Privacy Landscaping for your Property

While you work hard to keep your landscape looking beautiful, you may not want it on display 24/7. There are many reasons why you may wish to shield parts of your property from neighbor’s prying eyes. Privacy is important to most of us, and your yard is no exception. Luckily, there are plenty of creative ways to build privacy landscaping into your yard’s design.

Methods for Privacy Landscaping

First, determine exactly how private you’d like your yard to be. Is it ideal that as much of your yard as possible be invisible to neighbors, or do you simply prefer some form of partial screening? There are plenty of excellent options for creating a beautiful yard for which privacy is a priority.

• Try a wooden screen with a lattice pattern. Screening like this is not complete, and depending on how widely-spaced the lattice is it can still let considerable sunlight pass through. The lattice also can serve as a trellis, allowing you to grow vines and creeping flowers along its length. These fences are usually sold in panels, so that you can make a beautiful privacy screen whether you are cordoning off a corner, partitioning off a patio, or lining your entire landscape.Similarly, you can construct inexpensive separators from pallet wood. The spaces in between can be used to hand planters filled with gorgeous plants that will provide further privacy as they grow bigger. Pallet wood is beloved by many DIYers for its accessibility and versatility. You can stain the pallets to suit the color scheme of your yard and create screens as big or small as you desire.
• Brick or stone walls, while more expensive than wood paneling, provide full privacy from neighbors. You can either build them yourself, or it is possible to find panels of stone or brick walls that can be assembled relatively quickly to create your border. They give an austere air to a landscape, resembling the walls of centuries-old European castles. As moss or vines begin to grow on the walls, the sense of timelessness will grow as well.
• Hedges grown from azalea, bougainvillea, or Leyland cypress make excellent green privacy screens here in Florida. These shrubs are known for their dense growth and beautiful appearances, so they can make quite an attractive barrier. Azalea and bougainvillea are best for partial-privacy, as they will only grow to about 3-4 feet tall. If you are looking for total privacy, Leyland cypress will serve you well as a tall hedge. All this greenery will invite many interesting bird species to call your yard home, and cypress can even help reduce your energy costs if they shade parts of your house during the day. However, this type of screening can be expensive and comes with its fair share of work, as you must keep them well-pruned.

It is important to keep in mind as you design your more-private yard that the more walls, fences, or shrubs you choose to have will very likely decrease the amount of sun your yard receives. This can especially be an issue if you opt for higher amounts of privacy with tall walls or hedges. The challenge comes in balancing your garden and lawn’s needs for sunlight with your desire for increased privacy. With the plethora of creative options available for privacy landscaping, we’re certain you’ll be able to figure out a compromise so that both you and your plants can equally enjoy your yard.

If you need more inspiration, check out online photo sharing sites such as Houzz – or come visit our online shop. Big Earth Landscape Supply offers the tools and supplies you’ll need for your new privacy landscaping – or any other lawn or garden project you are contemplating.