Three plants dominate Australian hedging, and choosing between them is the most common question we're asked. Here's the honest comparison — because each one genuinely wins in different yards.
The short answer
Warm climate, want native, want the tidiest result: Lilly Pilly Resilience. Cold winters, want that red flush: Photinia Red Robin (or Robusta for height). Maximum height for minimum dollars, fastest: Sweet Viburnum (or Dense Fence for a tidier version).
Speed
Sweet Viburnum is the sprinter — a metre a year with water and feed is normal. Photinia Robusta runs close behind. Lilly pillies are only a step slower, and modern cultivars like Resilience close the gap. In practice, the size you START at matters more than the species: a 300 mm plant is one to two seasons ahead of a tube.
Density and looks
Lilly pilly holds the densest, glossiest wall of the three, with bronze-red new growth and the cleanest clipped face. Photinia's party trick is that brilliant scarlet flush after every trim. Viburnum is the loosest — big soft apple-green leaves — which reads relaxed rather than formal; Dense Fence was bred to fix exactly this.
Climate and problems
Photinia is the cold-climate champion, untroubled by hard frost. Lilly pillies prefer the warm half of the country; choose psyllid-resistant cultivars (Resilience is, famously). Viburnum is happy nearly everywhere but hates being waterlogged. None of the three is invasive-rooted; all three take hard pruning and regrow.
Cost per metre
At typical spacings, viburnum usually prices cheapest per screened metre because it's planted wider (75 cm) and grows fastest from small sizes. Lilly pilly at 50 cm centres uses more plants for the densest result. Run your own numbers — the hedge calculator prices all three for your exact length, in every pot size, live.
Our verdict
If you're within an hour of the coast between Sydney and Cairns: lilly pilly, and it isn't close. Melbourne, Adelaide, cold inland: photinia. Screening a two-storey neighbour on a budget anywhere: viburnum. See the full hedging range and screening plants, or design the whole boundary in the layered privacy garden.