protection until bark thickens with time.
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Cypress trees are wonderful screens
lilacs and trim 1/3 (largest) yearly to maintain desired height. flowers are a plus!
klr
I’ve been pondering the same notion. I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to use, but I have considered that, instead of using all of one kind of planting, I might want to use a variety of different shrubs so if one dies out here and there, it can be replaced with almost anything and not look like a blind barber did the planting.
I know I want some lilacs, maybe rosa rugosa, and a few arborwhatchamcallit for green color year-round, and I’m thinking about Amur maple (I think that’s what it is). There’s a couple of decorative bushe cherries that are really pretty also.
I also know I don’t want to have to be doing a whole lot of hedge-grooming every year…and while I look through the catalogs and admire all the nice hedges, I reckon it takes a lot of work to make them look like that.
We have cedar between the road and house. It is now about 12 feet. You can’t see through it at all. It was only planted 8 yrs ago. We like it very much and the shrubs and flowers that are planted by it seem to do VERY well there. I have over 45 different perrenials planted nearby and they are doing better than they did before moving to near the cedar.
Siberian Peashrub (aka Caragana)
An incredibly hardy, fast growing, tall shrub of the Canadian Prairie (Zone 3A here):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caragana_arborescens
Produces bright yellow flowers which, apparently, are good in salads. Non-toxic flowers and pods.
My only concern would be that the climate in Indiana might not be suitably miserable (cold winters/drought conditions) for them.
[QUOTE=Lord Helpus;4260388]
There is a bush that grows almost as you look at it. In 5 years it can grow from 3’ to 9’. And it is pretty. I am going to plant it all along my road front.
Sad to say that I call it “Icky Anthus” but that is not its name. Fortunately, all the nurseries around here (NC) know what I am talking about and nod politely when I call it by the wrong name.
Perhaps someone reading this will know the correct name.[/QUOTE]
Elaegnus 
Pronounced like… “Illy Agnes” AND it smells lovely when it blossoms in teeny white flowers. It is a Japanese plant, and like the southern favorite, Kudzu, can grown out of control if left to its own devices. I love it though.
Don’t know how hardy Forsythias would be in your area… ours seem to grow about 6 inches per year; they block the view to our yard from the road… at least 3 out of 4 seasons. They are naked sticks in the winter. One reason I’d prefer the elaeagnus.
I have an Eleagnus hedge that is probably 50 years old to try and block field dust. It’s tough and does have incredibly fragrant tiny flowers. Mine’s english name is Siberian Sweet Olive.
Does Cherry Laurel grow where you are? It’s a nice hedgerow bush/small tree.
And if you can control it, the wild rose hedges can actually substitute for fences. We had them years ago to keep wandering hogs out of the yard .
I’m in NW IN & the forsythias I planted over 10yrs ago have done poorly - of the original 5, 3 are still hanging in there.
To be fair, I do nothing for them, just planted a row to define a lot line.
Neighbors down the road have them too & some of those are massive.
Ma Nature has decided what I need are mulberry trees.:rolleyes: Lots of volunteer mulberries springing up, especially among my corner windbreak of pine & spruce. I don’t know if age (40yrs+) or the mulberries are gradually killing off the evergreens.
My hardy hibiscus - Rose of Sharon - are tough as nails & in the last couple years have started to reseed. Originally there were 3 planted along one side of my driveway, now another 2 located along one side of the garage.
The honeysuckle I planted 15yrs ago has not spread anywhere on the property that I can see.
It stayed where I put it - against one corner of the house, hoping it would vine upward, It is maybe 5X the original size & sllllloooooowwwwly gaining height.
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