Outdoor living is one of the best parts of being a homeowner. Having a private outdoor space to enjoy with your friends and family. A place to hold a family barbecue, a birthday party, a place for your pets and children to play, or simply a peaceful and private place to sit any enjoy a glass of wine. However you plan to use your outdoor space, creating a landscape design with adequate privacy and a comfortable atmosphere can have a big impact on the enjoyment of your outdoor activities. But, how can you create privacy if your outdoor space hasn’t already been designed and landscaped with privacy in mind? The following tips will provide you with ideas on how to create the privacy you want in your outdoor living areas.
Solid Privacy Fences
Fences are the most basic and common way to create privacy in your landscape design. A six-foot fence quickly provides a physical and visual barrier between properties. It provides maximum privacy and noise reduction. A fence is a good solution in yards where privacy is essential, but space is limited since fencing doesn’t take up as much space as hedges, trees, or large plants. Fencing also works to keep children or pets from escaping your yard while keeping out trespassers. Fences can be made from a variety of materials, but for the purpose of privacy a wood or vinyl composite are the best options.
Garden Structures
If you have a small outdoor area, a fence may feel too confined for your limited space. Areas like patios, terraces, decks, and outdoor kitchens can be easily screened with open panels, trellises and arbors. By forming an enclosure around your outdoor spaces using garden structure materials, you can create privacy for your outdoor activities and entertaining without building a perimeter around your property. Climbing vines, hanging baskets and colorful flowers fixed on your trellises, panels, or arbors create the desired privacy. These garden structures provide an appealing and affordable option for privacy in small outdoor spaces.
Outdoor Fountains
After installing a fence and/or garden structures you won’t able to see your neighbors and they won’t be able to see you, but you may still be able to hear each other when you’re in your yard. If you’re in a neighborhood lots are small and built close together, you may hear unwanted and unpleasant noises like barking dogs, buzzing air conditioner compressors, televisions, stereos and conversations. By adding an outdoor fountain to your landscape design, you can mask unwanted noises and replace them with the soothing sounds of nature. Depending on the size of your yard and your budget, you can build a custom outdoor fountain or purchase a pre-made model like this one.
When choosing a fountain, note that the further water falls, the louder it becomes, so choose a fountain size and style that provides the right amount of noise reduction and privacy with a soothing level of sound for your landscape design.
Trees
Planting shade trees can obscure a neighbor’s view from a second-story window or veranda. Deciduous shade trees can grow from 25-feet to 60-feet high. When planted near a property line or in the backyard, their large canopies provide privacy, as well as good shade in hot summer months for you and your pets. Deciduous plants usually lose their foliage in late fall and winter, so during these months, the trees’ bare branches allow the sun to shine brightly into the house for added light and warmth. Evergreen plants, on the other hand, will act as a buffer and barrier and provide maximum privacy for your landscape design all year.
Shrubs and Hedges
Shrubs and hedges work in your landscape design to provide privacy whether the yard is large or small. Where space is tight, fast-growing columnar evergreens like Italian cypress and arborvitae can provide a solution for separating yards or blocking sight lines out of windows. Shrubs and hedges can provide a privacy screen, and unlike fences they’re not typically restricted by city ordinances that limit their height or require permits to install.
Large Plants
It’s best to invest in larger plants for your landscape design when your goal is privacy. It’s tempting to buy plants in gallon containers that are on sale at local nursery or home improvement store, but you will be waiting a long time for those small plants to grow enough to provide any privacy. Instead, buy fewer, larger plants that will have an immediate impact on your privacy needs. For quicker results, choose plants that are four-feet or five-feet tall. But remember to pay close attention to growth patterns and care and maintenance requirements.
Whatever the size of your backyard, with a little landscape design work, you can maximize privacy to enjoy the outdoors. By blocking the eyes of peering neighbors and the sounds of intrusive noises, you can spend time in a backyard that’s comfortable, peaceful, and private all year long.
If your landscape design needs to be tweaked to create more privacy, call Golf Greens Texas at 806-559-7048.
