We are in the final stages of planning our garden.  I have mentioned on the blog before that our yard is the size of a postage stamp.  In addition to the obvious space constraints of a small yard, one not so obvious downside of a small city yard is the lack of privacy.  The building behind us looks directly into our yard, and we get a view of their “roof deck” (i.e. the unfenced roof over a garage that can only be accessed through a window).  Needless to say, we would like to look at something more calming than the neighbor’s makeshift deck, and we would like to avoid feeling like we are living in a fish bowl.

Since building a 10 foot high fence is not an option – we would never get it through the permitting department – we have been looking for plants that would provide a bit of privacy for our yard.  After looking around, there are some excellent choices out there.

I love the traditional look of cypress trees and hedges.  The Italian cypress below would do nicely.  I especially like the idea of adding colorful flowers at the base.

Image courtesy of marshalltreesandnursery.com

The Willow Hybrid below provides a virtual wall, and apparently grows six feet in a year.

Image courtesy of Fast Growing Trees

The Columar Hornbeam Trees below provide a nice alternative if you have a presentable fence behind them.

Image courtesy of Houzz.com

I also love the look of the horsetail grass below.  And, I especially like that it can do well in planters – critical for city-dwellers with more patio than garden.  Unfortunately it is not quite tall enough for our space.

Image courtesy of decorwithzest.com

I am not sure what our final decision will be, but it is nice to know there are a lot of great choices out there.