Anyone who lives next door to someone who thinks it’s a good idea to turn old toilets into petunia potties knows that when it comes to gardening, beauty truly may be only in the eye of the beholder.
If you prefer not to behold your neighbor’s definition of beauty — or if your own yard contains some not-so-attractive elements like utility boxes or the kids’ toy-strewn play area — there are a variety of ways to screen out unwanted views without going to the trouble and expense of building a fence.
Trick your eye. Instead of hiding an ugly item, try diverting your gaze to something more interesting, like a spectacular plant or tree, suggests Stephen Looney, a landscape architect with Denver’s Blueline Landscape Contractors.
Another option is to ” ‘borrow’ the best of your neighbors’ landscaping,” like a flowering crab apple tree, and incorporate it into your design, says Nancy Eastman, owner of Art of the Land landscaping in Lakewood. Instead of blocking the view with a fence, plant smaller trees and bushes that complement it. If your plantings are dense enough, they will provide privacy, she says.
“People don’t think about shrubs for screening, but if you plant different-height shrubs in a triangular formation, you’ll get screening in wintertime because of the layers of branches,” Eastman says. You can mix in ornamental grasses, which give year- round screening except for a couple of months in spring, when they need to be cut back close to the ground.
You can also choose evergreen shrubs such as euonymus or mountain mahogany, which can grow to 20 feet high. But you’ll need a fairly wide plant bed — the Colorado State University extension service cautions that even a simple hedge needs a minimum of 3 feet in width.
Tree fence. Evergreens are the traditional tree-fence choice, but there are other choices, as well. Aromatic sumac has so many branches that even when it drops its leaves, it provides winter screening, Eastman says. Looney likes columnar trees, such as oak, which keeps its brown leaves in cold temperatures, and hornbeam. “It’s densely twigged, so it gives winter privacy,” he says.
Tightly spaced pots filled with bamboo can provide winter and summer screening, but unless you want bamboo everywhere, don’t plant this rapidly spreading plant in the ground.
If you opt for evergreens, don’t make the mistake of planting a hedgerow of cute little blue spruces or other native trees, Eastman says. They will not only grow taller than your house, they’ll also have substantial width. Eventually, you’ll end up with a forest in your backyard or even a safety hazard. “The biggest mistake people make is planting spruces too close to the house or the street,” Eastman says.
Instead, choose tall, skinny, columnar evergreens like arbor vitae, spearmint juniper or Vanderwolf’s pyramid, says Joe Low, owner of Landscape Connection in Littleton. “It used to be you could only buy these 3 to 4 feet tall and you had to wait five or six years to actually get any screening, but the nurseries are finally catching up, and now you can buy columnar evergreens that are 10 to 12 feet tall.”
Lattices and vines. Low says that even in communities with strict covenants that prevent fences or limit them to 6 feet, he’s been able to provide screening via 8-foot-tall lattice panels planted with vines. “If you use three free-standing panels offset in a decorative fashion, and not on your property line, that may be within your homeowners regulations,” he says.
Another option is to make a lattice or trellis out of old ironwork or even a chain-link fence, Eastman says.
For all-weather screening, choose an evergreen vine like English ivy or euonymus creeper, Low says. But be patient — they’ll take several years to grow. Another option is upside- down tomatoes, which are planted in hanging pots. Mount the pot near the top of the screen, and the leafy foliage will soon grow toward the ground, providing an unusual, practical and tasty summertime screen.
Artwork. If you don’t want to mess with vines, Looney suggests hanging a piece of ornamental ironwork or other outdoor art on lattice panels. “The panel acts like a framework for the art,” he says.
Living green walls. Several companies make 2- to 3-inch- thick modular panels of recyclable, heavy plastic with rows of checkbook-sized, vertical compartments that can each be planted. Water flows into each compartment from a tray at the top of the panel, creating a wall of plants. These walls can be used inside or outside, but they’re pricey. ELT Living Walls charges $40 for a roughly 2-foot- square plastic wall panel, plants and soil not included.
Freelance writer Vicky Uhland gardens in Lafayette.
