Contact a landscape designer where you live.

I don't live there, it is a holiday house, I am there 2 to 4 weeks per year. I am searching for ideas and inspiration. I am still open to any constructive ideas and suggestions from anyone willing to contribute. Cheers.

Pretty much impossible to make any sort of meaningful suggestions or comments without us being able to see the property and the area in question. So we need photos :-) It is also helpful to know where in the world you/the property might be located......not all plants grow everywhere!!

Hi, thank you for your reply :) The villa is located in Spain (costa blanca). I am not there currently but I found a picture in my emails of the view from my terrace. Not sure it is helpful... there's already a laurel on the neighbour's plot (their house is around 2meters from the fence, with this tree in-between but the tree is not high enough). Our house it further, like 10-15meters away. The idea would be to plant something higher on our side of the fence.

a picture of the space between our house (right) and the fence (left). The house behind is not the neighbours in question, you cannot see the neighbours' house on this last picture.

That laurel will continue to grow and do the job for you, no? Maybe by the time you arrive next year, the problem will have solved itself?

Unfortunately, the limited information from the photos makes it difficult to advise you. Palms don't grow fast, or if they do, they will grow past the window and not really help. Fertilize and water their laurel tree! :-)

Thank you for your reply. I wish you were right for the laurel. However, it is probably as old as the house (40 years) and we believe it won't grow much more. Moreover, we are not there to water their tree and definitely cannot extend our automatic watering system as we could get into trouble. I did water it when I was there in May since there was nobody in their house. We will see next time we go to the house in April and compare the height of the laurel to see if it grew but I highly doubt it won't grow much more. I don't know anything about gardening but my father told me that some plants/tree, will stop growing once it reaches a certain height. This laurel is probably around 5 meters high I believe.

Of course I would love for this laurel to grow by next year as it would avoid me to waste space on my plot with a tree and I would definitely save money. I have seen big palm trees cost around 3000€, and I guess transport and forage will make it even more expensive.

Regarding what you said "Palms don't grow fast, or if they do, they will grow past the window", my idea was to buy a tree that's already high enough to hide the window, so an old palm or something else... We actually have in a corner of our plot so kind of big tree that is from the family of palms I believe that really block the view from another neighbour. I think such tree if tall enough would make the deal to block their view. However I don't know what kind of tree it is nor if such tree exist in 6-7meters.

For the laurel I am reading online that it can reach 4 meters, so I believe my neighbours' laurel is already at its maximum don't you think?

For those having questions regarding the climate, I found this :

http://www.holiday-weather.com/javea/averages/

The plot is on a hilly area by the sea, so it's humid. Overall, you can find anything mediterranean from cactus to palm trees and cypress.

The climate is probably close to San Francisco's climate, maybe a bit warmer.

Trees always grow taller until they die or enter a decline, wherein they start dying back.

Embothrium(Pugetopolis) your reply confirms that I should plant something taller in front of their laurel to obstruct the view. Any suggestions ?

Oleander (the largest oleander trees/shrubs are located in Spain) is a possibility. Also Arbutus unedo. And figs grow very rapidly and to a decent size as well. Avocado is a possibility as well....and both the fig and avocado will produce some fruit for you to enjoy when you visit :-)

It is important to remember that new trees will need regular watering attention until they become properly established, so hope you have an automated system that can address this when you are not in residence.

As the climate is quite dry and the temperatures mild, there are certain options for palms, but each has its own problems. (naturally) Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis), seen in your photo, grows very slowly, thus the expense to move a massively heavy palm into place. Beyond that, these palms are being attacked in Europe and North Africa by the red palm weevil -- imagine paying a fortune to buy a palm that a year or two later could be completely dead? There is no proven defense against the beetle. An alternative, Bismarckia nobilis is probably difficult to find and dislikes being transplanted, though an experienced palm grower will know how to plant it without making the roots "bleed". One that may be easier to find, but you would need 2 or 3 to get a good screen, is the triangle palm, or Dypsis decaryi. You might be able to find some that already have some trunk if you have good nursery connections. Once the palm has begun forming a trunk, the growth rate tends to increase. Still, it would take a few years to fulfill your expectations.

Is there any way to rig up a shade sail to perform 2 purposes -- create privacy, and provide shade? Sometimes these are a better solution than plants.

If I had to take a guess, I think the tree which you show and believe to be in the family of palms is actually a yucca (and I would guess a Yucca recurvifolia). Definitely slow growing - that plant must be decades old. I would agree with the above poster who mentioned that the neighbor's laurel may grow and take care of the problem for you, but in the meantime maybe you could do some sort of potted small tree or shrub? As others have mentioned, tough to tell with limited photos, but investing in a couple potted bougainvillea or oleander trained to tree form, or dwarf olives, would hasten the height requirement since the plant would already be off the ground by whatever the height of the pot/planter is. In the meantime if you wanted you could plant something which would be allowed to grow to eventually screen the view (and all of the above mentioned plants I think would be more than suitable - especially oleanders for matching the style unless you are concerned with the toxic quality of them), but I think a container could be a good way to get instant results.

Thank you everyone for your messages !

I am very happy to see so many options and experts opinions.

gardengal48 : regarding the Oleander, this is what our neighbours already have under their window. I believe it is very old (probably 40 years) but it does not fully cover the window...

Arbutus unedo: this is a lovely option, didn't think about it. Will definitely look onto it and see if I can find an already grown tree, high enough and check regarding the spreading so it won't eat too much space on the plot/shadow too much the garden (not more than the neighbours' house already do), but I find these trees pretty if well controlled!

Figs/avocados: I love both fruits, and it is awesome to have trees producing fruits on the plots! we already have lemon tree, almond tree, orange tree. Our neighbours (on the other side) have fig tree, although the tree is beautiful and quite big, it is too spreaded, not so high and not so leafy unfortunately.. Avocados trees are quite random looking and I am not sure that the temperature will be ideal to grow good avocado fruits. But it would be so convenient as it is my favorite fruit !

kiminpl : thanks for the suggestions of palm trees ! We do have a Canary Island Date Palm and it is very costly as we have to pay the amount of a SIM plan to have it treated on a monthly basis due to the bugs attacks.

Bismarckia nobilis + Dypsis decaryi: looks quite efficient when it comes to block the view if already grown, will check this at the tree nursery once there !

Illume Environment + Design: thanks for the name of the tree from the picture, I had no idea ^^ I think that I definitely need to check grown Yuccas at the tree nursery as I like the fact that mine is quite developed and really blocks the space it's covering. I hope to find a bigger one that might reach the height I hope for (I checked on google high Yuccas are definitely an interesting option).

For the neighbours laurel, I am not quite sure it will grow much more, I read only that it could reach up to 4-5meters high in some areas in Spain and I believe that we are there already... But I will definitely take a picture and compare once I am there next April, the above picture was taken in April 2017 so it will be the occasion to see if it keeps growing !

the first picture of the very tall Yucca, this would be absolutely perfect for my needs I believe !

Although a bit concerned reading this

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1660400