OMG, people walking on the street can see in your yard!?! Really? I'd recommend building a very high fence with a gate. Possibly a moat.

In my part of the world we wave say hello. Get to know our neighbors. Unless you are sitting there stark naked why do you care? If you are then maybe you should put up a fence for their sake.

Let them see your yard, but put up privacy screens around your patio.

Plus side- it looks like my title got some views as intended.

Negative- found me some trolls, sorry- real helpful commenters off the bat. Give me a break people. Im looking for privacy landscaping ideas.

Another issue is that our area is really windy- screens/lattice will probably break off as we can see 30-50 mph winds a few times a year.

Oh good grief if you must. Fill in the gap with more bushes. They should fill out in time and make a screen or you could put a screen to the street side of your patio. Maybe a trellis with small holes so the wind doesn't take it. I was only half joking though. Why not get to know some of them, some of them must be neighbors.

Okay I said that before your post came through. What about tall potted plants you can take in during the winter?

I can't see the trees you planted unless they are located outside of your fence area. Are they?

I think a tall fence would work better for you than landscaping. Houses across the way can also see into your backyard.

I would agree but only on the street side that view is pretty great.

Tribble makes a point and gives me an idea. You could do a sail cloth screen that rolls up when you don't want it. It looks like you have sunscreen already why not attach something more opaque to that side.

We live on a cul de sac and are great friends with all of our neighbors. That's not the issue, we'd just like to screen in this corner because we spend the majority of our time here and would like some privacy. We like greenery as opposed to structure in the yard. We could have done a 6ft fence (town limit) but it wouldn't have added privacy.

Just looking for recommendations on greenery that withstands wet soil that grows 8-10 ft in our 5a zone.

My husband asked me to add that we're on the low side of the street and our dog walks around bare butt all day. Appeased?

Sandradclarka they're in the far right corner on the outside of the fence. You can see them in the first pic, not so much in the second.

I was trying to find an easy answer for you. Something you could do say tomorrow so you didn't have to wait. No 6ft of fence is pretty pointless, why do they bother. I'm going to say evergreens are your best bet. Maybe some dwarf cypress, they grow fast and not extremely tall. Douglas fir will grow anywhere, they are fast growing and you can't kill them with a truck. Not to mention being pretty trees. ' Dog's bare butt' cute that's what my Mom says about our Boxer like she has a choice. They can't wear pants. Although in NY winter they probably wish they could. Again Douglas fir hold up well to pets umm you know ...watering them. So do Burberry shrubs but they take longer to grow. They're a pretty red color in the spring and fall though. Lilacs grow fairly fast and just about anywhere if you don't go with a hybrid. You get the added pleasure of the lilac scent all summer. Hope some or all of that gives you some ideas. Again not picking on you , I was just trying to find something fast and easy since spring is coming.

Thanks rollinggirl. Just got put off by the first comment.....

My husband doesn't want more of the evergreen look as we have about 150ft of newly planted blue and Norway spruces going along the long line and opposite corner of our back yard. Lilacs may be an idea but we would need loads of them....

They tend to spread if you get a couple. I'm not sure in your area though. Have you tried the garden section for more plant info? What about Aspen?

Not sure of aspen, I'll have to look it up.

I've looked through all the houzz plant sections and google images and I think I've researched myself to death.

at first I was thinking different hydrangeas, but the tall ones don't like wet soil, then we figured arborvaites but deer around here are notorious for making those planting look gross.

Thanks for for your suggestions, I'll look them up in the am.

Here's the garden section, Rollinggirl was referring to

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums

I've been researching too. Information overload. I've finding a lot of tall leafy trees and short stubby shrubs but nothing in between. The only other thing I found in your zone was birch and yews. Good luck.

I second asking on your local gardening board, as they may have better ideas on good plants for your area. A good local nursery can give you some nice ideas too. Just show them pictures so they know what you are trying to accomplish. We have the same issue with our back patio, and I have not figured out what to do about it yet. If it makes you feel any better, your yard is a much nicer size than mine, so my gawkers can see me much more clearly than yours can see you, haha! Good luck!

Thanks all- going to have to take a ride to the nursery with my husband. He seems to go once a week but doesn't come home with any advice.

Is there maybe a different nursery you can go to? Try to find one where they will spend time with you and help you figure out what to get.

Terry Toon, here's your medicine bottle back. Take some.

A few ideas in here - the exact specimens may not work for the planting zone you are in - but if something appeals maybe you could find a comparable cold hardy alternative. http://www.majestictrees.co.uk/garden-screening-trees/privacy-a-guide-to-evergreen-screening-trees.html

I get wanting to have a feeling of privacy in your yard. I've put up trellises on my patio as I live in the city & houses are close together. It is more comfortable for me to have a bit of screening as one house overlooks my yard & deck and as fate would have it - this is the only next door neighbor I've had unpleasantness with in the years I've been a homeowner.

I have a climbing rose on one end of the deck, that is growing well but will be a couple more years before it is tall enough to do much good. Filling in with cardinal climber in the meantime, and on the other trellis just started a non-invasive honeysuckle & passionflower in large planters. I can cut back the passionflower & overwinter the pot in my basement, I think the honeysuckle will be tough enough. Some of them are supposed to be hardy to zone 4. If you only need to screen a small area, an arbor with supports set in cement should stand up to any degree of wind, & many vines will grow rapidly to provide a privacy screen. Some are even evergreen.

A few ideas for cold hardy vines: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/885#b

I am with you 100% . If I want to socialize with my neighbors I sit on the front patio. If I want to spend private time with my family or guests I want a back yard oasis. Sorry I don't have great advice for you as I live in Southern California and have a 2' retaining wall with a 6' solid wood fence on top that encloses my back yard, but wanted you to know that there are other people in this world that value privacy and that does not make you anti social or a bad neighbor.

Wet Plant List See if any on the list appeal to you.

Lol - oh Terry Toon, we must need a manly man's oversight and clearly aren't spending enough time in the kitchen to do woman-ing properly.

The more you wall off a "view".......the more any tiny gap becomes intriguing. Like a solid fence with a little hole in it. A mere six inch gap between fifty feet of arborvitae? Wouldn't shock me if you found someone with their nose in the needles. A wide open view is a lot less interesting. Uh Yes!! there are some humans, and they are in their back yard....... wow, move along. Wave first. Sorry, but idle curiosity is human nature, and doesn't mean a real interest in anything you are doing, unless perhaps it involves nakedness, and you are particularly famous. Or infamous. Perhaps arrange your seating with backs to the fence line. You won't "see" them and therefore they won't "see" you. Probably beats the landscaped berm required, or the french drain required, and subsequent thousands of dollars invested to create enough drainage for anything truly dense and needled or leafy , to survive and thrive. Theres always an eight foot high stone option I suppose.

Jackie P- thanks for the great links! Nice ideas in there...and I hadn't really thought about doing something with vines. May be a nice alternative.

Lovebugsmom- we have a few dwarf alberta spruces in the front plantings of our house.

m pretty sure Ive only ever seen them about 4-5 ft high in the local nurseries and they grow super slow.....

Jennifer Hogan- THANKS!!!!

Emmarene- WOW- awesome list...looks like Im not getting anything done at work today ;)

Jan Moyer- thanks. I understand that we cant completely close ourselves out (or at least that would take WAY too long.)

Im not opposed to an opening/gaps here and there- would just like that section to not be completely open. I just dont want to start at the street and neighbors while Im out there. Something like this would be just as nice as a single uniform line of arborvitae:

Forsythia grow very quickly and make a great hedge.

We planted a hedge of alternating arborvitae and lilac. Came out really pretty.

As stated it might be better to install something a bit closer to your patio rather than take on the $$$ expense of creating a hedge along the fence that will take years to be effective. Check out Yardistry Components. Instant privacy.

I was going to mention forsythia but I see someone else already did! They grow fairly quickly and will make a very thick barrier in just a couple years.

The problem with a line of one type of plant is rarely do all of them grow at the same speed. Ones with more favorable conditions make the others look puny later becing ordinary size and overgrown monsters.

Years ago, a landscape architect moved next door to me and proceeded to totally redo the yard, down to the dirt. He built a water feature and a beautiful deck but had problems with people seeing him working in the back and wandering back through our yard to talk with him. Because he only had 2 feet of clearance between the garage and lot line, his privacy options were limited. He didn't want a privacy fence as he liked seeing the open space on our side of the line. All it needed was a visual distraction instead of our wide open lawn.

He asked permission to plant a shrub on our side of the line which would screen his deck from the sidewalk. He also asked for permission to put some more plants at the front to incorporate our large blue spruce into the visual appeal of his landscape. Worked out well for both of us - he got the privacy screen and I got several hundred dollars worth of plantings on my lot.

You could hire a garden designer. An hour or two doesn't cost much, they would be able to give you ideas on what grows. Also on what would grow together, how to place it and so forth.