Plants for reducing noise​ in a garden

Plenty of plants, of a variety of shapes, sizes and colours, can help to reduce noise from outside of your garden, helping to create a more relaxing space to enjoy

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Dense hedging can help reduce noise
Dense hedging can help reduce noise

Quick facts

  • Plants in noisy areas can be used to trap sound
  • Dense foliage of smaller leaves will be more succesful at trapping noise
  • Choosing the right plants will ensure they are healthy and at their best

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The planting plan

James Lawrence, RHS Principal Horticultural Advisor, has designed this simple, attractive, and most importantly, sustainable border design for you to try at home with plants that are easy to grow, widely available and look good together. 

This planting design provides a range of plants with known noise-filtering ability. Once established, these will thrive together while providing a variety of interest throughout the year.

Plants to help reduce noise

© James Lawrence

Choosing plants for noise reduction

By absorbing, reflecting or filtering sound, the volume or impact of noise can be reduced. The conifers in this scheme absorb sound with their combination of narrow but dense foliage.

The Ilex, Viburnum and Hedera columns can be pruned and maintained to encourage dense growth, and their thick, leathery evergreen foliage can also help reflect sound. This acts to extend the sound’s journey as it bounces around, and increases the chances of it being absorbed or filtered on that journey.

The juniper groundcover will help to reduce the area of bare soil, discouraging unwanted plants from growing and reducing soil moisture loss from wind and sun. 

Until the plants have filled out, an organic mulch, preferably homemade compost, can help to lock in soil moisture and suppress weeds. Mulches should be spread when the soil is already moist to help trap some of that moisture before it dries out in summer. 

1 - Thuja plicata ‘Stoneham Gold’
2 - Ilex aquifolium ‘Argentea Marginata’
3 - Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Donard Gold’ 
4 - Juniperus squamata ‘Hunnetorp’ 

5 - Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ 

6 - Ilex aquifolium ‘Myrtifolia Aurea’ 
7-  Juniperus × pfitzeriana ‘Old Gold’
8 - Hedera helix ‘Goldchild’
1 - Thuja plicata ‘Stoneham Gold’ is a conifer with gold-green foliage which ages to bronze-green in winter. 

2 - Ilex aquifolium ‘Argentea Marginata’ is a female holly with bright green leaves with gold edges. It produces colourful red berries in winter if a male plant is nearby. 

3 - Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Donard Gold’ is a columnar conifer with bright yellow-green foliage that performs best in full sun. 

4 - Juniperus squamata ‘Hunnetorp’ is an upright conifer that can be used to provide structure in your garden. Its short needles are blue-green in summer, turning blue-grey in winter. 

5 - Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ is a dark evergreen shrub which produces clusters of pink buds in winter, opening to heads of starry white flowers, followed by metallic blue berries. 

6 - Ilex aquifolium ‘Myrtifolia Aurea’ is a male variegated holly with a dense habit. It will provide pollen for the female ‘Argentea Marginata’ to get berries. 

7 - Juniperus × pfitzeriana ‘Old Gold’ is a compact evergreen conifer that forms a low-growing groundcover of spreading branches. 

8 - Hedera helix ‘Goldchild’ is a small slow-growing ivy with variegated leaves of light grey-green with pale yellow margins. 

About noise in gardens

There are many noises within gardens that can add to the atmosphere of the place, such as the sound of a water feature or the soft rustling of ornamental grasses. Unwanted noises from outside the garden can be reduced by choosing plants that have noise filtering features, helping to keep your space more peaceful.

By using strong, resilient plants, your border will look good, grow well, and once the plants are established, this will reduce the need for additional resources such as watering. 

A simple planting plan helps to create depth, interest and good coverage in a border. 
 

The challenge of noise exclusion

Noise can often be an issue in urban gardens, which may be close to roads or busy public areas. While noise does not impact the health of plants themselves, it can be distracting or annoying for people using the gardens. In order to reduce noise levels, plants can be used as barriers to help dampen sound coming from outside the garden. This often involves the use of hedges, which can then act as a foil for other planting.
 

Why choose a sustainable planting combination?

Using the ethos of ‘right plant, right place’ to create a sustainable planting combination is great for the environment. It helps to avoid waste and the use of products and practices needed to try and help ailing plants, such as applying fertiliser. It also creates robust, long-lived planting that benefits soil health and garden biodiversity. 

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.