What are some trees that provide privacy?

[NotDesperate]

Hi.

My backyard backs up to another backyard. There is a fence there but I would like to plant some trees along the back and sides of my backyard that will give me some privacy.

Some bushy trees would work best but which trees should I choose? I do not want something to grow 20 feet tall or something to grow 10 feet wide. Nothing that will get out of control, I should say, but will still be big enough to give us some privacy.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[southhavenjen]

We are getting ready to plant some trees between our house and our neighbor's as a privacy screen. What we are going to use are arborvitae. The Latin name is Thuja, and there are different varieties that grow to various heights and diameters. We have chosen a variety that only gets 4' in diameter and reaches 10' tall. I'm sorry, I don't have the full name of this particular variety available right this second!

We got ours from Lowe's. The plants we bought are about 5' tall and 1 1/2' in diameter and recently dropped in price from $30 each to $20 each!

pic of arborvitae (http://www.waverlyfarm.com/catalog-plant.html?code=THJOCPR)

[southhavenjen]

I should also add that if you plant these trees 4' apart, they are supposed to eventually form a pretty solid privacy hedge.

[Mindy3094]

I was going to suggest an arborvitae as well. They look something like this:

http://thenurseryatmountsi.com/images/arborvitae_hedge_small.jpg

Very hardy and very easy to maintain.

[jessied1025]

The arborvitae's are very nice...DH and I are planning on planting them around part of our deck. We built our house on a corner lot and with no trees right now, privacy is hard to come by.

Right now is probably a good time to purchase and plant the trees as well.

[NotDesperate]

Wow thanks for all of your help! I will go check out Lowes this weekend!

[allison]

We have Ligustrum trees along our back fence. We also planted Cleara and Loro Petalum which are hearty and don't require lots of watering.

I would also suggest Wax Myrtle and/or Oleander.

Here's a picture of our backyard (don't mind the huge tree...it hit our house during Hurr. Rita). The trees are the Ligustrum and the reddish shrubs are Loro Petalum and the green are Cleara (sp?). They're on the right side of the picture:

http://www.mpix.com/GetImage.aspx?a=9473268&b=fmszcmghnys6xjqtidex&c=b&d=0

[wine_o_girlie]

Allison,

Oh my gosh, that tree hit your house during the hurricane? Was your house damaged? That is terrible.

Not Desperate,

Our lot backs to other houses and the previous owners had just your average spruce or pine trees planted, which form a nice barrier for privacy. We have our patio surrounded on one side by Fotinia bushes which have grown very quickly and are nice bushes with a red tint in the fall and winter. They are easy to keep trimmed. What area of the country are you in?

[allison]

Allison,

Oh my gosh, that tree hit your house during the hurricane? Was your house damaged? That is terrible.


Yeah, it was really loud. It landed on the roof over our bedroom around 5 in the morning. We just had roof damage, thankfully. They just finished the repairs today! There are more pictures in the Hurr. Rita thread in General Chit Chat.

[maggieb]

What about bamboo? I think it grows tall in a quick amount of time and provids a lot of privacy.

[greenbunny]

I love bamboo. It spreads like wildfire but it's easy to control because the roots only go down about six inches.

I also like decorative grasses. They get big poofy fronds on them in late summer and stay that way all winter. You cut them down right before spring and then the whole bush regrows, so there is very little time when they aren't tall.

We have arborvitae and I hate them. We tend to get very wet snow and it bends them and ruins them. I don't have time in the morning before work to run around the yard and beat all the snow off, so they spend all day weighed down and they take years to recover. They'd finally grow out a bit and then WHAM another huge snowfall. We're pulling them all out ASAP. I do not recommend them if you get harsh winters. For a mild climate they are probably great, though.