Properly designed and installed, creative landscaping can solve a host of problems, including privacy concerns. If your home was built in an area with little natural cover such as trees, hedges, etc., you may be looking for some options to make areas of your yard more secluded and private. One landscape design option? Natural, or garden, screening. Garden screening can provide homeowners with a number of valuable functions such as provide privacy or block unattractive surrounding sites, even camouflaging such things as an air conditioner or propane tank. Natural screening can also add beauty and shade to your garden or yard. However, there are a number of things you must take into consideration before deciding on your garden screening ideas.
Before You Choose Garden Screening
Before you can choose garden screening , you need to be aware of any homeowner’s association rules or regulations, because many developments that have restrictions or covenants governing what you can install. Be considerate of your neighbors as well. They may not agree with your artistic tastes. You also need to consider things like your budget, the final appearance, and the practicality of the different garden screening ideas you are looking at. Once you have accurately considered all of these factors, you will be able to choose the right garden screening ideas for you. Lastly, you don’t want the screen itself to become an eyesore. Repeating the screening in several areas of your yard can help make it balanced.
Brushwood Screening
Brushwood screening (also known as ‘thatch’) ideas are highly unique. These plants are native to Australia and are manufactured into environmentally friendly screening fences. These fencing ideas are used extensively in Australia but have only recently made their way to the States. Brushwood is soft and natural, and it’s a great option for hot tub or spa surrounds. It can also be easily attached to existing fencing such as chain link, or wrapped over arbors or pergolas to provide more privacy as well as shade. One advantage of using brushwood is that it’s easily removed and re-placed if your needs or tastes change.
Other Natural Wood Screens
Like brushwood, you can also find natural screening in materials such as willow, reed, fern, bark, and bamboo. They all have similiar features to brushwood, but each has a slightly different texture and color. Bamboo is available in sheet of either full round canes or canes that have been split and flattened. Cane screening as a bit more of an open feel to it. Willow screens are often woven through thin hazel branches, and these screens have a more “fabric” look to them, but they provide an interesting texture. Willow screens woven like this are sometimes called “hurdles.”
Living Fences
One of the most natural privacy solutions is a “living fence.” Stands of fast-growing bamboo, hedges, or closely-planted shrubs can be a great privacy screen. A landscape designer can help you choose varieties that grow quickly and bush out to provide a compact and natural “fence.” You may also want to combine a garden screen with plantings of various heights to make the screen an element of your landscape design. Plantings around the screen can help it blend in with its surroundings.
If your lot didn’t come with natural privacy, we can help you come up with a beautiful, natural solution which fits with your yard and your tastes and gives you the seclusion you’re looking for.