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Planting Privacy Trees Near Free Stone Retaining Wall

13 years ago

Hi. I am a new homeowner and new to this forum. Our current backyard slopes downhill to another house behind us in a cul-de-sac that sits well below ours. We are having a retaining wall built at the back of the property line right now. It is being constructed of very large, heavy, boulders in a freestone type system (as opposed to the mortared or interlocked precast concrete blocks). The wall is backed with weed-block fabric and will be back-filled with dirt and leveled out of course.

The contractor will be mulching about 12" in front of the wall (from our perspective). Along this wall I would like to plant some sort of privacy trees or bushes. My main concern is what to plant and how far away from the wall I need to plant. I am open to anything like leyland cypress, green giants, etc. Anything that will grow fairly quickly and give us privacy.

What I am hoping to find here are some suggestions on what to plant as well as how far from the wall I should be safe planting without putting the integrity of the wall in question. (I have seen dozens of threads debating what to plant for privacy and how far apart to plant the trees themselves, but not much combining that with proximity to a stone wall). I was hoping to only have to be inside the top of the wall line another 36" or so but I really have no idea.

Thank you in advance for your help!

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Comments (6)

jamiecta
Original Author
13 years ago
One follow-up. I found a great picture online actually after I posted this that shows something similar to what I want to do! It is just a generic nursery picture featuring Emerald Green Thujas and our wall will probably be twice as tall as that but it gives you a good idea (and also me an idea since I like the look of those Emeralds).

Here is a link that might be useful:
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
any chance at a picture..

emeralds dont get all that tall ... what height are you thinking about..

i dont think anyone here will agree with leylands

and when they say GIANT.. they mean green GIANT.. it may be too big.. eventually

ken
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I don't have a design background like many of the folks here do, but I have dealt with a problem similar to yours. I've planted Thuja Green Giant here and elsewhere, and per the name, they get big very fast. Unless your neighbors are on a hill overlooking your property, the thuja are way more than you need. I don't know how their roots would be when they are large, but I believe there would be a risk they would over time start to lift your wall. An inch would be more than enough to crack it. I imagine the frost line there is not very deep? How high a privacy screen do you need? If it's just 12-14 feet, there are many shrubs that would work, with essentially no risk to the foundations of any structures. Plain old forsythia would work. Or do you need an evergreen?
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If your wall was dryset stone, then maybe you might want to worry. But a concrete wall should be fine with 'shrubs' planted above it. I'd stay away from trees, though.
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A few weeks ago there was a good thread on this very subject. A lot of goo d suggestions there. Take a look and see if it helps you. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1794778/what-tree-to-plant-against-pool-no-palms?n=30 Also in the Western Garden Book, there's a section in the front with a list of plants suitable for around the pool. If you don't have this book, I'd highly suggest it. However, don't buy the latest edition. For some reason they though it was a good idea to not cross reference plants by common names in that edition, which is a stupid idea. Instead get the 2001 edition. It's available on Amazon as a used book. http://www.amazon.com/Sunset-Western-Garden-Flexibind-Flexi/dp/0376039132?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00
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Hello, you might want to post this in the Landscape Design forum, I'm sure you'll get great advice from professionals.
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jamiecta
Original Author
13 years ago
For a picture of our back yard, I think I will have to wait until the wall is constructed to actually get anything that would be useful to this thread. The link I posted in my follow-up is the closest I can come to for now.

In that example picture, I posted, our yard would be on the other side of the trees and our neighbor would be the one seeing the wall.

As far as the height of the Emeralds, I read that they mature to a height of 8-12' which I thought would be fine since we are sitting up a little higher anyway. I like the Green Giants...but as you said they can get maybe too big for what I had in mind here (10-15' would be ideal for me) and from the little bit I know about them, the GG seem to require a little more maintenance than the Emeralds to keep them in check.

Also, do the Emeralds grow as fast as GG but just not as tall?

Thanks again!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
Our current backyard slopes downhill to another house behind us in a cul-de-sac that sits well below ours.

====>>> what i cant understand.. w/o a pic ... is how far down the yard slopes.. and how high up the house behind is ....

once i see that.. i can put the wall in..

my smargards.. emeralds.. bought at 4 feet.. 9 years later are barely 6 feet ... so i dont know.. even if they are up on your wall.. whether they will do what is in the link you provided ...

that pic is taken from below.. and appears very high.. but it really isnt..

see where i am going with the ???'s

ken
jamiecta
Original Author
13 years ago
Ken,

Yes I see exactly what you mean. I will come back to this thread and post pictures when the wall is done.
regal641
5 years ago
Is the wall done???

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