Ideas for Shade Garden Privacy Screen?

19 years ago

Hello from Kirkland, Washington (Zone 7/8),

I just cleared a corner of my property by limbing the existing evergreen fir(?) tree. I now have a 20'x30' shaded area to plant and more importantly, a "new" neighbor to screen (the tree branches hid us from one another before). {{gwi:1087602}} (pls excuse the post bbq buckets and coolers!). It doesn't need to completely block, but that would be fine too.

The area is on the East side of my house (I am standing on my patio taking the pic). The light in the front is the most direct/indirect light the area gets except the far back right (by the pink signs) corner gets a bit from the West side in the evening as it sneaks past the neighbors house. She has some bamboo planted in that corner on her side of the fence.

Are there any folks with ideas on creating a privacy screen? The fence is only 5' and my husband isn't fond of lattice. I'd love evergreens but am not adverse to deciduous. Most of the nursery folks have said Vine Maples and a good friend has suggested Pieris Japonica. I am willing to pay for more mature trees so that I can get an instant screen. I even have it in my head that I can somehow put some cedar planters on stilts with some sort of shrub in them - but have no idea if that is crazy.

Any opinions out there?

Thanks in advance,

Toni - Kirkland, Washington

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1087602}}

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Comments (7)

hemnancy
19 years ago
Here's a link that might be useful-

Here is a link that might be useful: native understory shrubs
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
19 years ago
Although the photo is not complete enough for a good ID, looks more like a western red cedar than a Doug fir......and that can complicate your planting choices. Cedars tend to have much broader canopies than firs and a very widespreading root system with a heavy mat of fine feeder roots right under the surface that makes establishing any plantings of size very difficult. Even a lot of native plants are not inclined to grow directly under the canopy of large cedars - too little light, too little moisture. Vine maples will simply languish in such a situation - I wouldn't waste my time and money. You need to look for plants that will tolerate dry shade and for best results, plant small and have the patience to allow them to grow to size. And most plants happy under these restrictive circumstances tend not to grow very tall and won't be very effective for screening.

You may get much better and faster screening if you utilize large planters, like 1/2 whiskey barrels. Then pretty much any shade loving shrub (with adequate irrigation) will work.
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toni98033
Original Author
19 years ago
You are right - it's a Cedar - with 3 others in close proximity - and gobs of roots everywhere. They are all 35+ years old.

Vine Maple = bad, bummer. Thanks for the tips on the planters - that may be a better way to go. And the other post is helping too.
nwnatural
19 years ago
I'm having good luck with my Japanese Aralia in the same situation.
Mary Palmer
19 years ago
I have had great success with the Fargesia bamboos (clumping bamboo) in that situation.
hemnancy
19 years ago
bamboomary- my Fargesia nitida flowered this year, did yours? I'm not sure what happens now to it, I'm assuming it will die but may reseed? I also like bamboo. I have a couple of kinds of timber bamboo but they are rather slow getting started. I don't know if they could live in dry shade like that. I suppose once they got going they would get too big, too.
albabela
19 years ago
Toni
I think your neighbour has bamboo as well. Right hand side of the picture, kind of in the corner? I too like the idea of bamboo (contained!).
-Shilpa