The white fence in the far back shows the lot line

More photos

Sky pencil Holly or some other columnar holly tree selection.

Are you planting a new hedge section from the trees forward or just trying to hide the opening beside the yellow house? That gate next to the yellow house is wider than six inches.

Looks like you could limb up on your side of the line, but I'd file this under it could be worse. Privacy is valuable, there aren't many options given the distance between your houses

I’m not fully understanding what specific area you’re trying to cover. Is it from the edge of her house to the trees? What part do you mot want to see from your house when you are sitting in it? And are these photos from the perspective of your backyard? Would you please draw a rough diagram of the yard, houses and trees? In a floor plan style so we can help better. I would not want shrubs too close to my house so you may be out of luck, depending on the width of space you have available for a shrub.

Hi everyone, I’m in a somewhat urban suburb.

These photos are taken from the left side of my front yard looking toward the back yard. The yellow house is my neighbors and the white is mine.

What you see of the White House is an enclosed porch. There is no view except if I look out those windows I can wave to my neighbor at her breakfast table. So I don’t want to see out any of those windows at all. I only want to see out the back windows of that room which are not in these pictures. The view would be my back yard. This is the side entrance to my back yard. The dogwood in the foreground is the front corner of both of our houses, but it’s mine.

I would like this side entrance behind the dogwood to look like it’s going to a secret garden or something like that. I love hedges but I also want to keep a good relationship with my neighbor. I think I can bring it 6 feet more toward the street but if I bring it all the way to the front I’d lose one of the prettiest parts of my yard (in front of the dogwood).

It’s a very shady area. I think whatever goes there has to cover about 5 feet wide by 10 feet tall to cover the hole. How do I make this eyesore mysterious and elegant?

Sorry for my bad drawing, I’m trying not to wake up the DH 😂
I do have an arbor (am looking for an artsy gate) and I’m willing to “hedge” some of my own side windows 😂

I need to keep the dog fence but it’s not supposed to show.

The metal fence is mine, to keep my small dogs in. She’s ok with it being stuck 6 inches over the line on her house. It used to not show because the evergreens feathery branches covered it but now it all shows. This is the spot we would keep stuff like the long ladder but I want it hidden from the street.

Plant wise Hicks Yew is probably your only choice. Where exactly you plant them along the property line and how far forward you come to the dogwood is something only you can decide.

First, is your lot line an official survey, or a legacy line previous owners established?
I agree with the fence panels spaced about 4 feet apart. If you use a latice type fence you can grow climbing ivy to enhance the privacy and create secret garden feel. put your dog gate on your property only, leave everything else off your neighbors property. They may move and new owners might insist you remove your fencing, shrubs, etc. I generally plan to put any lot line fence, plants, etc. at least 6” inside existing line.

big city location would help more than just zone.. sorry if i missed it...

is there a lake back there?

be honest ... after the shock of the new paint job is over ... how much time are you going to spend fixated at the view between the houses.. wont most of your time be looking out the front or back???

ken

If there are certain windows you do not want to see out of at all, perhaps consider getting some frosted glass film for those windows.

bee beat me to it.. lol ...

look into window films if there are certain windows you need to block.. they are very easy to apply inside .. with some soapy water and a squeegee ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=window+films&iax=images&ia=images

also .. shock side ... logic dictates.. a well painted house improves the value of your home also ... regardless whether you personally like it or not .. so there is an upside ... lol .. you probably wont buy that nonsense.. eh?? .. lol ..

as noted.. the heavy shade is going to be the ultimate problem .. things wont die in there.. they just arent going to grow very fast .. to accomplish what you want short of a decade or two ...

ken

Thanks for that drawing! Get the largest shrubs you can afford for the location. Then hang some ferns inside your windows- that will provide immediate barrier and be beautiful. I had to block a nasty neighbor from my view a few years ago and used hanging ferns on a post we added to the deck. Just the visual block made a world of difference.... too bad I can’t block out the sound of him puking off his deck.

what kind of a goofy town would allow building 6 in. from a lot line ?

I can't even build a shed any closer than 4 ft.

@plantkiller- my town outside of Boston has lots of homes built very close to the property lines. These were built before towns updated their building requirements/ restrictions. The roads around towns often have signs saying “Thickly Settled” which always makes me laugh!

Sarah, I’m outside Boston too. 😂 it’s a beautifully maintained Victorian and gorgeous inside. Her garden is on the other side.

Also, I love the fern idea. I will do that!!!

Irredardless, It’s the view from the street that bothers me the most. We both have pride of ownership and she just had her home painted and mine has newer cedar shakes that are stain painted. These are the last windows on the home to be replaced, and they will be one day, but not this year.

Hicks yew sounds like it would do well there.

How does it compare to arborvitae smargard which says it can take shade, or skip laurel, which also says it can take full shade? Is one much faster and easier than another?

Here is my messy fingerpaint of that I was hoping to do. Sweet autumn clematis would go on the arbor. The ground is planted with hosta, astilbe, ferns, and there’s hydrangea, azalea, and yew densiformas against my house. I’m thinking to change those up a bit as they don’t look quite right.

Also I see I posted a winter drawing of my house here on Houzz a few years ago. For context. My neighbor’s house is really pretty. https://www.houzz.com/hznb/photos/my-house-phvw-vp~95548028

I'm sticking with the Hicks Yew for the shade tolerance and cloned skinny.

That looks like it will work well! Your plantings sound very similar to mine- I have hostas, astilbe, ferns along my shady side with sweet autumn clematis growing over the town chain link fence (it’s on the raised sidewalk above my side garden). I also have sweet woodruff and hellebore so there are lovely blooms except in the dead of winter. Your home is beautiful!

Autumn clematis is so invasive it could cover your entire house. Do not plant it next to your neighbors house. I had some on a lattice screen and it was trying to push up the siding on my house which was 6 feet away. It would grow all over my patio furniture. I was cutting it down daily!

I was planting it next to mine. Any other suggestions for the shady arbor?

I do walk and weed daily— pretty easy since the lot is so small.

"I do walk and weed daily." I call that puttering.

Do you think this would work to provide screening from the street yet still allow my neighbor access to her house (the dog fence is liftable and once my arbor is in I’d put the dog gate on her end so she could use it to clean her windows or whatever.)

Three staggered hicks on the left, and 1 next to my house corner? I would trim the cedars a bit for the arbor (but not hacked back!!)

Would tree ferns work? Dicksonia antarctica. I thought of them when someone mentioned ferns for inside the verandah.

That works for me and I like that you balanced the grouping with another on the right by the house. Because yew take to trimming so well, the one by the house does not have to be as tall.

After seeing the art piece drawing of your house, I was going to suggest placing another on the other side of the house and driveway if that was a possibility.

Tree ferns in z6? Not going to happen. And apart from needing a mild winter we also don’t know where the OP is located but I doubt it has the cool humid summers required. And even if they could survive you’ll be looking at hairy logs all winter, probably unattractively wrapped up.

I second the fence idea. Further south on the eastern seaboard there could be some BLEs that would make sense in such a dark location but I've spent enough time in Boston and environs to say - just go with a fence.

Floral - total aside but FWIW, ferns are the least likely plant group to be bothered by temperatures higher than their native environments - AS LONG AS IT'S HUMID AND DOESN'T DRY OUT. A few Dicksonia are even known to grow in Florida, although they need a very good spot and very good soil and watering during droughts. But heat and humidity - in and of themselves - will not kill them. I have grown, for example, Woodwardia fimbriata from the chilly coastal PNW, it seemed to love our summers and one of the only plants from that part of the world for which that can be said to be true. (Seq. sempervirens being another one of them - provided it has well drained soil) It survive the winter before the polar vortex and was getting some size, unfortunately polar vortex 1 wiped it out. (along with the wonderful Lygodium japonicum, which is an invasive weed in Florida but would never be up here) It getting so cold the soil even froze below deep snowcover was devastating for a lot of borderline plants around here. Although that just makes it more remarkable that some did survive, like my hardy clone of Phormium tenax. Killed to the base but vigorously (for one of those!) resprouted in spring.

I originally got estimates for fences and they were 3x the price of my backyard fence 😳. Building product prices have skyrocketed right now. So dog fence stays for now....

To the right of the house is the driveway and to the right of that is a “mature”but scrawny privet hedge that belongs to my other neighbor. It comes half way down to the street, with perennials coming down the rest of the way to the sidewalk. My lot line is 2 inches beyond my driveway 😂

When my neighbor is ready to replace the privet I will suggest hicks (and help pay since they are pricey.)

The only thing stopping me from ordering something today is I still have schip/skip laurel in my head as a possibly cheaper and faster growing choice..... I read somewhere they take any amount of light... but I’ve never even seen one.

I know the hicks is probably the best choice...

I have never heard of tree fern— sounds interesting

Hicks yew is a Home Depot item in my area and not expensive. The laurel is not narrow growing.

You won't be able to keep the 'schip/skip laurel' confined in that space. Let it go.

My lot line is 2 inches beyond my driveway. I think the Hicks Yew could be the neighborhood shrub of choice if it isn't already. Holly trees would still be worth looking at for future projects.

Embothrium, really! They seem to be $60-100 here for a 24-30 inch high hicks. I called local nurseries and looked online. I have not been to Home Depot in a year and did not call them. I figure 30” is the smallest possible acceptable size given how slowly they grow. Would love to get bigger ones but haven’t sourced them yet. By Memorial Day a lot more will come on the market I guess! 🤞🏼🤞🏼

There are some sky pencil holly here in the area. It seems easier to maintain than privet, which I’m always having to chop away from the car.

Can the holly take nearly full shade?

Incidentally, these giant trees along my neighbor’s house that got hacked were not supposed to get so big or wide. I think the landscaper couldn’t source what we asked for so stuck these in switcheroo on the sly. 15 or so years ago. I offered to take them down but my neighbor likes them, my husband likes them, and they do provide 2nd floor privacy and make me feel less like I’m in a fishbowl. So we’re trying to work with them. The chopped front brings back that fishbowl feeling.

It occurs to me I can choose more than one type of shrub.