Privacy Screens - Living Fences



Posted: Friday, July 13, 2007

by
Park Seed Company

A natural, living privacy screen allows you to get away everyday—go on vacation simply by walking through your own back door. Canvas your landscape with lush green foliage and block out the rest of the world! Privacy trees also do a great deal to block out noise, wind, lights, and, with their distinct evergreen scent, unwanted smells. Your own property in the middle of town can become the great outdoors, a serene resort, designed to your taste. Your privacy screen will be a blank canvas for creating a picturesque view all your own.

A living or "softscape" privacy screen is superior to "hardscape" fencing (e.g., wood, metal, brick) in a few simple but very significant ways. First, the initial cost for a living fence is much lower, especially if you buy young plants. If you choose to shape your hedges, privacy fences also have creative interest. Much more beautiful and interesting, many privacy trees will change with the seasons and offer year round interest. In many instances, a living fence of beautiful privacy trees will help you avoid zoning problems often caused by hardscaping. Your final product will be elegant, simple, and incredibly more interesting than sections of ho-hum fence from the hardware store.

What Are You Trying to Hide?

Reasons for putting up a privacy screen vary greatly. For example, in a tight suburban to urban situation, your relationship with your neighbors can become a little more than cozy. And, no matter how much you love them, sometimes it would be nice to be able to enjoy the weather without having to discuss it with them. Also, privacy screens are perfect if you are having trouble incorporating the neon signs and warehouses of local industries into your landscaping plans.

Even in more rural areas, whether dense forest or rolling fields, defining your boundaries can keep you from becoming overwhelmed. Depending on your personal gardening and landscaping goals, a living privacy fence may be the perfect way to achieve the cozy garden you are looking for.

Thick, Fast-Growing Privacy Trees

The king of fast-growing, thick plants to use for a privacy screen is bamboo. The larger varieties will grow up to 3 meters in one day! Make sure you choose "clumping" varieties and not "running" varieties, which do not grow as tightly and may be harder to control. Bamboo will create a tall, very tight fence, and add excellent character and architecture to any garden.

Hemlocks, very popular in Canada and Northern USA, are the most cold-hardy of the privacy trees, surviving well into the arctic. They do not tolerate warmer climates well, and they are vulnerable to a few pests. However, they are excellent privacy trees with distinct foliage and a long tradition of use in landscaping. And of course, the ever-popular southern alternative, the Leyland Cypress, which stays tough in the hottest and most humid regions of the country.

Arborvitae or Thuja varieties like "Green Giant" and "Steeplechase" are the fastest growing conifers, growing 3 to 5 feet in one year. They are incredibly dense, require very little maintenance, and give your garden that very desirable elegant evergreen look at a relatively low cost. And, they are hardy to a wide range of climates. Thujas are very symmetrical and require no pruning—they may be pruned for hedging or topiary designs, but are beautiful if untouched.

Whatever plant you decide on, in a relative short time, you’ll be able to enjoy the sense of spacious serenity that only a living privacy screen can bring.

Thomas Andrews is a garden writer for Wayside Gardens.

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