# Privacy Trees Vs. Shrubs -- what would you do?



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

Problem #1: Dogs fence fighting (mine's a tease, neighbor's a yapper)
Problem #2: DH and I find the next door wife and her mother really annoying and would like to see less of them when we are out. Mother hangs out at the house every single weekday and pokes her nose in everybody's business, including ours. She's not there on weekends because then the husband's home. (Side note: Husband used to be unfriendly but became very friendly to us after our tiff with his wife and MIL. Hmmm, I wonder why.)
So which kind of tree/shrub would you pick for a deer resistant privacy fence? We have seen so many choices in the last week and heard so many pros and cons that we are thoroughly confused








Thank you for taking the poll


----------



## shilohsmom (Jul 14, 2003)

I'm going with Juniper because I'm thinking it might be the fastest growing of the three??? Years ago I had Monterey Cypress lining my property and they grew fast and very thick. In no time I had a huge six foot plus hedge of them. It might depend on where you live though, I understand they really like it along the coast. 
Good luck!
Another thought would be bamboo screening. It comes in rolls and is inexpensive and would provide more of a visual barrier.


----------



## VectorSketcher (Jul 20, 2008)

I know nothing of trees/shrubs, I have killed a few shrubs in my day, but I do know Cedar smells great! Ha! But Rosa has a good point about speedy growing, that might be helpful too.


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

I guess I should have added above that the Blue Spruce that we are looking at are 6 feet tall.


----------



## shilohsmom (Jul 14, 2003)

The age of the trees (size) will matter. If they are already six feet then that helps. I started with small trees but those cypress grew like weeds. Make sure these guys aren't too close to your home or patios...we're talking massive roots here that could be very distructive. All of the trees that you've chosen will grow into HUGE trees, are you going to keep them trimmed? If you trim the bottom of these trees will they continue to shoot branches at the bottom (you won't want bare spots on the bottom)? Are Spruces and Cedar's used a lot in hedges where you live? 
Just another thought, as you trim these trees do you have an easy and cheap way to dispose of all the branches? When I did mine way back when, it was a mess and I had to hire someone to take it all away.


----------



## Mozart396 (May 11, 2009)

Juniper = cheapest, fastest growing. Downside is that it requires maintenance (trimming, edging, cleanup).


----------



## littledmc17 (Apr 9, 2008)

get whatever grows the fastest 
hate nosey neighbors I have one and its great now can't see back yard come winter she can see everything


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

How about Lilacs? And they seem to be most resistant to weather conditions.

Deer have never bothered mine...but then why would they when they can eat my blueberry bushes, sand cherries and wegelias. (not sure how to spell that)

Trees are eventually going to grow above the fence.


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: littledmcget whatever grows the fastest
> hate nosey neighbors I have one and its great now can't see back yard come winter she can see everything


My thinking exactly. Here's the thing though: the blue spruce comes in at 6 feet. So immediate privacy but the darned things apparently grow 30 to 60 feet, though they grow slowly. Not sure how pruneable they are. OTOH, the junipers and cedars will still need some growing time after being planted. Even the fast growing ones will apparently only start growing after the first year of planting. We can only afford the 4-5 feet tall junipers.


----------



## shilohsmom (Jul 14, 2003)

It might help if we knew more about the space you are trying to create the barrier in....how long is the space? How far is it from the houses-yours and theirs? Is this a country setting or city setting? 
Your right, the Spruce (and likely Cedar) grow to a good 60 feet. I'm thinking other options might be better for a quick screening. I've used I think its called Pivot and that grows well, as do camilia's- I have several in my upper yard now and they completely block the view of my neighbors. They require little pruning and what you cut off is easy to dispose of. Each of these are evergreen. 
I haven't read about Junipers in awhile but again, I"m thinking they are awful big too. 
I use to have those Monterey Cypress lining my property in the front-I have some 15-20 or more of them. Yes, they created quite the barrier but I've got to say it looked bad after so many years. They were very hard to trim and getting rid of the stuff was a hastle. I'm the type of person that doesn't like to do a lot of yardwork type stuff so I let things go a bit at times and payed dearly for it later when they got so big I COULDN'T trim them and had to pay someone to do it for me.


----------



## DonP (Apr 13, 2009)

Arborvitae make a nice thick barrier. They grow fast and can be trimmed to any height even up to 12- 15 ft. Put them about four feet apart and in a couple years they will fill in and completely block out your neighbor. And they look good.


----------



## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Blue spruce if it does well in your area. I think it is the nicest looking one you are considering. Trouble with lilacs is they are slow growing and deciduous (IE shed leaves in winter). I've seen too much Arborvitae living in the NW to recommend it but it does grow fast and thick & can be trimmed. So does laurel. You will want to keep the laurel trimmed or it will be too bushy. The good thing about the evergreens you named is that they have relatively shallow roots.

I wouldn't count on any of it cutting out the fence fighting. But it sure would cut the view of the neighbors!


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

It has taken about 5 years for my lilacs to grow to my height. Arborvitae doesn't seem to do well in my area (NE PA on the NY border). Ppl seem to have to replace it often. Blue Spruce does great here but the needles are [heck]. Douglas Fir would give the same coverage without the hellish needles.


----------



## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

I can tell you that up here, the deer enjoy nibbling on the cedar during the winter. They ate the heck out of my neighbor's cedar.

I know that Blue Spruce need at least 5-10 feet between each tree b/c they will grow into each other...but are very slow growers. Other issue w/ blue spruce, there are weivels that love to infest them, they do hurt like heck when you mow around them (mucho exprience w/ this) and the pine cones drip sap like no one's business. But they are beautiful...

Junipers....upkeep can be a pain. 

My aunt and uncle, who live in Bowie MD, planted bamboo, as someone previously suggested, and it made a wonderful privacy "fence" between them and some troublesome neighbors.


----------



## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

I'd watch the bamboo...it spreads like crazy and could spread INTO your neighbor's yard. I'd be ticked if I had bamboo coming over into my yard that someone else planted. 

Stick with shrubs. Easily managed and you don't have to worry about limbs going into someone's yard, etc.


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

One landscaper told us that if we have a row of shrubs and 1 gets a disease, then most of the others will end up with the disease as well and we are looking at more $$$$ to replace the entire row, especially if this happens after maturity. This is a 120 feet long line that we are talking about. We are told that trees are studier in that respect.

OTOH, from what you guys are saying, blue spruce hurts like heck when mowing. BUT we have mowing service and the guy comes in with one of those really wide mowers, so hopefully he won't get poked. The other issue is that we don't want it to grow beyond 8 feet really. One landscaper told us to just trim the new growth every July to curtail that. We are looking at 6 feet tall blue spruces and were told that there would essentially be 1 foot gap between them. Shrubs apparently need more spacing between them as they tend to grow into each other if there's not much room between them and then they turn brown because of lack of space. But trees know to stop growing laterally if they hit another tree. 

So now my question is: do you guys think the trees will look odd if the new growth is trimmed every year from the top? Or will they retain their original conical shape, more or less? DH thinks we'll end up with trapezoid trees!


----------



## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

I have a spruce in my front yard - the top of it was damaged and I had to cut it back. It now has 2 cones and looks weird. The thing grew from 3 feet to 15 feet in 5 years - I'll be taking it down before it gets too big for me to take it down myself


----------



## DonP (Apr 13, 2009)

Maybe rhododendrons?


----------



## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: DonPArborvitae make a nice thick barrier. They grow fast and can be trimmed to any height even up to 12- 15 ft. Put them about four feet apart and in a couple years they will fill in and completely block out your neighbor. And they look good.


I totally missed this post. My folks have American Arborvite and it is an EXCELLENT year round barrier and you can trim the new growth so that you can keep it at a certain height and it will fill in. BTW, fast growers. Not much in the way of dead stuff, so not much to keep cleaning up after.


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: DnP
> 
> 
> > Originally Posted By: DonPArborvitae make a nice thick barrier. They grow fast and can be trimmed to any height even up to 12- 15 ft. Put them about four feet apart and in a couple years they will fill in and completely block out your neighbor. And they look good.
> ...


They do look very nice but every landscaper that we spoke with said that deer love arborvitae







Our neighborhood has a lot of deer.


----------



## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

well, ratfarts....









My folks have them and they've made a great barrier. However, they don't have much of a deer population...


----------



## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Unless you buy pretty large trees/shrubs to start with the dogs will most likely trample them.

Why not go with a privacy fence? Less work in the long run, up and working right away.


----------



## meisha98 (Aug 27, 2008)

Lainey has trampled my lilacs to death. She likes to grab branches and pull. I put fencing up to solve all issues- sight and dogs. The bamboo fencing or rolls of privacy fencing might work. I don't know how sturdy they are for chewing or tearing if they get jumped on though. I have two spruces and they are 35 years old. They don't grow wider at the bottom just taller, but do start losing the lower branches somewhat. Good luck!


----------



## kellync (Feb 10, 2008)

Leland Cypress. Bar none


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

Okay, folks, we finally decided to go with the fast growing Mountbatten junipers. Evergreen, deer resistant and hardy when it comes to harsh winters. I guess there's no way to curtail the growth on the blue spruce, otherwise I liked that tree.

Laurie, we did look at the privacy fence intially, but the cost, at least in our area, was prohibitive. At least double the cost of what it would cost us to put up a same length of shrubs or trees.

Thank you, guys, for participating in the poll and for all the inputs!


----------



## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

OK, we expect pics when the project is finished!


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

Will do







We are hoping to have it done in about 2 weeks. 40 shrubs will go in, so the guy has to order them first.


----------



## sleachy (Aug 10, 2001)

Couple of my neighbors have arborvitae and we have TONS of deer...no problems. One neighbors shrubs are at least 15 ft tall!


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

*Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*









This was a "huh" moment for Wolfie when he came home from daycare and saw all these trees which weren't there in the morning!









40 shrubs!









Quality inspection!


----------



## Raziel (Sep 29, 2009)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

HAHAH! I love his face in the first picture!
Hes like "WHAT THE HECK?!"
LOL how cute!


----------



## HeidiW (Apr 9, 2009)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

Awesome! Looks great, so this is the Juniper tree ? I need to do the same thing.


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

Thanks! It's called Mountbatten Juniper. Wolfie loves having the trees. He likes running behind them in the tight space between the trees and the fence. Now he has a new trick. He will sometimes retrieve his cuz, run behind the trees and stick his head out from there as if to say, "come and get me".


----------



## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

Hey--that looks great! Sounds like a fun game too!


----------



## shilohsmom (Jul 14, 2003)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

Looks great!!!!


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*



> Originally Posted By: BowWowMeowHey--that looks great! Sounds like a fun game too!


Rafi would probably have liked to join in that game too if it had been on neutral territory


----------



## DnP (Jul 10, 2008)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

Wow, those are a lot of trees. Looks great! I hope they provide you w/ the privacy you are looking for!!!


----------



## meisha98 (Aug 27, 2008)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

Looks great...has he "christened" them all yet? That will keep him busy hehe!


----------



## VectorSketcher (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

I love the trees, they look great! I need to get something of the same thing going in my backyard as well.


----------



## Trina (Sep 11, 2009)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

Very nice looking...how big will the Mountbatten Junipers be when mature and how long do they take to mature? I'm also curious as to what the black plastic sheeting is for.

We have various junipers and cypresses planted down one side of our fence and our dogs love to run between them and the fence, too, although I don't think the space is as tight as yours looks to be. I've been thinking about doing something down the fence on the other side of the yard and like the idea of something tall and narrow.


----------



## UConnGSD (May 19, 2008)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*



> Originally Posted By: TrinaVery nice looking...how big will the Mountbatten Junipers be when mature and how long do they take to mature? I'm also curious as to what the black plastic sheeting is for.


I guess they can really grow to be 15 feet or so, if not trimmed. We plan on keeping ours at the 6-7 feet height. 
Regarding the black plastic sheeting: well, we tried that route first before going with the trees. Wolfie and the neighbor's frenchie fence-fight. Wolfie is a big tease. He will give just enough periodic reinforcement to the frenchie to keep that one barking non-stop. So even though it was the frenchie who was barking non-stop, guess who got the blame. Big bad GSD, of course! (what a surprise.) So we put up the plastic sheeting. Then Wolfie started jumping up on the fence. The surrounding neighbors got a kick out of watching Wolfie pop up his big goofy head with the tongue hanging out and watch the frenchie go into its usual hysterics frothing at the mouth. Wolfie would run off ("ha, ha, got him going again!"), play ball for a while and then jump up and show his face again. (I can see how it would be entertaining for the rest of the neighborhood.) So that's the failed history of the black sheeting. Plus, we realized that we would also be much happier the less we see the neighbors on that side. So up went the trees.


----------



## Mandalay (Apr 21, 2008)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

I love that you have this large yard surrounded by a chain link fence and have only blocked off ONE neighbor! That's awesome!









The yard looks great!


----------



## Trina (Sep 11, 2009)

*Re: Update! Privacy Trees -- Photos are here*

Thanks, UConn. I can just picture Wolfie popping up his big head over the fence...too funny!


----------



## Bobear (Dec 1, 2008)

How about Chindos? They grow really fast and are very easy to care for!


----------



## Tarheel (Sep 6, 2009)

Evergreen shrubs like juniper like acid soil. I use Miracid on my and they grew a bit faster. These shrubs will also grown together to form a wonderful wall of green.


----------

