Tree question - privacy

[Anonymous]

What kind of tree is good to plant for eventully having some privacy between yards?

[Anonymous]

photinia is the appropriately named "red tip". It is a bush but grows very quickly and can grow to be huge. We have some in our yard that are easily 20+ feet tall.

[Anonymous]

Holly or cypress.

[Anonymous]

Careful with the cypress. They have shallow root systems and aren't that strong. We put them in when we moved in, as a screen for next door. After they'd grown in and the screen was great, two of them bought it in snowstorms. (One snapped, one just fell over uprooted.) Had to cut them down and start over.

Now I'm just going to put a shed up there as a screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Careful with the cypress. They have shallow root systems and aren't that strong. We put them in when we moved in, as a screen for next door. After they'd grown in and the screen was great, two of them bought it in snowstorms. (One snapped, one just fell over uprooted.) Had to cut them down and start over.

Now I'm just going to put a shed up there as a screen.

You need to take the snow off of them when it happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Careful with the cypress. They have shallow root systems and aren't that strong. We put them in when we moved in, as a screen for next door. After they'd grown in and the screen was great, two of them bought it in snowstorms. (One snapped, one just fell over uprooted.) Had to cut them down and start over.

Now I'm just going to put a shed up there as a screen.

You need to take the snow off of them when it happens.

Even that doesn't really help. We had a row of Leyland cypress. Neighbor's tree fell over in a storm and hit one of ours - our row went down like dominos. The shallow root system is its downfall, and you'll never really know when they'll go. The previous owners had planted them and they'd lasted more than two decades until that storm. Until that point, they'd been great as a privacy screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Careful with the cypress. They have shallow root systems and aren't that strong. We put them in when we moved in, as a screen for next door. After they'd grown in and the screen was great, two of them bought it in snowstorms. (One snapped, one just fell over uprooted.) Had to cut them down and start over.

Now I'm just going to put a shed up there as a screen.



You need to take the snow off of them when it happens.

You mean I have to sit up with them overnight in the snowstorm, brushing the snow off of them every couple of hours? Even when they're 16 feet high?

Both of these things happened in overnight storms--in the morning, tree down.

[Anonymous]

Or did you mean I have to take the snow off of them right after they snap, so I can cut them up and haul them away? I figured that one out on my own.

[Anonymous]

arborvitae if you have a low need and no deer. We've never lost a blue spruce due to weather. Some arborvitae split/bent.

[Anonymous]

Arborvitae, green giant cultivar. Stagger every other one so that some are closer to the property line (not too close - be considerate) and others are more inside the property. They sometimes do bend with ice and snow, but can be straightened with stakes and ropes, if need be. Good luck.

Might want to mix in a few other trees for more of a mixed hedge. Since the arborvitae are evergreen, maybe includes something in front of them that doesn't grow as high and changes color with the seasons.

[Anonymous]

That is going to depend entirely on your site for the tree -- is it in shade, sun some mix of the two? How's drainage? How big do you want it to get? Do you want an evergreen? Or something will brilliant fall foliage?

Very important --how much room do you have? How big do you want this tree to get? Do you want to be able to walk beneath it like a shade tree? Or do you nit mind a conical shape where you will have to walk around it.

Please disregard PP responses until you have answered these questions, different trees for different sites.

You see poorly sited trees all over this area and the next thing you know the trees are dying or falling down or encroaching on neighbors etc.

Take the time to find the right tree for the right place.

[Anonymous]

12:05, are you an arborist? If not, can you recommend one?

I keep meaning to find one, maybe one who lives in Takoma Park and works for herself, who could come consult on my replanting my yard. But I never get around to it.

Not the OP, BTW. I'm the guy whose cypresses fell over in the snow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Careful with the cypress. They have shallow root systems and aren't that strong. We put them in when we moved in, as a screen for next door. After they'd grown in and the screen was great, two of them bought it in snowstorms. (One snapped, one just fell over uprooted.) Had to cut them down and start over.

Now I'm just going to put a shed up there as a screen.



You need to take the snow off of them when it happens.

You mean I have to sit up with them overnight in the snowstorm, brushing the snow off of them every couple of hours? Even when they're 16 feet high?

Both of these things happened in overnight storms--in the morning, tree down.

I have 4 sweet leylands that screen the whole side of my house like a green wall. but I keep my chainsaw ready for "the day" when one goes over. Nothing lasts forever

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:05, are you an arborist? If not, can you recommend one?

I keep meaning to find one, maybe one who lives in Takoma Park and works for herself, who could come consult on my replanting my yard. But I never get around to it.

Not the OP, BTW. I'm the guy whose cypresses fell over in the snow.

You want Anna ([e-mail]). She lives near Takoma Park, is a professional gardener, and knows a lot about trees. She will occasionally take on private work to design and/or install plantings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is going to depend entirely on your site for the tree -- is it in shade, sun some mix of the two? How's drainage? How big do you want it to get? Do you want an evergreen? Or something will brilliant fall foliage?

Very important --how much room do you have? How big do you want this tree to get? Do you want to be able to walk beneath it like a shade tree? Or do you nit mind a conical shape where you will have to walk around it.

Please disregard PP responses until you have answered these questions, different trees for different sites.

You see poorly sited trees all over this area and the next thing you know the trees are dying or falling down or encroaching on neighbors etc.

Take the time to find the right tree for the right place.

I agree with this, espcially the part about encroaching on neighbors. Due to a row of about 15 Leylands that our neighbors planted six inches from the property line, we now spend around $500 every year trimming back the growth that is overflowing into our back and side yard. We have to hire a landscaping crew to do this because the trees are so large. I'd really rather spend the money on something else!