Yes, cities can have view ordinances. Interesting info here.

http://realestate.findlaw.com/neighbors/views-and-trees-faq.html

almostemptynester, don't let a few naysayers get under your skin. Plant some beautiful plantings and enjoy your property, front yard and back.

As far as deer, a Master Gardener friend of mine says it's not a question of what deer will eat, but when. In our area, it's not that they are ever starving, just that they seem to get bored and want to try something new.

Maybe they don't care about you and your house and your view and just want to sit outside and chill?

Just plant your trees and move on. You are obsessing way too much about these people.

I still owe my neighbor a sucker punch to the face, a pair of broken glasses, and a black eye for a month. I just wanted to plant 3 little giant arboritae on my property in front of his propane tank. Until I kick his ass I am an overpressurized can of whoop ass. All he needs is a swastica on his forehead and he would look just like Charlie Manson. I seriously live next to satan (and hes home 24-7-365)

Do whatever you want that is legal.

I'm just going from what I see in the first picture posted above. I see a line of blue chairs positioned closer to the house then the road (it looks like they are about 20-30 feet off the road on their own property). I see an existing line of small pine trees where, if one more pine tree of the same size was added near the mailbox, you would not even see the line of chairs from that particular window.

It is your property to do with as you want as long as it is within the law, which your attractive landscaping would be. Judging from the picture you posted of their house, I would want to plant to block my view of their house which badly needs to be painted. Just sayin.....

If I were to stand only in the corner of my dining room, then that would be a solution. :)

I think the weathered look of their "barn" is intentional.

Do whatever you think is best. If they don't like it, they can retaliate in kind; They can erect poles with motion-activated floodlights aimed across the street. Since they predate the development, I cannot imagine they are party to any HOA rules.

Your neighbors seem a bit 'threatened'...?

Maybe use sheilding plantings closer to your wanna-be-protected areas? Sorta like don't poke the bear?

Please know I have no "dog" in this fight, so take my opinion as worth what you paid for it....but those chairs seem to be lined up against their own barn, yes? In other words, they aren't sitting right up on the property line, or right on the shoulder of the road, but rather they lined them up against their own barn.

It reminds me of some relatives I have. They sit outside in a setting that looks very similar. They've always done that in the summer. And they're rather unfriendly people too - heck, they don't smile/wave at ME so I can't imagine how they would appear to new neighbors.

Are you sure they're trying to antagonize you? Maybe they're just generally sullen people who like to sit outside. It may feel like they're staring at you, but maybe they're just looking in your general direction because that's how the chairs face....which also just happens to face the road, you know?

Oh that is a barn...guess I missed that. I would still rather not see it so would plant trees.

It's an addition made to look like a barn. Their house is extremely close to the road so while they are near their barn, they are really close to the road. Maybe they are just people who like to sit and be sullen -- but they never used to do this during the first two years that I owned this land before we built. Just a gut feeling, but there is something a little odd about it especially since it is a new behavior.

Plant the trees. It's your land. It's your right. Do it now!

Actually we are in the process of moving the berm over closer to the real property line and I am going to stagger arborvitae along the road and plant grass in the area.

Plant what you want, where you want. I recommend taking photos of the plantings and the property stake as soon as you put them in. You don't want someone moving the stake and then saying you planted past your boundaries.

I would be tempted to line up my four chairs at the front of my lot and put four scarecrows in them, dressed appropriately for the season

Oh Linda, you are wanting a war! LOL! Don't put those chairs out. But you gotta admit that is pretty funny!

I do like the turquoise against the brown of the barn. ;) (Hey, it's a color thing)

Maybe they just like sitting outside in the shade, enjoying the breeze? I had a neighbor who was always outside, and never waved at me or anyone else. After I finally got to know her, I found out it's because she didn't like wearing her glasses outside and couldn't see beyond a few feet.

"In my county, you can't build or plant anything that impedes someone's view. "

@ geoffrey_b What a foolish statement. At that rate, nobody could plant a tree. Is there a 'view' judge?"

I hope you don't mean my statement is foolish. It's just a fact. I am not saying I agree with it- just that it exists in my county and others. There are certain lots that are assessed as "view lots." Whatever that "view" is of is protected by that county code so people can't ruin someone's "view" (either by planting something or building something) and, in turn, decreasing their property value. It doesn't apply to all lots. View judge = property owner filing a code complaint that is investigated by a county code officer...

OP, if I was in your situation and there weren't any codes/ordinances stopping me, I would plant trees immediately without discussing with the neighbors.

"What a foolish statement"

Not really. In our county on the Chesapeake Bay where views are a big deal, there's a "Light, Air and View" section in the zoning code.

I would talk to them with a trained mediator in the room. Be very careful to be respectful, but state your case for privacy, for both parties. IE you say that because you can see them so much, you feel like you're invading their privacy, and you want to put in screening solution and what would be acceptable to them?

i don't agree with doing anything that could make them angry. You could have much worse problems than staring to contend with.

I do agree with Mark's invitation idea. Don't cut off their view altogether. Put yourself in their shoes.

I don't intend to communicate with them regarding my landscape plan. They will still have a view unless the people who bought the empty lot next door decide to build their house in their view area. I am not planting to block their view. I am planting so I have privacy from a busy road.

Good points by Najeebah. Just keep the big picture in mind. An obnoxious coworker you can say goodbye to at the end of the day and on weekends, a neighbor, you can't.

Lived in a situation several years ago that just degenerated and it was not fun, the issue of right and wrong aside. With that in mind, had another situation with my current neighbor when we tore down a house and rebuilt it (it was about water on his property). It wasn't that great for a while and it could have degenerated too. But, with my other experience in mind, even though the building department inspectors agreed with me, I was proactive about a good relationship, sucked it up and things got better from there. The big picture was more important than the small picture. Today, we get along great. For example, when we were gone for two weeks, when he mowed his lawn, he mowed ours along with it although I didn't ask him to.

Back when we had the water issue, it could have very easily tipped the other way.

I appreciate the comments advising me to somehow extend an olive branch to these people, but I think it would be completely futile. I have heard from another neighbor that these are not very nice people and no one seems to be friendly with them. They must have been obnoxious enough when the owners of the original farm decided to subdivide the farm into lots for them to plant giant spite trees right in front of their house to block their view. I really do not think that I am going to benefit from trying to befriend these people. It will always be an awkward situation with them, but at least I won't have to look at them and they won't be able to stare at me.

From experience, I am sure the people next door when they build are going to be hated even more than me because they will block their view much more than me. Nothing that I can do other than use my land the way I want to. I wouldn't tell them how to landscape or how to decorate their house. They likewise should have no say on how I landscape or decorate my living room.

You are making assumptions based on heresy.

The only way to find out if there's any truth to what you're being told is to offer an olive branch. If they are as nasty as you have heard through rumors, then at least you made an attempt. However it could be a million other things. Maybe the farmer used to throw rotten tomatoes onto their lawn which is why they hated the farmer.

Maybe another neighbor had a beef with them and through gossip got everyone to believe him and now your neighbors across the street are ostracized for no good reason. You don't know and you won't know unless you actually go and speak to them.

However while I still say plant what you want, I also agree that you are making assumptions about your neighbors without having actually spoken to them.

I hope you update us after the new trees are up. I am really intrigued by this story! :)

You are making assumptions based on heresy.

And how dare you go against the Church!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist. I think you mean hearsay.)

Update -- the trees are in on a berm on the property side line. Tomorrow the landscapers will put in the rest along the front of the property along the road on a berm. They still have "their" view across the yet-to-be-built-on lot, which really is the one that is directly in front of them. After thinking about this I really don't feel badly for landscaping my property. My lot is more to the side of theirs anyway. Maybe they just might be happy to have me blocked off too. You never know. I will post pics tomorrow if they complete it.

Looking forward to seeing it!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist. I think you mean hearsay.)

OMG! LOL. Dang spell check and I didn't go back to double check what I wrote.

I would also plant whatever landscape you wanted. I just moved into a new (to me) house, and my fenced side yard with my patio abuts a neighbors side yard with their patio. I've already planted 2 bushes that will get quite large and give me some privacy, and plan on planting more.

He's a nice older gentleman, I haven't said anything about my plantings, but will probably casually mention what I'm doing the next time I talk to him. Regardless of whether he likes it or not, I would like some privacy so will continue my plantings.

I have a similar situation, pamghatten. I put in a privacy fence between my (well-landscaped, if I do say so myself) yard and my neighbor's dogpen. My privacy fence blocks his view of the golf course, which both our back yards adjoin.

But I did not extend the fence all the way between our backyards - I left a 20 foot expanse open. It seemed rude, somehow, to close it all off. He and I and DH all attended high school together; we have known each other more than 40 years. Also, he is a professional man with whom my employer has a business relationship, which I don't want to mess up.

But when he set up a trampoline for his grandchildren less than 15 feet from the property line - right beside where there is no fence - I was sorry I had left that space open. So I am planting hydrangeas and a small Japanese maple there. Grow, dammit!!

If you put in limelight those things grow to 6' from a 1 gallon in 3-4 years

They are mulching today -- will post pictures when they are done. I am already feeling much less exposed when I am outside. I wasn't home last night so I have no idea what, if any, reaction they had.

Sorry to highjack - whaas_5a: I was browsing the closeouts at my local garden center just now and they had limelights on sale for $4.99! It was an omen . . . an omen, I tell you.

Anxiously awaiting pictures, almostemptynester.

Those limelight look beautiful -- don't mind the diversion. You can always learn something new. I'll take pictures tomorrow. I think they should be done with that side.

if they wanted the view they should have purchased your lot people should never purchase a piece of property expecting the neighboring views to remain the same

Trees are in -- posting a few pictures. The fishbowl effect is mitigated. :)

Certainly won't be seeing them in a few years! lol

Can we see some pics of your house now?

littlebug - nice pick up. They are bullet proof up here and flop very little after a rain if you allow the base wood to thicken up.

Sweet Summer is another fav of mine if you want the flowers to change color earlier. Super sturdy stems compared to other H. paniculata.

It looks like all of the sudden when their view was disappearing because we started to build onour own property, they started lining up outside at night and staring across the road.

Or they just bought some chairs and started sitting outside more and it has nothing to do with you. People change their habits sometimes.

I'm glad you decided to do what you wanted with your landscaping and it looks great, but I honestly think that you are the one that is obsessed with your neighbour and not the other way around.

Thanks for your opinion. I will continue to think the way I do based on personal observation. They have a reputation for angering most of the neighbors in the area btw. Even the local officials from the building dept describe them as difficult and nasty.

It sounds like your neighbors are jerks, so you don't need to feel bad about doing what you want to your property because it won't affect your relationship w your neighbors. However, if you have pets, I would think hard before poking the bear because stories of pets being hurt in retaliation is all too common in these 'disputes'. I would never risk it because there are other solutions available. If you have no pets to worry about, then I'd do what you want to do.

FWIW, I don't think it's weird for someone to realize their view may potentially go away and to start enjoying it more while they still can. Putting chairs outside one's home and facing them to the street is common everywhere and not creepy to most people. It's either done to enjoy views or to even see neighbors with the goal of being social. If facing views towards other properties and views wasn't acceptable, it would mean everyone who isn't ocean front in a beach town shouldn't have seating that faces the ocean because they would be looking through someone's property to view it. I get why you want your privacy though!!!

It's really common for even very nice people to be upset about losing their views and and seeing changes to their neighborhood. Change is expected and it's tough luck, but those feelings are understandable.

Almostemptynester, the planting looks lovely. I would have done a similar planting, neighbors or not. I hate to feel exposed so have done similar planting around my place to feel a bit more able to walk outside and not be observed constantly.

Do you have wifi there yet? I hate to be this way but I would put one of those nature webcams out. My friend discovered that their crazy neighbor was spraying her offending bushes with roundup with a webcam after they had to replant more than once!

That looks very nice! Why would you not want to look outside and enjoy your landscaping and putz in your hard and feel like you are in your own space. Congrats! Oh and I love your side entry there by the garage, awesome! Go enjoy your space and if they choose to sit outside and you choose to walk around without the fish bowl your beautiful landscaping should serve to solve the issues in a very tasteful way!

I love that I can walk around my yard without anyone seeing me do so...until winter comes and the cover is gone but I'm not out near as much in the cold and nasty anyhow.

Edit: Annette my sister found the same thing with her neighbor once they put cams up. Killing their flowers and their garden. So strange.