Build a Fence...With Your Garden

If you’ve ever used the adage, “Fences make good neighbors,” privacy is probably important to you in your landscape.  For many homeowners, creating a sense of privacy is a huge factor in designing their outdoor spaces. 

Installing evergreen screening plants provides not only privacy but also creates “walls” in outdoor spaces providing a sense of comfy enclosure.  While functional, traditional fences often lack interest and are limited to providing privacy to only six feet or so.  In today’s neighborhoods where two story homes are built practically on top of one another, fences do nothing to provide privacy for the main living area of a home or for the two story deck many of us have.

Evergreen trees and shrubs on the other hand, provide not only privacy but many offer interest in the form of flowers, berries, cones, glossy green leaves, or finely textured needles.  Many provide food and shelter for wildlife thus adding another layer of interest to your landscape.

For an evergreen shrub with flowers, nothing beats a camellia.  There are many choices when it comes to bloom color ranging from shades of red, pink and white. By planting both camellia sasanqua which blooms in fall and winter and camellia japonica which blooms in early spring, you are assured a lengthy period of interest.  Some of the taller varieties can reach 12 feet tall and wide.  Another great flowering tree is a magnolia.  Its giant waxy white flowers emit a fragrance that is truly Southern. Its large glossy green leaves reflect light in the landscape and create interest all year.  For a screen, ‘Little Gem’ is the recommended variety as it reaches only 25 feet in height and 15 feet in width.

For fragrance, nothing can top a screen of tea olive.  This evergreen which grows 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide, emits an elusive citrus fragrance which will scent your garden (and possibly your neighborhood) each fall. Its insignificant white flowers are tiny but pack a huge fragrance punch.

Japanese cryptomeria is a stately, fast-growing conifer with rich green foliage.  It maintains a symmetrical columnar form which grows to 40 feet tall and 20 feet wide.  Its color changes to a unique bronze in winter. Cryptomeria is an excellent background screen which can be used to highlight specimen trees such as a Japanese maple.

The many varieties of evergreen hollies serve a multitude of functions.  The conical shape provided by the "Nellie R. Stevens" holly makes an impressive statement.  Its glossy evergreen leaves and red berries provide shelter and food for birds in winter.  It is a strong grower reaching 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide. 

The "Foster’s No. 2" holly has many of the same attributes but it grows taller and is more slender and its small leaves have more spines.  The Savannah holly has light green leaves with an abundance of red berries and grows to 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide.

Consider the mature height of a plant compared to the site before you install it. In a new neighborhood near my home, a builder planted ‘Leyland’ Cypress for height on either side of the front door.  While it looks great now, in about five years, they will have grown to completely engulf the front door while at the same time towering over the two story house.

When planting evergreens to create a screen or hedge, make sure to provide adequate spacing appropriate for their mature height.  Good air circulation is important for trees such as ‘Leyland’ cypress.  When planted too close together, they decline and eventually die.

A mixture of plants such as evergreens combined with small flowering trees and shrubs is visually more interesting and it ensures against a total loss if there is a disease or pest problem with one of the species.  

While it may be true that fences make good neighbors, an evergreen screen will provide year round interest and functionality to your landscape.