How many times have you heard it – “Good fences make good neighbors.” While this is certainly true, fences are not always the best choice for creating privacy when it comes to your property. Maybe you want a more well-integrated design; maybe you just want a more organic approach to your property lines. Either way, fences are not the only option you have when it comes to your property’s privacy.
At GreenPro we pride ourselves on working with our Oklahoma clients to make sure you’ve fully thought through every aspect of your property’s design elements, including how best to define its edges. Privacy is a priority for many of our clients, but also creativity. As a result, we wanted to lay out a few ideas and options for how best to ensure your property’s lines can be best created and tended.
Privacy hedges
This privacy landscaping idea can provide year-round screening and are typically not restricted by municipal ordinances limiting their height. If space is tight, as 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 private hedges, create a trench two feet wide and two feet deep, space individual shrubs about 12 inches apart, and bring soil up to the branching trunk. Water deeply and frequently for the first year, using drip irrigation. To thrive, these deciduous shrubs require a temperate climate and a homeowner willing to wield sharp shears as often as needed.
Layered Privacy Plantings
In larger yards, planting a mix of deciduous or evergreen trees, shrubs, and perennials creates a more naturalistic look, especially if you layer plants, grouping them in odd numbers. To create depth, color, and texture, homeowners may want to consider staggering evergreens in the background, and in the foreground step down the height with deciduous material.
Planting deciduous shade trees—which generally grow from 25 to 60 feet high, depending on the species—is a good way 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 winter, the trees’ bare branches allow the sun to shine into the house.
Container Gardens for Deck Privacy
Potted plants such as arborvitae or clumping bamboo can be positioned to create a green screen around a raised deck seating area. Ideally, pots should be raised up on casters or made of lightweight materials so you can easily move them for parties or deck repairs.
Panels and Pergolas
Defined areas like small patios, outdoor kitchens, and decks are generally easier to screen than a whole yard. By building an enclosure around them, you can re-create the intimate feeling of eating or entertaining indoors, while still enjoying beautiful weather.
Enclosures may take the shape of a slatted-top wooden pergola covered with climbing vines on a patio or a pair of fixed lattice panels along two sides of a raised deck. Prefab iron gazebos can be set right on the ground and surrounded with potted vines and hanging baskets to fill some of the gaps.
Lattice, Wood Panels, and Ornamental Ironwork
Screens made from lattice, shutterlike louvered wood panels, or sections of ornamental iron with anchoring posts can be set into the ground to enclose a cozy corner or make a U-shaped structure that preserves desirable views. For maximum flexibility, consider placing the post ends in lightweight planters with wheels; to anchor them, add concrete plugs to the feet or set the posts in gravel. That way, they can be moved around to create more open space when you’re entertaining.
Semitransparent structures may not provide complete privacy, but they add a lot of visual interest to a landscape and allow natural light and breezes in.
These are just a few ideas for homeowners seeking to mark the edges of their property in new or interesting ways. Looking for more ideas? Reach out to GreenPro; we’d be happy to schedule a consult with you!