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Landscape Design

Backyard - advice needed for privacy

7 years ago

Hi all!

We are looking to make our backyard a tad more private. We live on a corner lot in a subdivision, so I know it will never be super private. Unfortunately for landscaping and privacy, the land slopes away from the home so our 4 foot fence looks like a 2 foot fence in the privacy sense.

Also because of the slope, wet spring and summers result in standing water near the back fenceline which has killed some of our neighbors landscaping. It also may have played a factor into 2 of the 3 bushes dying by the electrical boxes. You can also see that our back neighbors trees aren't doing great.

SO. We are looking for what to plant that would do okay back there. I should mention that in dry summers like last, there's not water back there. We are having a hard time finding landscaping that does okay in both conditions. We are in the Chicago suburbs so hardiness 5B I believe. Also don't want anything super tall and would prefer nothing that produces fruits our dogs would try to eat. Also, any recommendations for bushes by the electrical boxes is appreciated.

We would prefer faster growing trees/landscaping, but are willing to be patient as well.

Thank you!!

Featured Answer

PRO

Yardvaark

7 years ago

To be sure, the wet ground situation is a completely separate problem from that of screening the properties. If it's a correctable situation, it's best to correct it and be able to use typical landscape plants, rather than being forced to use only plants that survive wet conditions. However, if you can't correct it, that's what you'll need to do. There's not information in the pictures or verbiage that suggest what might be causing the problem, so you're probably going to have to consult with a drainage engineer/landscape architect on site if you're going to determine what it is. It could be an issue that occurs outside of one's own property.

The picture is meant to be an inspiration of possibilities, rather than a suggestion of exactly what you should do. To begin with, a planting scheme must be worked out in a measured PLAN VIEW (like a map of your yard.) That's the only way that you can determine how to arrange plants, how close to put one thing to another, and calculate quantities. The concepts I'm suggesting in the picture include taller plants at the yard corners, using groups of like plants as opposed to individual plants, knitting the border plants together with groundcover (it would be impractical to mow grass around a lot of separate plants ... and grass is not going to grow well in the shade of trees.)

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Comments (10)

Samantha Jean
Original Author
7 years ago
Samantha Jean
Original Author
7 years ago
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Did you mention what part of Texas you are located in? As the state is so big, it is difficult to recommend specific plants that will do as well in all parts of the state. From your photo, it looks like you might be in the Dallas area? The other general question I would pose is whether you want year round shade from a tree/trees, or just summer shade? I'd suggest a great book on Texas natives, if you want to maybe use things that are really well adapted to Texas, although if you are keeping the lawn long term, you have more options, as you will be watering during summer. There is a book called Native Texas Plants, Landscaping Region by Region, authors Sally Wasowski and andy Wasowski, which you could probably find at your local library. If you just wanted some fast growing screen trees for immediate impact, you might consider evergreens such as Callistemon citrinus/Bottlebrush, Eriobotrya japonica/Loquat, or Ligustrum lucidum/Evergreen Privet. Deciduous trees include a lot more possibilities, and Albizia julibrissin, Catalpa, Fraxinus, Gleditsia, Parkinsonia, Robinia, Sapium could all be considerations. You could also consider planting a grove of smaller sized flowering trees as a backdrop to your patio and to frame views against the fence. Winter deciduous trees such as Crepe Myrtles or Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' are both pretty fast growing without getting too big, and would still give you sun in winter, with plenty of privacy and color in spring/summer/fall. If you tell us where in Texas you live, I am sure people could give you more specific suggestions appropriate to your local microclimate.
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A secondary fence consisting of about 3 to 4 panels could be constructed to block the view and it would create a backdrop for a courtyard. You could plant on the side by the seating area at ground level, and on the opposite side facing the neighbors, plant taller plantings like chaste tree or crape myrtle with under-plantings. The wall you have created would look great with a path between the house and the wall, then you would naturally walk around the wall to check on the plantings on the backside of the wall, and that area could become the strolling garden area that reconnects to the patio on the opposite side, over by where a barbeque might be placed. Definately an interior walled courtyard would be nice.
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Landscaping a backyard for privacy means placing tall, screening shrubs near the offending property lines ... not close up to the house and patio. (There, you'd want to use low plants or overhead trees, or some combination thereof, between you and the view.) For the screening shrubs, you'd need to account for the varying light conditions, which means using a type of plant that can accept sun or shade, or using a variety of plants, each which accepts the conditions in which they are placed. Since you have a length of property to screen, it makes sense that you would place all the shrubs in a bed and keep them separate from the lawn. If you wished to incorporate any small tree forms in the mix, you might want to place groundcover below them instead of only mulch. (It's an opportunity for adding another element of interest. It could include groundcovers that bloom.) Since you want to screen the CL fence, too, it will be an L-shaped bed. If screening both CL fences, it would be U-shaped, following the fence and lot lines. The bed depth, front to back, should be sufficient to accommodate the shrub dimensions, which is going to be quite large ... so probably 8' or 10' depth. Understand that whatever ideas you are given and wish to contemplate, and possibly incorporate, need to be put in the form of a plan before you do any actual work. So prepare a base plan on which you can work out the ideas. You could begin that by tracing over a plot plan of your yard. If you don't have that, measure and draw out on graph paper.
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Call some local independent garden centers to see what they might have in stock that would suit your situation. And that you can have delivered or pick up yourself in the parking lot.
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PRO
Yardvaark
7 years ago
From the pictures, it isn't clear where neighbors' trees are not doing well.

What is "super tall"? You don't want any trees?

Privacy is so people can't see you. You are not interested in screening out any of the views outside of your yard? BTW, a "corner lot" and "subdivision" do not mean that privacy can't be had.

Sounds like you just want a list of some plants and you will sort out where to plant them. Is that what you're after?
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Based on my experience in zone 5 with the hardiest bamboo I could find it won't provide a lot of privacy. Too short at 4' and some years it dies back to the ground.

As Yardvaark said, are you interested in blocking views out or in or both? Do you want suggestions of plants that will do OK in the conditions (the shrub forum or tree forum would be better for a list of possible plants) or would you like suggestions of how to arrange plants which is where this forum has expertise?
Samantha Jean
Original Author
7 years ago
Hello! Thanks for your time to comment. I'm interested in mostly shielding my neighbors view of us. I would say trees under 30 feet. I'm open to trees, bushes, tall grasses, anything really.

I am looking for both areas of expertise - what to plant AND where to plant it. I have no idea where I should plant what. I've thought about just a row of emerald green arbivortae but it seems kinda boring. Let me know if you have any ideas!

I will post in the tree and/or shrub forum for ideas on what to plant. Thank you!
Samantha Jean
Original Author
7 years ago
Lastly, here is a view of the back of our house. I'm interested in mostly restricting my neighbors' view of our patio
PRO
Yardvaark
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
"I am looking for both areas of expertise - what to plant AND where to plant it."

In that case, we need to SEE what you see. Just being told about it isn't enough. With a camera in hand, stand in line with the center of the house, within 5' or 6' of it. With the house at your back and the camera level, turn toward the far left (some of the house will show in the viewfinder) and snap a picture of the yard. Pivot slightly to the right and snap a picture that slightly overlaps with the first one. Continue pivoting rightward, snapping slightly overlapping pictures until you run out of yard. The last picture should contain some of the other side of the back wall of your house. Post the individual pics. Don't make a computer panorama of them. This way we can see the whole back yard in a logical order.
Samantha Jean
Original Author
7 years ago
Here you go!
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
7 years ago
How far is it from the back edge of your patio to the back fence? Patio sides to side fences? How do you use the back yard-just sitting on the patio? Kids playing? Neighborhood soccer games? Or what? Do you have a sense of how much grass you are willing to give up to get privacy?

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