• The best hedges provide privacy.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Perfect hedges give privacy, act as wind screens and add beauty to the landscape. The best hedges usually combine one of these features with other qualities such as fragrance, form or a fast rate of growth. When selecting a hedge plant, take into consideration the sun, soil and water requirements of the plant, as well as your U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone.
  
  

California Privet

• The California privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium Hassk.) is one of the best hedges to plant for privacy as well as greenery. The name privet means private. The plant forms dense thickets that block intruders or people peeking into your landscape. This perennial is a semi-evergreen Japanese shrub that grows more than 10 feet tall. It thrives in part shade or full sun. Tightly clustered creamy-white flowers bloom in summer and are followed by dark-purple, berrylike fruit that attracts birds. Privet is hardy to USDA zone 7.
  
  

Fragrant Tea Olive

• If you need a commanding hedge, add the fragrant tea olive (Osmanthus fragrans) to the list of great hedge plants. The olive can grow up to 30 feet tall and as wide. A University of Georgia committee named this shrub as a 2009 Georgia Gold Medal Award winner. It can be grown as an evergreen that brings fragrance to the landscape in the fall. The flowers range in color from ivory-white to yellow. The hedge thrives in partial shade to full sun in most soils and is drought tolerant. It is hardy in USDA zones 7 through 10.
  
  

Pittosporum

• Pittosporum (Pittosporum tenuifolium) is recommended on the Sunset website as a hedge that is "excellent for screens and windbreaks." This New Zealand native blooms with sweetly fragrant purple flowers that are followed by orange fruit. Different varieties offer variegated or solid foliage. The shrub is grown for its form and upright growth, which stays dense. It grows up to 25 feet tall and 15 feet wide in partial to full sun with moderate water. It can be grown in USDA zones 7 through 10.
  
  

Pyracantha

• Pyracantha (Pyracantha crenato-serrata) fits in the perfect hedge mix because it is a fast-growing evergreen that brings bright red fruit to the landscape. It also blooms with small, white flowers in spring. This shrub grows up to 8 feet tall and as wide; prune it to grow flat. Pyracantha flourishes in full sun, with moderate water; the cold-hardy zones vary by species.