Fast Growing Plants

What fast growing actually means

Growth rate claims are the most inflated numbers in horticulture, so here are realistic ones. A fast shrub in good conditions puts on 60cm to 1m a year: sweet viburnum, murraya, privet and the quickest lilly pillies all sit in that band. A fast tree adds 1m or more a year for its first decade; jacaranda, Illawarra flame tree, spotted gum, silky oak and the poincianas manage it in the right climate. Clumping bamboo is the outlier, with new culms reaching full height in a single season, which is why a slender weavers screen can hit 4m within two to three years. Climbers such as star jasmine and pandorea run 2m to 3m of new stem a year once settled, and fast groundcovers like myoporum and dichondra cover a square metre in a season. Halve all of it for poor soil, no water or the wrong climate.

The trade off nobody mentions

A plant does not stop being fast the day it reaches the height you wanted. The same vigour that closes a screen in two years produces the regrowth you will trim for the next twenty, so buy speed only where you need it. A useful rule: go fast where you are desperate for privacy or shade, and go moderate where the planting just needs to end up somewhere eventually. Fast pioneers can also be shorter lived; a wattle gives you a beautiful tree in three years and often bows out inside fifteen, which is fine if you planted slower trees behind it as the succession plan.

Fast plants, job by job

• Privacy and screening. Sweet viburnum, murraya, box leaved privet and lilly pillies such as 'Express' and 'Superior' for hedges; clumping bamboo where you need 4m to 8m in a hurry. The full hedging and screening range lets you filter these by height.
• Shade and feature trees. Jacaranda, flame tree, silky oak, spotted gum, Brisbane box and ornamental pears all cast useful shade within four to six years.
• Climbers for fences and screens. Star jasmine for shade or sun, pandorea and pink jasmine for flowers, climbing fig for bare walls.
• Groundcovers. Myoporum, gazania, seaside daisy and native violet knit bare soil together in a single growing season.
• Instant tropical structure. Giant bird of paradise, heliconias, cordylines and fast palms such as bangalow and foxtail.

Choosing fast growers for your climate

Speed depends on warmth and water, so the same plant is fast in Brisbane and merely steady in Hobart. In tropical and subtropical gardens nearly everything here sprints, including the palms, heliconias and figs that stall further south. Warm temperate coastal gardens from Sydney to Perth suit the broadest slice of the range. In cool temperate and frost prone districts, choose photinia, privet, ornamental pears, crepe myrtles and Leighton green cypress, which stay quick through cold winters, and skip murraya and the tropical foliage. In dry inland gardens, the fast natives, wattles, gums, bottlebrush and myoporum, outrun any exotic on the same water.

Planting for speed: the numbers

The fastest plant in the nursery is the one that gets watered. Dig each hole twice the width of the pot, plant at the original soil level, and soak immediately. Water deeply twice a week for the whole first summer, not a daily splash, and feed with a controlled release fertiliser in early spring and again in late summer; that feeding rhythm alone can double first year growth. Mulch 75mm deep to hold soil moisture, keeping it off the stems. For screening runs, space fast shrubs at about 1m and resist going tighter, because crowded plants compete below ground and slow each other down. Tip prune screens lightly from the start so the speed goes into density as well as height.

When fast is not fast enough

If the deadline is a settlement date rather than a season, planting bigger beats planting faster. Advanced container stock gives you 1m to 3m of head start, and field grown ex ground advanced trees deliver a finished canopy on day one, freighted at cost. The honest comparison is cost versus years: a fast plant is cheap and takes three years, an advanced tree costs more and takes none.

Common questions

What is the fastest screening plant you sell?

For sheer speed to height, slender weavers bamboo: 4m within two to three years and done at around 6m to 8m. Among conventional shrubs, Sweet Viburnum is the quickest to a dense 2m to 3m hedge. Our guide to fast growing screening trees compares the tall options.

Which fast growing trees are safe near paving and pools?

Tuckeroo, water gum, crepe myrtles and clumping bamboo all combine good pace with contained, non invasive root systems. Keep figs, poplars and large gums at least 10m from paving, pipes and pools; their speed above ground is matched below it.

Can I plant fast growers in winter?

Yes, in most of the country. Deciduous trees actually prefer winter planting, and evergreens establish fine wherever soils stay workable. In frost prone districts hold tropical species, murraya, heliconias and palms, until the soil warms in spring.

Do fast growing plants die young?

Some pioneers do: wattles and some acacia relatives give 10 to 15 spectacular years. Most of this collection, the lilly pillies, viburnums, gums, jacarandas and bamboo, are long lived plants that simply start quickly. Check each product page for life expectancy notes.

How does delivery work for large orders?

Everything here is delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and no minimum order. Advanced and large stock is freighted at cost, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.