Hide My neighbors mess!

Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:11 am

Hi! We recently bought a house and there are no plants shrubs or anything at all pretty in our yard..Which I'm sure I can fix,BUT I am trying to find a plant or flowers or somthing that will hide my neighbors yard.To be nice,their yard is a mess.I was looking at Pamas grass,but does it grow fast? Are they easy to take care of? Also any other Ideas of plants that will grow big and tall?
Thanks!

Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:17 am

Well, personally, I'm a fan of arborvitae. Its a pretty fast growing evergreen, and I think it smells lovely - of course, I grew up with it, too, so maybe I'm biased. :lol:

I don't know anything about your soil or sun conditions, but I've seen them grow in all sorts of circumstances, so...

Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:02 am

Depends on your conditions and how patient you are willing to be...

For me ideal would be a mixed shrubbery hedgerow of flowering/ fruiting/ berrying/ nut producing shrubs that would be attractive to birds and butterflies. But you would either spend a ton of money buying full sized shrubs or you would wait a few years while smaller shrubs grew out.

For a quick solution, the Pampas or other tall ornamental grasses would work or cold-hardy bamboos. The bamboos get tall and dense and make a good screen quickly, but they tend to spread pretty aggressively.

Other ideas are to put some young shrubs/small trees in big pots. That gives smaller plants more height and visual impact.

Or put up some fencing or trellising and grow vines up it. You can get a good screen in a season that way.

Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:31 am

Do you have some kind of support you can grow things up? If so a wisteria might be a good solution.

For an evergreen solution, you could have a look at Trachelospermum jasminoides - a jasmine with white scented flowers .

And for a more temporary solution for this summer - how about sweet peas in pots with trellis inserted into the pot. Use several all along the fence.

Good luck

Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:49 pm

Nice fences/walls make nice neighbors. :roll:

IMO, the problem with plants as a border between neighbors is who is going to maintain the side facing the neighbors?

At my second house, the property line from my neighbors was open and I not only got to see their wild bougainvillea encroach on my property but had to deal with cleaning it up too, so I approached them with the idea of a chain link fence as I had a dog to worry about too but more so to keep their kids from trampling on my lawn. I asked if they wanted to go half on the cost but they refused so I had the property surveyed and had a contractor install a chain link fence just a hair inside of the property line. It helped to keep their vine from encroaching and never heard another peep from their kids either!

Mon Jul 04, 2011 4:41 am

I had a similar problem, but decided I wanted a very natural hedge screen.
Is tarted with some white pines. Filled in with some arrowood viburnum. Added a few leyland cypress to the mix, making sure to plant in a zig zag pattern. I then moved forward with lower shrubs like Viburnum and Hydrangea. Then filled in with ostrich ferns and liriope. SOunds like a mess but actually grew into a nice natural looking hedge.

Hope this helps.

Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:22 pm

Everyone had good ideas but if you live next to "Redd Fox" as I do I'd want something that will hide the mess not dress it up. I planted hemlock, chinese witchhazel and holly, just let them grow and I see nothing except the color of the siding. Amazing how some people live with no regards for their health as well as their neighbors. He's had two minor house fires and I am hoping a third will be the charm.

Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:43 pm

if you are looking for a 'quick filler' plant while waiting for some shrubs to grow in, try some 4 o'clocks.

I grow them every year to hide some of my neighbors unsightly garbage in their backyard. It gives a surprising burst of color and large green foliage while you're other smaller shrubs are growing up.