Who ya callin' riff raff?? Just a senior cycler with a camera.

Happens around here, too, in middle class suburbia, Texas. Foliage/trees/tall bushes hide the house, but of course ya gotta have access to the driveway/garage. :-D

...and some people, whatever their income or social status, simply enjoy their privacy.

No one is likely to confuse me with Babs, but all of the properties we've owned, even those in town, were chosen in large part for their separation from street and neighbors. Our first bungalow was on a standard city lot, but set high above the road. I planted a lush front garden with tall shrubs separating us from passersby. Next, our cabin-in-the-woods-in-the-city, was sheltered by century old firs and a 15 ft laurel hedge and seemed miles away from the city. Then we adopted two miniature horses and our back alley gate became grand central. with school children, car pools, and joggers stopping to visit with our little equines. We're now out in the sticks at the end of a gravel, dead-end road, backing up to wilderness.

Perhaps Garbo is the more appropriate celebrity comparison for me.

I vant to be left alone.

After living most of my life in crowded suburban neighborhoods, we LOVE the peace, quiet, and privacy of our new place. We didn't landscape for privacy, though; in fact, we haven't landscaped at all. We have enough land around us to achieve the same effect. The result is like living in a park, minus the crowds on the weekends. I could sit on the front porch stark nekkid and no one would ever know. We don't have any window treatments, preferring to view nature in all of its splendor instead.

We do like our privacy, and if money were no object, and I had to live on a smaller lot, I'd probably landscape for privacy, too.

I have a row of holly trees/ bushes in front of my house - not to "hide it" - but to stop my reactive dog from barking at people walking by. Unfortunately, with a reactive dog, anyone walking past the house creates a barking frenzy, and then after he barks they "leave" (i.e. go out of view) so he's constantly rewarded for barking at them. I call it my "sanity hedge".

Many positives to strategic landscaping as noted above. We live in the woods but I wish I had the hedge at the road front that jannicone does. My puppy is becoming a self proclaimed someone is walking down the road alarm. Hate that!

I think Wright said something about landscaping hiding architectural mistakes. I have seen many houses that need landscaping.

I plan on landscaping so that you can see the approach and 'the view' I designate as important, and nothing more. On a little 2 acre lot, my neighbors are a nosy bunch, and since they have pets, and DH has allergies, I'd like them to stay the F away!
Eventually the front driveway will get a gate too :P

I think Wright said something about landscaping hiding architectural mistakes. I have seen many houses that need landscaping.

McTrees to hide McMansions? I now have a new name for Bradford pears.

Is desiring privacy while enjoying ones property now un-PC? Good grief! Who wants people looking in windows, watching one eat outside or just sit in a chair in the garden? And if there is a pool, it's an attractive nuisance under the law so why advertise? "Good fences make good neighbors" are wise words, and a fence can be vegetation.

A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines. Frank Lloyd Wright

Uhh... yeah.... I landscape for privacy from anyone. That sense of privacy in my own yard is very valuable to me.

This is all very interesting to me... Privacy on top of privacy, on top of privacy...

We all have private areas of the house (bedrooms, and to an even greater extent, bathrooms), and the house itself is usually a more private building (unless someone lives in a glass house), typically built among other houses (so, private from most public places like libraries, gas stations, grocery stores, and other commercial development), and yet, this still is not enough privacy.

But I keep the bathroom door open, so that I can listen to what little ones are up to, so consider the source, lol. :-D Maybe an introvert/extrovert thing?

I thought there might be a mean between the barb-wire topped prison fences and junkyard dawgs of a Queens car dealership and Mies van der Rohe'shouse as a transparent enclosure on a golfing green. My mistake.

After living in a subdivisions aka a fishbowl yes I most certainly do want to be able to walk about my property without my neighbor being able to see my every move. No I'm not that exciting but after casual conversations you realize just how much some neighbors are total looky lous. I like my space and I like my privacy, I don't think that means I am unfriendly. You want to talk to me then come to my home and into my space but don't sit and watch me from across the street and then tell me about all I did that day later or text me asking about this or that that you saw me do. ??? That makes me want a wall and a moat.

As for landscaping - I think it can accent the home and we love to plant and landscape but you do kinda have to be in the driveway approach to see it. We plant for us not necessarily for drive by's. I love pulling into the drive and having our flowers and plants usher us home.

I'll have to grab some photos of my house and then a house down the street. I think it illustrates Worthy's point quite well.

Privacy certainly is the owners decision, and I think it (like many other things) may go too far sometimes. But, who am I to tell someone else how to live. :)

So.... my front yard is landscaped, but my backyard is quite open and there are not many window coverings. So.... landscaping was used strategically, and it's created a nice oasis in the front yard since we're on the main street and also corner. But, the backyard is open.

I'm in an older suburb with small front yards. There's a guy nearby with a 10ft tall hedge around his small front yard complete with a door.

I'm so jealous...it just appeals to something deep inside from childhood.

Fori -- that's how I felt with the 15' tall laurel hedge at our previous home. It was nearly deep enough to create my own secret fort within. Now, surrounded by a Douglas Fir forest, I want a treehouse such as we had growing up. Alas, my tree-climbing skills are not what they once were, so I may settle for a wildlife viewing platform with room to pitch a tent

Some houses deserve mega-landscaping to hide them from the public and to save small children. This is one...Snout House!

I wonder if the woof leaks??

Mark, add "Proficient in dad jokes" right after Architect on your resume.

My daughter thinks so too.

so does his wife :)

The siding should be bark.

There is a huge area of concern to be considered when landscaping a house. Crime. Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is a process of landscaping and design that causes a prospective burglar to decide not to try that residence.

Much of what has been discussed in this thread is contrary to that idea. The fact neighbors can see if a person is trying to get into a residence illegally is a huge plus for crime prevention and apprehension.

I am going to place a sign in my front yard at the road that reads, "Do Not Look On the Other Side of the Street". I figure passerby's will either be reading the sign or looking the other way. I'll save a ton on landscaping.

That will become such a popular sight, thousands of people will come to have photos taken beside the sign, which will destroy your front lawn, necessitating concreting the entire front yard.

But, you will save because of reduced lawn maintenance.

That reminds of a house I lived near in FL. They guy had the entire front yard black-topped, and painted it green. I always wanted to sneak over there on Halloween and paint dandelions all over it!

OneDevotedDame - if it's just me and hubby, I don't close the bathroom door. It's neighbor's that I want privacy from.

I don't want to talk to the old man who pulls up (fly undone) and gums his way through what he's seen the neighbors do, what I did last week, etc. I just DON'T CARE, and I'd like my privacy.

I've chosen a childfree life, so the only children I want on my lawn are the ones I've invited over. I don't want neighbors backing into my fence, or coming over to sell me crap I don't want.

I do want to be able to have friends over for bonfires, to listen to music, to do silly things, and generally not be bothered by others. I want a huge garden and flowers that *I* see, not that the neighbors enjoy.

THAT is why I've moved to a semi-rural setting, and am planting hedges and trees!

HandyMac has a point regarding safety. For us, that means limiting access to the backyard with large wide rows of rosebushes (ow!), using strategic gates, and yes, lighting to discourage views, as well as an alarm system. But my neighbor leave his garage door open ALL THE DARN TIME, EVEN WHEN HE'S NOT HOME, so I think he's the bigger (ugly) target :P

As for crime, this is why I never clean house. I figure a burglar would take one look and decide the place had already been ransacked.

In our old subdivision we had a smaller window to the left of the front door-probably 4 foot away. We didn't cover it until I realized my neighbor across the street would knock on the door and then look in that window to see if we were home and then if no answer he would walk around to the back yard looking in windows - open the slider and hollar. Um no that is NOT okay. I installed the "Larry blind" after that. Not happy. He would sit on his front porch and yell across the street if we were out grilling or playing with the kids. Bye-bye subdivision living. Ahhhhhh.

And so long, Larry!

We have no plans to shield the front of our home with trees or vegetation when completed; nearest neighbor (apart from Herons) will be several hundred feet away. The only plants will be rose plants all along the front wrought iron fence and I'll love seeing them from the road. The east side with the master will be protected by trees around our storm water pond. Perhaps an overkill, the property will be fenced and gated, plus a less secure additional fence around entire lot, it's a very small, quiet and gated community.

Personally I like to be connected to our neighbors and the street. I like to be able to sit on our screen porch and say hi to people walking by or see someone while making dinner and be able to run out and ask them something.

When we go for walks in our neighborhood I like the variety of houses. Much better than a bunch of sameness screening vegetation. We often ride our bikes to the grocery or a café for dinner and I like the variety of houses and being able to say hi to people. Over the years we've gotten to know a lot of neighbors thanks to this. Now we see people in the grocery or coffee place and we 'know' them and say hi because we've ridden by their house or they by ours and we've seen each other. They are no longer strangers but neighbors.

Our backyard is private from the street but open to 3 neighbors who back up to us. Our house front is open, public, and I very much prefer it that way.

I think a well landscaped property offers privacy, noise reduction, security, and curb appeal. Although in my Zone, trees do not offer all four. Similar to the "Quick, Cheap, Good" and you can only have two... you can have Privacy and Noise Reduction but not as much security or curb appeal (think evergreens that are dense) where as deciduous that are appealing are not great for reducing noise and offering privacy because they are airy. The security concept is double-edged. Making it hard to see in the house is good, but then it becomes hard to see out of the house. Or making it private means neighbors who know you can't identify a person who is on your property and should not be.