Creating Privacy in Your Yard

July 25, 2019 Rovilla Bramble

Plants are an extremely effective way to create privacy barriers in your yard or on your patio or deck. A privacy setup can be easily configured to meet your needs and style that keeps the prying eyes of nosy neighbors from peering into your business. It doesn’t matter either if you have ground to plant in or not; there are many options available to create the privacy you want.

Good plants to use for creating privacy barriers

When looking for plants to use to section off a part of your yard or patio, there are many options to choose from: flowering ornamentals, shrubs, vines, and ornamental grasses. It’s best to look for plants that grow tall, or climb, obviously, and fill in thickly within a short amount of time. These will create a nice, full privacy wall or screen quickly.

Climbing roses are less fussy than traditional bush roses, growing upwards in height and blooming repeatedly throughout the season. They will climb or sprawl across most any structure they are close to and come in a variety of gorgeous colors.

Ivy is known as being a voracious climber, English ivy and Boston ivy especially. These evergreen plants add interest and privacy to your yard all year long, even throughout the adverse conditions of winter months.

Ornamental grasses such as bamboo, reed grass, and forest grass fill in thickly, creating a lush barrier that adds movement and noise when the wind blows through them.

Arborvitae varieties are often used to create thick, evergreen hedges and privacy walls in yards. The dense shrubs/trees grow quickly to create a lush, natural barrier that dampens sound as well.

Clematis plants are woody perennial vines available in a handful of colors and flower shapes. Certain varieties even grow well in shade

Trumpet vine may be considered invasive by some gardeners, but this orange-flowered perennial beauty is a great choice for creating privacy screens. Vines can stretch thirty to forty feet in a single season. Their tubular flowers also attract hummingbirds.

Wisteria is thought to be one of the most beautiful plants on earth, but it is known for its incredibly invasive nature. Training it to grow and create privacy barriers takes advantage of this quick-growing vine.

Methods to Create Privacy

Not only is there a variety of different plants to choose from, but you can also tailor the design of your privacy screen or wall to best fit your living space. You can either grow plants in the ground or in containers, and you can use a variety of different structures to support the plants.

In-ground or containers

In ground-plants works well for creating permanent privacy hedges or walls, especially when trying to cover a large space or when using large plants. Planting in the ground provides more support to the plants than putting them into containers. The surrounding soil also helps to protect the root systems from extreme temperature variations in the heat and cold.

Growing plants in containers work very well for apartment and high-rise dwellers that don’t have a yard to plant in. Container plants can be used to create privacy from their neighbors without building permanent structures that may be against leasing agreements. Make sure your containers are large enough they can stay upright under the weight of tall plants or quickly growing vines. Match them to your local climate to making sure they are frost-resistant if you live in an area with harsh winters. Rolling plant caddies can be purchased to easily move your containers around if you want an interchangeable privacy “fence”.

Supporting structures

Some plants such as arborvitae or ornamental grasses can simply be grown without any added supports. This works well if you want to create a hedge or shorter wall that grows in thickly.

You can take advantage of existing walls or fences if they are already in place. This circumvents the need for you to build or purchase structures, saving a significant amount of cost but it also limits the height of your privacy screen to the existing fence or wall height. Add chicken wire or other wire strands to the wall or fence to give plants something to hold onto as they grow or climb. Trellis or arbors can be added to the outdoor space to give plants a place to climb. Wooden trellises and arbors are common and come in a variety of different sizes and shapes.

Some people like to think outside the box and use unconventional materials for the plants to hold onto. Metal is a great tool for climbing structures. Unlike wooden trellises or arbors, metal never needs to be stained and won’t rot or crack after being exposed to harsh sunshine, rain, and snow. Metal is also easier to form into curves, creating ornate patterns within the structure. You could even use an abstract stainless steel sculpture as a trellis for shorter climbing plants.

Conclusion

Different plants can be used in a variety of ways to create beautiful, functional privacy barriers or screens in your yard or along your patio or balcony. Plants can be grown in the ground or in containers depending on your preference and attached to a variety of different structures to accommodate your own personal style.

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