Few of us want to live like a department store mannequin. We all need a little privacy from prying eyes. So up around our homes go high fences and foreboding hedges. Unfortunately, that too often means walls that look better suited at a detention center or bushes that grow to Godzilla-like proportions.
How do you maintain your privacy without looking like you live in a compound?
The solutions can range from the practical to the creative and solve a variety of problems ranging from unwanted sights to noise to wind.
So says Seattle-based gardening writer Marty Wingate. She’s just written a book on the subject, “Landscaping for Privacy.” The author and lecturer will be speaking on the subject today through Friday at The Tacoma Home and Garden Show. The show runs through Sunday.
The need for privacy is universal, Wingate says. It comes from “wanting to have a little space of your own without feeling the world is coming in.”
The book grew out of a recurring theme she was hearing at her appearances.
“Two of the most popular questions I get are, “My neighbors built a second story deck. What can I plant to hide it?” and “Five years ago, I planted bamboo to hide my neighbors’ second story deck. How can I get rid of it?”
While her book covers a variety of situations and solutions, the main concern is visual privacy.
In a conversation with The News Tribune, Wingate offered her tips on landscaping for privacy.
BUFFERS
Buffers create the illusion of space. Usually made of mounding plants, they keep the world at arm’s length, Wingate says. “Even an island bed in a lawn will provide that little bit of buffer.”
Benefits of a buffer:
• A friendlier approach than a large barrier. “You really don’t need that fence.”
• Good for parking strips
• Reduces noise
• Absorbs pollutants
High up on the buffer list for Wingate are hedgerows – an informal mix of different kinds of plants. It can provide interest year-round. Hedgerows can provide food and shelter for wildlife. They require less maintenance than a formal hedge and can offer a mix of evergreen and deciduous plants (Wingate advises planting two evergreen shrubs to every deciduous.)
Buffers can also cover up other problems such as noise. For that, Wingate advises the use of a water feature like a fountain. “Hedges don’t make good noise buffers. But water is a great mask.”
Even if you have a small lot or an urban space you can use pots and planters as buffers, Wingate says.
BARRIERS
Barriers keep people and pets where they are supposed to be. They imply or force people to “Walk this way,” Wingate says.
Benefits of a barrier:
• Keeps out pets, lights and eyes.
• Maintains encroaching neighbors.
• Directs visitors within the garden.
• Can be small and low, or grand. “Sometimes you need more. You need structure that says, “This is not the way to go.”
Barriers range from earthen berms (good for keeping people from cutting across corner lots) to brick walls (matching the style to the home’s architecture.) But they can include a living fence of evergreen Azara shrubs to dry stacked stone to recycled concrete.
Wingate is fond of metal. But she goes beyond chain-link fencing to artistic wrought iron and copper creations. She says metal allows air and space. “It means you’re getting air and light on both sides of the fence. And it means you can put more plants in your garden.” She’s currently fond of 4-inch square hog wire fencing contained within a wood frame.
Natural barrier choices include bamboo fencing and rush fencing. Rush fencing is sold in rolled up mats and can be easily attached to car ports and other frames.
SCREENS
Screens reduce or eliminate unwanted sights. While that can mean your neighbor’s broken down car or a bus stop, screens also can mask unsightly aspects of your own yard. Think propane tanks and garbage cans.
Benefits of a screen:
• Makes invisible what you don’t want to see.
• Can be used on the edge or within your property.
• Can be works of art in themselves.
For a garbage/recycling center on your property, think of it as a corral, Wingate says. Keep it open. “You don’t want to box them up so it’s a pain to get them out because you won’t put them there.” Place the garbage bin screen against a fence and use the same material so it blends in.
The most popular living screen is a hedge. The benefits are many: they’re low maintenance if chosen and sited carefully (no shearing needed.) They don’t wear out and they are graffiti-proof.
Hedges can be evergreen or deciduous. But both are green in the summer if you only need them for outdoor screening. Wingate is a big fan of English yew hedges, but admits that particular plant is high maintenance. “If I had a crew I would have a sheared yew hedge all around (my house.)”
A compost fence (formed of two wire mesh fences with compost placed between them) “forms this very interesting tapestry effect,” Wingate said. The material will compost neatly, she says, as long as your leave out roots and seed heads.
A living solution to a screen is an espalier – small trees trained to become a fence. If you make it from apples or pears, “You can eat your fence,” Wingate said.
MORE TIPS
Wingate offered these tips on common privacy problems and solutions.
Arborvitae: “People treat them as if they are inanimate objects. They leave the tags on them. When they die they look like toe tags,” Wingate said. She said often people will use too many. “Put three in, instead of 40.” If you are planting three or more, dig a trench. And remember to follow basic planting and care guidelines.
Laurel: Plant this popular Northwest choice with care, Wingate advises. Don’t plant it at all, “If you’ve got five feet for a hedge. It wants to be 30 feet high and wide, and it’s going to do everything to get there.”
Restrictions: Before planting, consult your municipality for codes and restrictions. Wingate once got in trouble with the city for her rambunctious plantings. “I called them my criminal shrubs.”
Consider:
• Height of fences and walls. (heights may differ on front yards, backyards and alleys.)
• Parking strips (Restrictions can change based on how deep the parking strip is and whether it’s on a corner or not.)
• Noxious weeds (Consult county and state lists before planting. Watch out for butterfly bush, knotweed, some forms of laurel, English holly.)
Security: Remember that obscured doors and windows provide cover for home intruders. Consider sight lines and your own security concerns before embarking on a privacy makeover.
DETAILS FOR THE TACOMA HOME & GARDEN SHOW
WHEN: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Tacoma Dome
TICKETS: $10 Adults, $8 Seniors (weekdays only for 62 and older), Free to children (16 and younger)
INFORMATION: otshows.com/ths
• Marty Wingate lectures on Landscaping for Privacy: 1 p.m. Wednesday; 3 p.m. Thursday; 1 p.m. Friday
FIVE THINGS TO SEE AND DO
AT THE TACOMA HOME & GARDEN SHOW
1. The new “Vintage Market” shopping area will offer re-purposed and shabby-chic items for the garden and home. 20 local vendors will be selling vintage furniture, signage, industrial metal carts and that chicken feeder light fixture you’ve been looking for.
2. An idea-generating showcase kitchen created by the Puget Sound Chapter of the National Kitchen & Bath Association will spotlight the latest generation of appliances, cabinetry and labor-saving features.
3. Seminars presented by garden experts including Ciscoe Morris, Marianne Binetti, Marty Wingate, Melinda Myers and others will offer tips for the home gardener.
4. Display gardens created by area landscape contractors including SK bLandscaping, Marenakos Rock Center and the Washington Association of Landscape Professionals can provide ideas for your next gardening project.
5. A Plant Market will feature hundreds of unusual choices. Olympia’s Bark & Garden Center will bring rare miniature conifers, blooming daphnes, hellebores, house plants, trees and shrubs.
Craig Sailor: 253-597-8541
craig.sailor@thenewstribune.com
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