Fence or trees.

Some pictures of the situation and an indication of your geographical location would be very useful. It's not possible to recommend plants without that information. Also how long is it likely to be before you sell?

Western arborvitae 'Northern Spire' is one deer resistant fast growing 15-20' x 5' option you may find at local garden stores or nurseries. Depends on what zone you're in. 4-9 will work.

If you're asking for a plant recommendation, this kind of post is absolutely pointless without knowing the general region of the country. Different plants grow in Florida vs. Idaho.

You could try tall grasses. They'll grow faster and grasses like Big Bluestem will grow to 6 to 8 feet, probably in a season.

A picture is worth 1,000 words, though. And if you want plants, you need to tell us zone and nearest city.

One thing I notice is that the farther a screen, tree, etc. is from the house, the taller it needs to be. A 7-foot tree 20' from the house seems to block some of the junkyard---but it prevents me from seeing my own yard, including my flower garden behind the patio (no flowers yet in Zone 5). It seems like trees 200 feet away, at the property line, would need to be about 15' tall judging from the photo below?

So my sense is that 8' tall grasses wouldn't work.

My kitchen patio door and my porch and patio all face the neighbor's property directly. I never spend time on the porch or patio due to the junk. The property line is 200 feet from my house. The junk is spread along the property line over a length of about 100 feet. I would love to screen the entire 200' depth of the neighbor's property, including their house. I think that could be prohibitively expensive.

To answer another question, I've been trying to move for a year and a half, in part due to this neighbor, but there are almost no houses or land available in my area, so I'm thinking about ways to improve my quality of life here while I'm waiting to find somewhere to move to.

I'm guessing the lot line is at the trees. So, you can plant shrubs along the tree line. But, really, compared to the cost of moving, a fence is a bargain.

Shrubs by deer resistance, cross-reference with your zone. Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance (Rutgers NJAES)

From your picture, the view isn't that bad. Far better than I imagined. Another owner might not think it is a problem. If you're sure you want to move, you might want to talk to a realtor about the issue. Why invest in screening if the average person doesn't see a problem and you definitely want to sell?

Sigrid, the property line is behind the large pines. The junk cars are very close to the property line. In my opinion, the view is terrible. When I bought the house, that was all forest. The neighbor cut down all his trees and started a junkyard, which he's adding to month by month. Realtors have already warned me that it will impact the sale value of my house. This is a nice neighborhood except for that one property. Unfortunately, bad behavior by the neighbors go along with the junk. After a year and a half of searching for a new house or land, it has become clear that I might be forced to stay here, so I'm trying to make my place more livable. I'm tired of putting a huge amount of labor into my property and not even being able to sit outside to enjoy it.

A thick border of trees and shrubs should do the trick.

Buy him out.

Ha.Ha. You're lower so you will get blockage fast.

Thinking from the side here. Personally I'm kinda small government, his property, his right to do non criminal things.

BUT,

If your property is lower and you can find evidence of drainage issues involving auto fluids then your neighbor may be unable to satisfy my "moral" demands he keep his stuff to himself and you may have a case with some state agency.

If you can get the EPA or DPS or whoever out and on him and stay friendly in case this doesn't work or oust your neighbor it will amaze me btw.

Dan 1888, believe me, I fantasize about buying my neighbor's property every day.

Tornado 3800, having unregistered junk cars on your property is against the local ordinance here. Speaking of drainage issues, removing the cars would be difficult because his illegal driveway, created without a permit, is rutted a good 16" down and causes flooding on the property across the street so bad that that guy (the guy across the street) has had to repair his property with a bulldozer three times. Stay friendly? The local police are afraid of this guy. I'm not crazy enough to take him to court. It's safer to move.

Sorry you are having to deal with this. Especially since he is a real wacko. It is telling that the police are afraid of him.

Yes, the goal is to block the view, but as you said, it will be impossible to do it completely. So part of what you want to do is also to distract from the view. Instead of planting in a straight line, I'd bring some landscaping to it that has a sense of ebb and flow, clusters of plantings, some closer and some farther. It will seem more a part of the natural environment and will draw less attention to the fact that you are trying to hide something. Do more to create a focal point around your patio too. Make it a little haven to people who are looking at your home for the first time.

Kendrah, you raise a very important point. I noticed that the junk is in my direct line of sight, with nothing intervening. Maybe it's not just a question of hiding the junk, but also of directing the eye to something else. I especially like your idea of "ebb and flow, clusters of plantings, some closer and some farther." After Christmas I stick a Christmas tree in the snow about 15 feet from the porch. It gives the birds shelter as they go back and forth from the feeder, and it blocks the view of the neighbors' house. My eye is then drawn to the tree, not the junkyard. Maybe I need to plant some tall things behind the flower garden that extends along that little rise you can see behind the patio. If you look closely you can see a low cement edge about 10" high that marks the front of the garden. The garden is about 10 feet deep and 50 feet long.

I think what you suggest would be cheaper than planting 200 feet of evergreen trees along the property line (which could also be kind of boring to look at and would look like I'm trying to hid something). Do you have any specific recommendations for this "cluster of plantings"?

Thank you for these insights!

Simplynatural, thank you for your artwork! I like it. I'm afraid I don't have the ambition to change the patio shape. It's a very high-maintenance patio as it is, with much yearly scrubbing to control the moss and weeds. Here's the patio and garden in better days some years ago, before the neighbor cut down his trees:

Then this happened in August 2023:

The huge pine destroyed the perennial garden and the patio furniture. I was able to restore the patio to this state:

. . . until a windstorm destroyed the table. I will replace the furniture and make it into a pleasant corner.

Below is another view of the garden behind the patio. Last year not much came up after the tree fell. I planted as many new flowers as I could afford (they have really gone up in price). I'll have to see what comes up this year.

I'm not at all a gardener. I'm a senior citizen working alone to maintain my two acres to the best of my ability against the ever-encroaching jungle. I pick up thousands of pine cones and branches every year. One. By. One. This is why it pains me that I can never sit outside and enjoy my property due to the neighbor.

Your place is beautiful! I completely understand about the limitations of $$, time, and energy. The older I get, the more I let nature do its thing while I sit back and watch!

I'm kind of heart broken about this entire situation. I've put over 30 years of hard labor into my property. It was my dream home, until the neighbor's son grew up to be a hoodlum, windstorms became frequent and severe, and my town became a major opioid center. Now I'm afraid of the housing market crashing before I can escape.

What is your nearest large city? That would give us an area of the country tp recommend plants. Example, if near Birmingham, AL or Atlanta, GA; I would plant dogwood trees, azaleas, and so forth just inside the tree line, but behind the flowers.

Look up American Holly and see if it will grow where you are.

You can decide to plant, and develop a budget and what you are able to plant ( size of them as to how big a hole); siting decisions, such as are there spots suitable for understory species as suggested , not too rooty to dig; possibly small ornamental tree/ large shrubs nearer your patio, sited to become a PART of your view, not an obstruction.
Some of these might be available at big box stores or chain at reasonable cost as they get in spring items. I found 3gal Kousa dogwoods for $40 and one I planted last year is maybe 8’ tall and has a few blooms this spring.

None those would be “ instant blockers”, more a several- year project and require watering, sound like you would have to carry buckets.

Or you could beef up flowering perennials & annuals right by patio and learn to ignore the junk.

Sherry, I'm in zone 5.

marmiegard_z7b, In some places I have only a few inches of top soil before I hit rocks and then granite ledge, but we're used to that here. We just deal with it and sift out the rocks. Deciduous trees won't help because I would see the junkyard in the winter, which is 6 months of the year. Any trees have to be evergreens. I have a hose spigot on the front of the porch for watering.

I would put in a fence first honestly. This sounds like a troublesome neighbor that could potentally become more so. A fence on the property line now can stop or contain them to their own property better than just plantings. They currently could still do small dumping on your property or otherwise become more invasive. Also, with junkyard often comes an uptick in vermin, and a fence can be more helpful to deter them from crossing over. And give better safety optics for future resale.

In front of the fence, put in some more purposeful and lovely plantings. Soften the fence, make it look a part of the plan rather than "oh crap, block out the ick neighbor". Include other parts of your yard, not just the direct line of sight of the neighbor.

I am hearing that you want a solid screen year-round, through which not even a glimpse of what might be a part of a car or such, gets through. I get that, as an emotional thing reminding you of what’s there.

So do it, then. Decide what and how many and where they will go. You’d need to be realist about your soil conditions and moisture because that would affect the rate of growth, which might not be what is advertised as based on deep soil & plentiful water for several years; also how much sun even if planted outside the tree line.

The reason to consider deciduous trees or shrubs is because, hmm, they might be able to be planted, and have their own appeal in different seasons, and because even their bare branches create soft screening/ distraction and fit in with nature. And if there IS a spot for an evergreen, you can add that too.

Zone five is not enough. It depends on where it is in the country. I did not ask for your exact city or town, just the nearest BIG city.

Your lot is so well groomed. Are there areas near you that have thick underbrush in it's natural state? That's what you need, like simplynatural says let nature do it's thing.

Find those areas with dense bushes and shrubs, clip some sample branches with leaves from numerous specimens, take them to your local nursrery and they will identify them for you. Plant various species near and far as suggested for a natural forest look.

For example, in our area Toyon bush reaches 10 feet in three years and is very dense with flowers and red berries.

Perhaps a fast growing Holly would be similar for Zone 5.

Different holly varieties have different needs. Some, like Needlepoint Holly, are known for being able to grow in both sun and shade. Others, like Blue Prince Holly, thrive in full shade.

Certain Pyracantha is hardy to Zone 5.

many cultivars, like 'Chadwickii', 'Gnome', 'Kasan', 'Lalandei', and 'Mohave', are hardy enough to survive and even thrive in Zone 5. In Zone 5, Pyracantha may be semi-deciduous, meaning it might lose some leaves in colder months, but it will quickly re-leaf in the spring.

Given the character of the neighbour and the possibility of their junk beginning to creep onto your land, I think I'd want a stout chain link fence around my property. Any screening could go inside the fence.

Also, you mention picking up pine cones. Is there a reason to do this? It sounds like a lot of work. If you walk amongst the trees you might find there are already seedlings coming up from some of the existing trees.

Pyracantha is invasive in some parts of N America. You'd need to check for your area.

@Floral "You mention picking up pine cones. Is there a reason to do this? It sounds like a lot of work." I don't know if you have white pines in your part of the world. White pines have a cone cycle, years when they produce many more cones than normally. It appears to be something like every 3 years on my property. In a cone production year, a single tree produces hundreds of cones. I probably have 60 pines around the edge of the lawn. 60 trees x 400 cones each = 24,000 cones in one year. In a windstorm the cones are blown 100 feet away onto the lawn. They have to be picked up because, well, a carpet of pine cones isn't a lawn. In less important grassy areas you can mow over them with a lawn mower and sort of pulverize them. There are basket-like contraptions that you can roll over pine cones, but they have a very small capacity. Raking pine cones becomes more difficult as you get older. My favorite way is to meditate while picking them up, as I said, One. At. A. Time. with a grabber.

Yes, but the idea is to leave a bunch of pine cones to naturally sprout and your get free screening plants. As they mature and are dense enough, then you can start to thin the taller ones.

We had a big pine cone season too, and we have lots of pine tree sprouts coming up now.

Also the biggest acorn season. You're overdoing the grooming.

When you cut up fallen trees leave big piles of logs out there...also any firewood stacks. Anything natural will blend in. Wood barrels stacked in pyramid...better than the cars. Maybe a firewood shed or a cute potting shed, stuff lik e that. A few sections of lattice behind the flowers, etc etc.

BTW your flowers are gorgeous.

"The idea is to leave a bunch of pine cones to naturally sprout and your get free screening plants." Oh God, I think not. You must not have seen my thread about my pine trees.

When I don't "groom," my yard quickly becomes a jungle.

I like your ideas of a woodshed and lattice behind the flower garden. You're right, there is a variety of objects that can contribute to hiding a view.

Hah, I think the word jungle implies a thicket, which is what will block the view. Maybe just afew rough patches in key places....like closer to the neighbors property line.

Something like this wood shed could be DIY and placed out in the trees.

Put plywood on the back of this potting shed.

Or put a fence section behind it.

This fence from logs could be any height. Prop it up with leaning logs on the backside for fewer post holes.

plant vines on a few wood wigwam shapes

Jungle of pines is the perfect solution to this horrible neighbor.

tracefloyd, I like your creative ideas, especially the woodshed. I actually need a woodshed and that one is attractive.

Jenn, if you ever have 120' white pines next to your house you will lose your affection for them very quickly.