Plant Some Privacy: Here are 5 of our favorite landscape privacy shrubs.
February 17, 2015 | By webadmin
Have you found that your neighbors backyard is a bit noisy with pets and kids? Or perhaps the view outside your kitchen window is full of concrete. Maybe the close proximity of you and your neighbors leaves you seeing a bit more of each other than you’d like! Did you know plants could be your solution? By choosing the right plants, you could plant some of your own privacy.
Change your view and reduce the noise with strategically placed privacy shrubs. Large screening plants are a perfect way to add beauty to areas you’d rather not see such as air conditioners, unsightly fence lines and outdoor plumbing pipes or spigots. Plus, some shrubs act as a barrier to the noise you don’t want to hear. And while a row of thick, evergreen shrubs may not completely drown out noisy traffic, they sure will reduce it.
When designing your landscape, a seasoned landscape architect will always look at the area surrounding your space to be designed. They should take into consideration any views you’d like blocked and environmental noises that need to be muffled. We always make sure to choose large shrubs or small trees that will work for you year round. Evergreen shrubs and small trees make wonderful privacy screens. Specimens that bloom or offer a seasonal color change are a bonus!
Favorites we love include:
Southern Wax Myrtle are a beautiful and useful evergreen shrub in urban landscapes. They have a broad and rounded natural shape, growing to about 12-feet tall and 10-feet wide. They’re glossy, olive-green colored foliage also has a nice fragrance. Shrubs produce attractive blue-gray berries in winter. Plants look best when they’re allowed to achieve their natural shape, but can be selectively pruned to keep a specific size. Plants prefer full sun, but can tolerate a bit of afternoon shade.
Evergreen Wax Myrtle makes the perfect screen in urban landscapes.
Junipers:
Juniper ‘Sky Rocket’ is a standout. If you’re looking for a tall yet narrow privacy screen, this is the perfect plant. Plants have a columnar shape that fits into narrow spaces. Plants grow 15- to 20-feet tall but spread to only 2- to 3-feet wide! The evergreen foliage is a beautiful blue-gray color. Plants need full sun to thrive.
Juniper 'Sky Rocket' is a stately evergree shrub.
Juniper ‘Blue Point’ Elegant and stately, this Juniper has a pyramid shaped growth habit and bluish green foliage. Grows 12-feet tall and 8-feet wide. ‘Blue Point’ is best left unsheared and allowed to grow into it’s natural form as a screening plant.
Juniper 'Blue Point' has lovely blue-green foliage.
Juniper ‘Spartan’ has a lovely dense pyramidal growth habit with dense foliage. Growing up to 15-feet tall and 3- to 5-feet wide, it’s makes a perfect natural privacy screen. This juniper is well adapted to our Dallas climate and soils and is fairly drought tolerant once established. Plants can be sheared into a formal hedge.
Holly ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ is one holly variety that performs very well in our Dallas climate and soils. Not all hollies are suited to our heavy clay, alkaline soils. ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ is a vigorous grower that produces bright orange-red berries in fall and winter. The beautiful evergreen foliage is deep green and glossy. Plants have a pyramidal shape, growing 15- to 20-feet tall and about 10-feet wide. They make a beautiful natural privacy screen. Plants perform best in full sun but will tolerate some afternoon shade.
Holly 'Nellie R. Stevens' performs well in our North Texas climate and soil.
There are a number of other large evergreen shrubs that can provide privacy in your landscape. We’ll feature more varieties we love in upcoming blog posts.
Ready to make some changes in your landscape? Give us a call this spring! In the meantime, we've started an Idea Book on Privacy Screens on Houzz here.
