Landscaping for Privacy
We have talked about privacy landscaping trees in other articles on our site, and how they can be used to build walls and enclosure that insulate residents from the sounds and prying eyes of the outside world.
As effective as they are, though, trees cannot be the only thing used in landscaping for privacy.
Many Houston landscaping plans require a diversity of elements to succeed. Some of these elements can be created with various types of plants. Others require the construction of recognizably manmade structures that unite home architecture with natural life.
Landscaping for privacy requires a combination of plants, outdoor structures, and terrain modifications to be creatively combined in ways that support the desired style of design while simultaneously creating the desired levels of isolation in specific zones of interest. All sorts of creative motifs can be developed using the simplest of building blocks.
Fences are obviously one way to create a privacy screen around a yard. Fences can be made of a blend of brick and iron. Large brick columns are placed at regular intervals, and wrought iron fencing is stretched between the columns. Wrought iron can be shaped into many decorative patterns.
Although this creates only a partial screen, the interior of the yard cannot be clearly seen because the brick columns and ironwork designs make it difficult for those standing outside to clearly focus on people moving around inside the yard.
A view from the inside can also be completely blocked by a wooden fence or a stone wall. The use of wooden fences in landscaping for privacy, however, is restricted to more rustic landscape designs. Stone is a more universal element which can be used in everything ranging from the classical to the contemporary.
Stone walls do not have to be taller than a person to create desirable levels of privacy. In courtyard design, stone walls need to only be taller than people in seated positions to give relaxed guests that special sense of retreat from the world.
Walls that are just tall enough to block the view of others still allow seated guests to see lighted trees, the upper portion of a well illuminated home façade, and the upper levels of nearby outdoor buildings.
Retaining walls can also play an important role in landscaping for privacy. They can be constructed in ways that make them appear like natural hills. The vertical impact they can add to the flat Houston landscape is undeniable in its own right.
More importantly, the areas between retaining wall hills can also become very secluded areas for private gatherings. Patios, outdoor kitchens, natural ponds, and gardens can all be developed in these quite little havens away from the world.
Keep in mind that when stone walls, tree walls, or rows of hedges and shrubs never have to encircle entire areas or box people in. Landscaping for privacy is all about blocking sight lines from streets and neighboring yards that would give neighbors too much access to the details of one’s private outdoor life.
More often than not, only short linear runs and partial enclosures are needed to completely shield an area from the curious and self-inviting. This affords Houston landscaping designers an almost unlimited creative freedom to develop highly sophisticated decorative forms that fulfill the basic practicalities of their purpose amazingly well.
