Privacy Planting
A privacy planting for your yard, your “outdoor living space”, is as simple as planting a buffer. Plant a small grove of trees, a swath of shrubs, layer in some blooming perennials, and you have a living barrier between you and the outside world. Planting the perimeter of the yard in this manner masks both views and sounds.
Summer
Gently curving beds create islands of color to be enjoyed as we live outside in the Summer months. Shade trees provide a retreat from the sun, a place for children to play, a home for the birds. They help buffer street noise and block views of the taller structures at neighbors McMansions. Layered beneath plant shrubs that flower as well as plenty of evergreens. Azaleas and Rhododendron both flower and provide a year round screen. Plant in front of this with plenty of blooming perennials for color and to encourage wildlife. Bees, Butterflies and birds are fascinating to watch and you will be helping our environment by providing food for pollinators. Enjoy the sound of water by adding a pond and waterfall. Your private retreat just became more relaxing.
Fall
In the Fall, enjoy the beautiful color the deciduous tree leaves take on. As the drop, more warming sunshine is allowed into the garden. Your privacy is not gone however. You planted that lower layer of evergreen shrubs too! Let the beauty of Fall blooming Camellias and Re-blooming Azaleas add color to the garden as you enjoy a warm Fall day on the patio. You may also have boxwood and hollies shielding you from the neighbors as you enjoy your outdoor fire pit and S’mores. Seedheads from the Summerss blossoming perennials entice birds to visit and your garden is still alive with sights and sounds.
Winter
Retreating indoors for the Winter, you have blocked unsightly views from with the house with your buffering border. The strategically placed larger evergreens hide the neighbors shed or a street view. Enjoy the garden from the breakfast nook or family room window. If the water feature is properly placed, enjoy the daily changes it goes through in the Winter as well. This privacy planting is a pleasure throughout every season.
So remember, Privacy Planting is more than a couple of Leyland Cypress planted in a single row, marching down the property line. Buffer plantings of trees, shrubs and perennials create a 4 season feast for the eyes and wildlife. Richly planted, gently curving beds will marry the house to the land and erase the postage stamp look of our modern subdivisions. Fall is for planting, so add to your privacy buffer now, and be ready to enjoy your yard more.