Creating Plant Screens

Screening can add much to the beauty and enjoyment of a landscape development. Block, stone, brick, wood or living plants in an assortment of sizes, textures and colors are available.

The primary purpose for screening is to provide privacy. One may screen a small, intimate area or an entire yard. In addition to screening out neighbors or passers-by, plants can be used as barriers for other people's pets and noise. It has been estimated that proper use of plant screens can reduce the noise level as much as 60 per cent. Plant parts break up sound waves, change their direction, and reduce their intensity. Through judicious use of trees, shrubs and fences, you can reduce the sound of a heavily traveled highway running past your home to the level of a suburban street in the quiet of evening.

Practically every home landscape has areas that need to be screened from public view. It is usually desirable to screen garbage cans, clotheslines and service areas from view from the street and your home. Be careful not to plant a traffic hazard.

Another use of screens is for dividing one area from another, as the active play area from the less active area. The aesthetic value of screens should also be considered. A clipped or natural hedge or a wood or brick fence can make a beautiful addition to your landscape.

Before deciding on a material, the designer should analyze the family's needs. Answer such questions as: how much space is needed for outdoor activities? Which views are pleasant and which ones are objectionable and need screening? Be careful to use screening materials only where necessary.

A combination of living and non-living materials is usually a good solution to screening needs. Vines and shrubs grown along a fence soften the harshness of a bare fence and help it blend into the landscape.

If space is limited, consider a non-living screen rather than a hedge, which requires more space. Fences may cost more initially, however, over many years the cost of maintaining a good hedge may be higher.

The choice of plants for a screen is practically unlimited. Flowering shrubs like abelia, azalea, butterfly-bush, camellia, ixora, jasmines, plumbago, oleander, and feijoa can be used effectively. For interesting foliage, consider acalypha, bamboo, photinia, elaeagnus, nandina or pittosporum. Podocarpus, arborvitae, cherry laurel, junipers, cedar, hollies, wax-myrtle and many ligustrums make excellent evergreen hedges and screens.


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