What about planting one or two podocarpus or pittosporum silver screens to block the two two-story monster structures and just letting them grow up like trees? We'll be sinking posts and running horizontal wires for vines for lower coverage. So we'll only need to block the upper story views. Which do you think would be better: podocarpus or pittosporum? Or maybe one podocarpus in front of the house on the left in the picture, and one pittosporum in front of the house on the right? Can we just let them grow up like trees? Without trimming? I hope they won't block the light our avocado tree gets, and this is the reason we were originally thinking of planting a companion avocado tree. But privacy is more important to us than fruit. We can always buy avocados at the farmers market. This is our fourth lot, and up in Laurel Canyon. It's a shady lot with partial sun, and the microclimate is a perfect blend of coastal marine and inland heat -- rarely too hot or too cold. If it gets more shady, that's okay with us. It's only one part of our yard, and the one farthest removed from the house. Eventually we would like to put in about a 300 sq ft home office/guest room for visitors, so we need to privatize the area now. Also, what size plant would you start with? We want to get a head start on this, asap. And in the ground before November.

Thanks! Most of the things in the front were there already, I just trimmed some back to allow others to take over more of the spotlight. The hostas have been subject to several harsh trims in order to let the iris and bleeding hearts show through. The shrubs in the background were also harshly pruned so they stay back in the background as I do not really like shrubs but the owner said I had to keep them. I did tear out several large shrubs and bushes though, making open spaces, it was all overgrown. I also added mulch, which made them pop more, I think. I went out today and trimmed the large bushes up above my head, I got sick of getting a face full of bush when mowing under them (the hydrangea and lilac). Unfortunately, they are all being eaten by a wood boring pest that my landlord refuses to acknowledge, so this will probably be their last year, then they will have to be taken out or at least severely cut back to the ground. Hopefully I have found a nicer, more rural apartment by then. :) I do feel like I have improved this one, though, so I am staying positive!

I think the easiest way to maintain a large area is to create a woodland environment. Separate the 'woodland' from the 'yard' perhaps with the wall in the picture, or by some sort of border like logs or simply the edge of the lawn, and don't worry too much about maintaining the woods. I am sure you've seen yards that border the woods, and some of them look perfectly manicured despite the fact that nothing is done to maintain the woods. So, it is partly attitude ('those are the woods, this is the yard') and partly a good border between the two that makes your life easier. I would start by by mulching and planting large clumps of a few types of shrubs or small trees. Pick out perhaps three to five types of native woodland shrubs. Get perhaps three to five plants of each type. Plant each type of plant in an informal clump. The clumps should be arranged to look nice, frame in your yard and woodland path, and to not interfere with each other too much (give them the room they need). In general, put taller ones toward the back, smaller ones in front. Mulch the whole area. You can buy shredded bark or find a local tree trimmer or the municipality who shreds branches (power company crews, road maintenance crews etc.) and sometimes get the chips for free. i would use the most natural-looking mulch you can find, so that the woods look as woodsy as possible. in the future, simply leave the leaves that fall. You should probably mulch again in future years to help build ip the soil and supress weeds. I would probably remove a lot of the small plants that are there now. I see a yellow-green groundcover that is probably a sedum, some weeds, I think, and some grass. none of these really fit in a natural woodland, so I wouldn't keep them. As the shrubs grow, the spaces in between you can plant with wildflowers, ferns, etc. Once you get the shrubs growing and a good mulch on the soil, you can take your time (years, if you want) planting wildflowers, and I think you'll enjoy it. I would start with several Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) scattered through the woods. I would plant clumps of Cranberry viburnum (tall, put it near the back), American Holly (Also tall), Maybe Gray Dogwood in the sunnier parts of the front, Blueberries (highbush type- most of the blueberries grown for fruit are 'highbush' blueberries that will get four or five feet tall, at least), and perhaps Red chokeberry, or maybe Inkberry holly, which is evergreen. I would make each clump something like 10 ft by ten feet, but an irregular shape. This will fill a lot of space, you'll like the look of the shrubs, and there will be no maintenance - you can simply let them grow once they are planted and watered for the first few months. I think evergreen groundcovers are a pain - weeds often grow through them, it is hard to get leaves out of them, and unless they grow really thick, the look like a poorly maintained planting. Woods, on the other hand, aren't supposed to be maintained and so look fine full of leaves and sticks. Just maintain a path through them and you are fine.

Landscaping is not designed in complete disregard of whatever is the backdrop. The first picture is not the one someone would use in order to landscape the front of this house. You'd need to turn the camera around so that it is aiming toward the house. Because of the wall you'd need to stand at the gate and show the area in slightly overlapping photos, panning from left to right such that everything is included except what is near your feet, showing as much of the house as possible. You'd also want to take another picture by backing up and standing in the street that shows your whole property in a single shot. For the back yard, you'd need to do basically the same. From about midway out into the yard, turn around and show the back of house from lot line to line. If you can't capture it in a single picture, show it in two slightly overlapping pictures. If that back yard has shade on it from noon on, at what portion of the yard is the shade located? And where is it coming from?