Have you thought about ornamental grasses? I have them and we have heavy clay. The grasses are all doing well. They would provide you with privacy from your neighbours and they would also look great in the fall! Otherwise you could probably put up some sort of trellis. That would also give you privacy. If you go to any gardening shows, there are usually landscapers there who could also give you some ideas. Marg

Tks Marg!
I have looked at ornamental grasses, but didn't think they would grow as high as 10 feet. I also thought of trellis, but I'd prefer some type of shrub or tree. My neighbor has something along her fence. It is "woody" like dogwood, has nice foliage in the summer. I shoud ask her what it is.
I'll keep my eye out for local gardening shows. Tks for responding. Tammy

I've seen massively tall ornamental grasses, however in a small backyard, I would think this is unsuitable. Also grasses love good sun and a west facing yard is mostly in the shade. (and just a little trivia, bamboo is the world's largest grass)

My thoughts are to set up a couple of posts made from 4x4 or 6x6 lumber. You could probably create 3 in a row. and grow a fast growing vine per pole. The idea is to create a feeling of privacy although not completely blocking off the sun.

Hi Ianna!
Tks for your suggestions! Actually I have full afternoon sun in my back yard, so sun is not a problem.
I went to Chapters and did some research. I looked at Dogwood and something called Burning Bush. They tend to grow quite wide. I'm wondering if I can prune a shrub like that to my desired width of 5 ft wide and let it grow as high as I want? What I really want is to block out my neighbors view while we are out on the deck. My fence is just under 6 ft and need something that surpasses that by at least 2 ft.
Thank you for your suggestions. Im so happy I found this forum, and am grateful for your input!

Maybe you could consider attaching some lattice to the top of your fence to your desired height and then planting a vine on it, either perennial or annual if you wanted to vary it from year to year. If you just attached to the top of the fence then it wouldn't take as much lattice and you might be able to find a piece of it for free or at very little cost.
just a thought. :)

A nice spring flowering shrub would be a lilac. In our other home I planted some Preston lilacs as a screen. They were both pink and purple. It worked beautifully. A nice pink one is 'James MacFarlane'. This variety grows about 10'. When I planted mine, I made sure to buy ones that flowered early, mid and late season. Continuous bloom and fragrance! (Besides those I had Mock Orange that would bloom after the lilacs were over.) I'm considering this again for the farm just because I love lilacs. Marg

If you don't want to sacrifice too much of your garden, some type of vine on a fence or trellis is the best suggeston because it doesn't take up too much width. There are grasses that grow 10-15 ft. high such as Arundo donax, but I'm not sure that one is hardy in your area. I second the lilac suggestion, easy to grow, even in clay and about the right height. I think you would have to prune it to keep it less than 5 ft. wide though.

Sorry I had assumed that you'd have deep shadows created by a fence on a west facing yard. I do have a similar situation at home. My yard faces northwest. Part full shaded spots and then full sun areas.

In my case, I've got no privacy too. Luckily I've got the option of building my patio and I found that the closer I am to fenceline as opposed to closer to the house, the more private it will be. I've got no privacy because my neighbors deck directly looks onto us... I suspect my neighbors have the same feeling of discomfort as I do.

So my approach has been to find that sight line, which you already have done, and then to add plants to break that sightline. So trees are one of my 'layer's of privacy. Immediately beside the wall, I set up a Service Berry. A service Berry will grow from 15-20 feet with a wide fan shape crown. I like the way it looks as an all season plant. A few feet away from the service berry but also within the sightline, I added an ornamental upright pear tree (Chanticleer spell?). This is a lovely columnar tree with white blooms in spring time. I also have Lilacs and limelight hydrangeas. Lilacs bloom in spring. Can be as wide as 5 feet or more. The reason for the different trees are because I don't wish to make things look like it was a row of trees. Each tree should be as interesing as the next. Rather like playing around with different foliage, colours and forms. I am then planning to set in an arbour from which I can opt to hang some material for privacy. I could use a reed screen or even an all weather cloth screen.

Another thought about creating privacy without feeling caged up..... The use of containered tall plants. These can be set directly on your deck where it will hide you from neighbors eyes. You could plant trees, or even posts for climbing plants. or you can create a containerized trellis. In container gardening, you have many options. It's almost certainly instant, and you can rework the combination if you are disatisfied. However because these are containerized,you'd have to select very hardy plants in order to withstand really harsh winters, and you'd have to water more deligently.

Many folks do like the idea of traditional lattice on a deck. I however prefer different & modern designs and there are several kinds available out there. The advantage of course, is that it's instant and you need not have to wait 5 years for that tree to fully cover the space (unless you are willing to spend huge money for fully grown trees).

Regarding the dogwood -- I don't think the burning bush dogwood would do the job. Another idea would be sambuca aka Elderberry - it's frilly leaves look like Japanese maples and it's berries also attract birds. Another idea is the Royal Purple smoke bush. Fast growing tall shrub or small tree.

Ianna

Geaylady, marric, ontnative, tks for your suggestions. Unfortunately, the smell of lilacs give me a headache. Terrible, I know because they are soooooo pretty!
Ianna, I agree in that I like a more modern look. I'm going to look into your suggestions. I like the idea of a containerized trellis on both sides of the upper deck. I don't have that much space to plant anything larger than an ornmental tree, because the lower deck is large and leaves me with 8ft on the south (morning sun) 18ft on the west (full sun) and 18ft on the north (afternoon sun)of planting space. I already have a Japonese Lilac which was there when I bought the house. It was poorly positioned in that it is in the corner and does not do much for privacy yet! I also have two raised beds in each corner of the yard that run 9ft L x 4ftW along the fence. I see gardens that are really full and lush in magazines and I love them, but in such a small yard, I'm scared to put too much.
Regarding the berry bushes, is there anthing I should know in term of rot or disease? Do I need to pick up the fallen berries?
Tks for all your help! It's wonderful to have experienced people to talk to!

A mature service berry will have fruits falling on the ground - I however never thought of it as a problem. It's not in the same amount of berries as say a crabapple tree. And the ornamental pear tree will hold its fruits which are unedible by the way.. Ornamental apples and pears do get problems from mildew and other fungus. So I guess it all depends on your level of tolerance for such things. If it's not your cup of tea, then let's look into other kinds of trees. Japanese maples can grow to 15 feet or more - crowns normally spread in fan shape (unless it's the weeping type). I like Royal Purple Smoke bush which can grow to 12 feet if left uncheck... Magnolias are also nice (I don't know about their zone tolerance) Evergreens for example are a good choice. There are the Emerald Cedars that are columnar although growth rate is slow.

By the way, don't expect trees to grow superfast. You will be disappointed. If you want something that grows relatively quick and upright, choose a vine on a post scheme.

You can build a trellis in a narrow rectangular box and need not have to underplant it. This is venturing away from gardening and into garden accessorizing.. The wonderful thing is you can dream up of any forms of screens - japanesque, chinese, etc... Check out the designs of Jamie Durie who is a modern designer. Or simply do an image search on arbors and screens and you'd get plenty of inspiration. Another idea on how to stop people from peeking in is to choose your colour carefully. The darker the colour the easier it is to see in..However the lighter th eshade (say white or light grey, etc) it tricks the eye and makes it rather difficult to peek in.

As for the poorly positioned lilac... If you are unhappy with it's location then remove it. I see no problem with this.

ianna