Privacy GONE :( - Looking For Trees To Hide The View

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Wee Farmer Sarah said:
What about Blue gum Eucalyptus trees. They grow fast in your area and the aroma may cause some future nosey neighbors to keep their blinds closed.
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Hard no on Eucalyptus trees. Not only are they invasive here they also can't handle the strong winds from storms in our area so the wind will knock them over. We've had lots of issues with them in the area between falling through fencing and falling into water tanks. Would highly recommend avoiding.

Oak trees are a good idea as they require little input once established and are native so they can handle the weather and wind here. They are a slower grower so I'd plant something taller for the meantime while they grow in. There are some varieties that don't lose their leaves in the winter too.
 
Nifty-Chicken said:
what do y'all think? Any other ideas, suggestions, or experiences with this species?
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I have several Pittosporum of different types here, and think they are a good choice. Evergreen. Two (tenuifolium) are grown as columnar trees, one (purpureum) as a dense shrub, one (tobira) as an open large bush. Despite RHS advice that it needs a sheltered site (which ours isn't), they have all survived every storm we've had. Not harmed by excessive rainfall one year or drought in another either. I consider them tough as old boots. You can trim them to keep them dense and whatever shape/ thickness you want, or prune them hard if they get overgrown. The chickens like to hang out under them. One aspect not advertised in nurseries is that they can self seed readily, at least, tenuifolium does.

I also second the suggestion of Laurel; Portugese laurel makes a lovely small evergreen tree, if it'll grow there.

A large leaved ivy grown over a large gauge net makes a quick and ultra-thin privacy screen too.
 
Update... and total pivot. LOL!

I decided I like the look and features of the Podocarpus Gracilior more than the Lemonwood. It grows slightly slower than the Lemonwood, but I'm willing to compromise on that to have a long-term, better-looking line of trees.

... now to determine how close to put them to each other. The GF and the landscape-designer she's working with are trying to convince me to spacing them 9' on center... but I think that's too far apart.

All the research I've done has said 3 to 4 ft for the level of privacy I'm looking for. I think I'm going to compromise at 5 ft spacing. That will end up being about 10 trees.

A couple videos showing the Podocarpus Gracilior. First one is long and guy is kinda funny:


 
We're pretty happy with the choice! I really like the "soft" look of the leaves :)

We're going with 24" boxed trees that are about 7' tall. Our landscape designer originally wanted to space them 10' apart because my GF said she wanted a more "tree-like" look. I wanted more of a "hedge on stilts" look, but deferred to the GF and designer.

I gave in at first, but after a bunch of research I realized that I wanted more privacy and wanted it faster.

I'm letting the GF make all the choices about landscaping in the back and front yards... but this was an area I needed to have a bit more of a "voice". So, after a TON of research, I've requested that we put the trees 5' apart. While this will require more maintenance & pruning as the trees get older/bigger, I'll have more privacy... and have it sooner.

Very roughly looking like this:
1757444656619.png
 
Nifty-Chicken said:
We're pretty happy with the choice! I really like the "soft" look of the leaves :)

We're going with 24" boxed trees that are about 7' tall. Our landscape designer originally wanted to space them 10' apart because my GF said she wanted a more "tree-like" look. I wanted more of a "hedge on stilts" look, but deferred to the GF and designer.

I gave in at first, but after a bunch of research I realized that I wanted more privacy and wanted it faster.

I'm letting the GF make all the choices about landscaping in the back and front yards... but this was an area I needed to have a bit more of a "voice". So, after a TON of research, I've requested that we put the trees 5' apart. While this will require more maintenance & pruning as the trees get older/bigger, I'll have more privacy... and have it sooner.

Very roughly looking like this:
1757444656619.png
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Evergreens?
 
We went from a chain link fence to a horizontal wood picket fence because people were constantly inspecting our yard. One lady tried to steal our dog. In our side yard along the street my husband was experimenting trying to find grass that could withstand people frequently walking on it since they park on the street. The grass was not very tall but someone called the city. Another person called the city because my husband was working on a car in the driveway. And in our front yard we have a planting box that has been overtaken by mint. It’s great for pollinators though. They reported us to the city for overgrown weeds.

Since we changed the fence things have died down considerably. I’m still trying to figure out who the snitch is though. 🤣 Is it a passerby or the man that works from home? I’m leaning towards option number 2.
 
thecatumbrella said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say your suspect is probably retired with lots of free time on their hands. What the heck, pick your battles people. You even said it's contained in a planter!
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I’ve also got a suspicion to that it also has to do with what we look like too. We’ve had quite a few adventures based on that one. Sigh.
 

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