Is your house a bit too close to your neighbors house? Do you have a pool and don’t want gawkers? Are you tired of looking at the neighbors broken down car rusting to oblivion next door? If so, you may want some privacy and this article helps you decide on using trees and shrubs to give you some.
Things to Consider…
- Evergreens provide privacy all year long and are great and reducing noise.
- Deciduous trees are beautiful when the spring flowers bloom and the leaves change colors in the fall, but after the leaves fall you’ll loose all your privacy for the winter months.
- How how do your trees need to be to give you privacy?
- How quick to you want your privacy? That will decide if you need quick growing shrubs or trees.
Hedges
- Sheared Privet Hedges – Some of the most common privacy shrubs you will find since they can be cut to almost any height and look great.
- Green Giant Arborvitae Hedges – Fastly grow up to 60 feet tall at 3 feet a year in some cases.
- Emerald Arborvitae – Grows 10 to 15 feet tall but can be trimmed to the height you choose.
Trees
- Concolor Fir – Has soft, bluish needles and adapts well to sun and wind
- Hedge Maple – Growing to 25 to 35 feet at 1 foot a year. Low maintenance and loves most soils.
- European Hornbeam – A canopy that spreads as it grows dense over the years.
- Leyland Cypress – An evergreen that is a quick grower at 3 feet or more each year.
- Amur Maple – Can be used as a small tree or a large hedge. Gets a beautiful red coloring in the fall.
Small Tree Choices
- Magnolias
- Flowering Dogwoods
- Japanese Maple
- Japanese Tree Lilac
Shrubs
- Ninebark – Purple or gold coloring and a fast grower.
- Variegated Red-Twig Dogwood – Variegated leaves and small white flowers bring beauty to your yard along with white berries. Red bark for the winter.
- Japanese Euonymus – A fast-growing evergreen shrub that can reach 10 to 15 feet tall but can also be trimmed as a lower hedge.
- Juniper – Different varieties range from ground-hugging creepers to mounded shrubs and upright trees.
- Korean lilac – The easiest of the lilacs to grow and reaches up to 8 feet. Offers purple flowers in late spring.
- Hybrid Yew – An evergreen that does well in sun and shade.
- Blue Muffin: A Variety of Arrowwood Viburnum – White flowers in spring, blue fruit in late summer, and a yellow, red, or purple color in the fall.
Plant in Layers
Using a mix of trees, shrubs and perennials is better looking then a fence-like row of the same kind of trees or shrubs. Start with a foundation of evergreens and deciduous shade trees and then layer in shrubs, perennials and annuals to give you yard some color and texture along with privacy.
Think Before You Plant
- Do you have power lines to contest with? Make sure to put the right trees and shrubs under them.
- Know how much space to leave in between your trees, shrubs, and hedges.
- Most privacy trees, shrubs, and hedges need a good amount of sun to stay full. Try to plant privacy plants in areas that get at least 6 hours of direct sunlight each day.
You can attempt to design and plant your privacy trees, shrubs, and hedges yourself…
-or-
Call the pros at Outer Image Outdoor Services to help you. They design and plan privacy trees, shrubs, and hedges for a living all over the Greater Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky area. Leave it to the Pros at Outer Image Outdoor Services!
Contact us (859-689-0076) for a free consultation!
