How Do I Camouflage A Bad View From My Garden?

Do you want to camouflage a bad view with a trellis?

Do you want to erect a wooden trellis?

Do you want to plant a distraction from a bad view?

Do you want to plant a hedge?

You can build wooden trellises to be as high and as long as the situation demands. You can also make them a temporary or a permanent feature of the garden. You will need to decide what plant you are going to grow before you put up your trellis. Vining plants have different ways of attaching themselves to their supports. You will need to consider the size and sturdiness of your trellis also. If you are putting in a trellis for a wisteria plant, set 6 x 6-foot posts in concrete; these plants need the strongest possible trellis. Small perennial plants, like kiwifruit vines, don’t require such a strong trellis, but they do need one that will last for years.

A screen is a trellis that is more tightly woven and less see-through than a wooden trellis. It is important to think about what kind of plant to grow on it. Plants that climb with holdfasts or aerial rootlets can generally climb a screen, particularly if it has a little texture for them to cling to. Before you decide to plant something like this, think about humidity levels and weight. If you live in a humid climate, humidity levels around the plant could be high enough to cause diseases. Also, many plants are heavier than they appear, so to avoid problems your screen will need to be heavy and installed with posts set in concrete.

Hedges can form a screen that obscures the view beyond them. In any area of the United States, you can choose either a deciduous or an evergreen plant for your hedge. You can make it dense by planting a double staggered row or keep it simpler by planting only a single row. Depending on your taste and the design needs of the garden, you can make it formal by pruning it to a rigid shape, or informal by pruning only to make it bushier and keep it inbounds.

Plants alone, without any hardscaping, can serve as a distraction. A group of bamboo, for example, can add a graceful note to any yard. If you plant ornamental grasses or other lovely foliage plants in front of them, they will act as a living wall behind those plants, and observers will rarely look beyond them. Bushy plants can also distract the eye. Mexican sunflower has velvety, dark green, heart-shaped leaves and brilliant orange-red blooms, and is such a vivid plant that no one looks beyond it.

Wooden fences are sometimes the best way to obscure an unsightly view. A stockade fence, with boards placed tightly against each other, will hide a bad view from your garden. This kind of fence can also keep low-flying weed seeds, disease spores, and pest insects out of your yard. If you want to grow a plant against the fence, use 8- to 12-inch eyescrews to attach a wooden or plastic trellis, nylon netting, or even strings for twining plants to climb. This distance guarantees that some air can move behind the climbing plants and prevent fungal diseases.