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
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
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
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’
7- Juniperus × pfitzeriana ‘Old Gold’
8 - Hedera helix ‘Goldchild’
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
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
Why choose a sustainable planting combination?
Get involved
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.