what to plant in yard to keep neighbors on there side

There was a time you could kick back in glorious solitude correct in your own backyard. Then the family unit next door cleared some trees on their lot. And on the other side, the neighbors' new master suite includes a second-story deck with nice views—into your one thousand. Suddenly, you feel like y'all're living in a fishbowl.

As larger houses occupy ever-smaller lots and the need for outdoor living areas grows, privacy is at a premium. And it's not only about prying optics invading your space—you may want to shield your own view of your sunbathing neighbors and cake out their churr.

How Can I Get Privacy in my Backyard Without a Fence?

Fences are the usually the first solution that come to heed. But in that location are myriad ways to create privacy in your backyard without a fence too—from putting in perimeter plantings to rock walls, or garden structures.

ten Ways to Block Neighbors View of Your Backyard

To inspire you, hither are our favorite backyard privacy ideas.

1. Staggered Wooden Boards

Photograph by Andrew Drake

Staggered wooden boards are stained in soft shades of black, yellow, green, and red. They create a one-of-a-kind privacy fence softened past shrubs in front end and a feathery tree canopy overhead.

2. Hedges for Privacy

Photo by Nancy Andrews

This privacy landscaping idea can provide twelvemonth-round screening and are typically not restricted past municipal ordinances limiting their height. Where space is tight, every bit in a side yard, fast-growing columnar evergreens like Italian cypress and arborvitae or a sheared privet hedge can provide a simple solution for separating adjoining yards or blocking sight lines out a kitchen window.

To plant a new privet hedge, create a trench two feet wide and ii feet deep, space individual shrubs almost 12 inches apart, and bring soil upwardly to the branching trunk. Water securely and oft the start yr, using drip irrigation. To thrive, these deciduous shrubs require a temperate climate and a homeowner willing to wield abrupt shears equally often every bit needed.

3. Layered Privacy Plantings

Photo by Nancy Andrews

In larger yards, planting a mix of deciduous or evergreen trees, shrubs, and perennials creates a more naturalistic look, peculiarly if you layer plants, grouping them in odd numbers. "Stagger evergreens in the background, and in the foreground step downwardly the height with deciduous fabric to provide texture, depth, and colour," says Elliott Brundage, a landscape builder in Andover, Massachusetts.

Planting deciduous shade copse—which more often than not abound from 25 to threescore feet high, depending on the species—is a good manner to obscure a neighbor's view from a second-story window or terrace. Positioned over a deck or patio, the canopy provides privacy and shade in the summer. In the wintertime, the trees' bare branches allow the sun to smoothen into the house.

4. Container Gardens for Deck Privacy

Photo past Philip Harvey

Potted plants such as arborvitae or clumping bamboo can be positioned to create a green screen effectually a raised deck seating area. Ideally, pots should be raised up on casters or made of lightweight materials and then y'all tin easily move them for parties or deck repairs.

v. Fences and Walls

Photograph past Courtesy of Walpole Woodworkers

Newly installed pools, patios, and playgrounds may crave a visual buffer in a bustle. A 6-pes solid board fence is the quickest style to create privacy in your lawn year-circular—just be sure to bank check local building codes regarding fence heights (and any other restrictions). It may too be the best solution in a side one thousand, where space is tight, since fences accept a smaller footprint than plantings.

Board fences come in diverse styles to complement the compages of your home, and you can stain them to lucifer the firm. "But while a privacy fence might solve the problem, it'south non always the well-nigh aesthetically pleasing solution," says Eric Sauer, a landscape architect in Dayton, Ohio. To break up the mass of a board debate, Sauer suggests adding an open up lattice or baluster superlative, and planting flowering or evergreen shrubs in forepart to soften its solidity.

6. Stone Wall Topped with Fencing

Photo past Courtesy of Walpole Woodworkers

Some other option is to mount a shorter, 3- or four-foot lattice or sentry contend on top of a 2- or 3-foot stone wall. The wall, from a altitude, is high plenty to disrupt sight lines, while the openwork contend screens without feeling claustrophobic.

7. Masonry Walls with Ornamental Ironwork

Photo by Amy Gallo

Similarly, a masonry wall of stone or stucco that rises five- or 6-feet-loftier feels less oppressive when windows are cut into it; often, ornamental ironwork can ­dec­orate such openings.

Michael Glassman, a Sacramento, California, mural designer, searches garage sales for the fencing he incorporates into his clients' yards. He might employ a $50 bandage–iron section as a trellis for vines, plumbing equipment information technology with brackets to secure it to the side of a business firm. "As opposed to new ironwork, which tin look generic, salvage has an old look that gives more permanence to the landscape," says Glassman.

8. Panels and Pergolas

Trellis Structures

Divers areas like small patios, outdoor kitchens, and decks are generally easier to screen than a whole thousand. By building an enclosure around them, y'all can re-create the intimate feeling of eating or entertaining indoors, while yet enjoying beautiful weather.

Enclosures may take the shape of a slatted-superlative wooden pergola covered with climbing vines on a patio or a pair of stock-still lattice panels along 2 sides of a raised deck. Prefab iron gazebos tin be set correct on the ground and surrounded with potted vines and hanging baskets to fill some of the gaps.

9. Lattice, Wood Panels, and Ornamental Ironwork

Photo by Michael Glassman & Associates

Screens made from lattice, shutter like louvered woods panels, or sections of ornamental iron with anchoring posts tin can exist set into the ground to enclose a cozy corner or brand a U-shaped structure that preserves desirable views. For maximum flexibility, consider placing the post ends in lightweight planters with wheels; to ballast them, add concrete plugs to the anxiety or ready the posts in gravel. That way, they tin be moved around to create more than open space when you lot're entertaining.

Semitransparent structures may not provide complete privacy, only they add a lot of visual involvement to a landscape and allow natural light and breezes in. "They create a comforting sense of containment and a psychological buffer," says Stephanie Hubbard, a landscape architect in Boston and TOH Boob tube regular.

ten. Using Fountains to Mask Noise

Photo by Amy Gallo

Even if you lot're not literally seeing eye to eye with the neighbors, you might still be close enough to hear their conversation. Or you may be bothered past intrusive traffic racket or buzzing AC compressors. In such cases, adding a fountain to your privacy plan can mask unwanted sounds with pleasant white noise. These range from off-the-shelf, plug-in units that sit down on a table or hang on the wall to custom designs that become a major focal point.

Keep in mind that flowing h2o becomes louder the farther it falls and the more tiers information technology travels over. Michael Glassman, a mural designer in Sacramento, California, warns that it's possible for a fountain to exist likewise loud, which is just every bit disruptive as the noise you're trying to hide. "The sound of rushing water might exist inviting when guests arrive, but yous don't want to take to yell over the din at dinner," says Glassman, who designed the wall and water feature shown hither. All fountains have a recirculating pump, so if you get an adjustable one, you're sure to discover a sound level that's soothing.

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Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/yards/21018864/10-ways-to-add-privacy-to-your-yard

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