Tall/fast growing plants for privacy?

Question

I am located in central NJ and I have a bit of a problem with how a neighbor maintains his property, or rather, DOESNT maintain his property. Junk everywhere, a god awful looking shed etc etc. Anyway, we are restricted because a tall pine tree shades the entire area we want to plant in.

We have a back deck that overlooks his yard and we really are sick of looking at all of it, however the back deck is about 8 feet from the fence line. We already have a 6 foot fence being put in in the next couple weeks, but we want some sort of tall plant that will block out his yard. We want something that will grow to be tall and quickly. It must be able to be planted in close proximity to a pine tree and do well with minimal sunlight. Something that is tall but not too wide would be nice, there are currently two giant "fire bushes" i believe the are called, however they are just getting way too overgrown and are overhanging too much into the yard, so we need to replace them.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Answer 1

It sounds like you need to consider some shade tolerant trees such as sugar maple.  Sugar maple is well known for its shade tolerance and will be able to fill any void above 6' if properly pruned.  Another positive attribute of a sugar maple tree is that when the tree sends roots down for water it tends to bring water up towards the surface of the soil, making it available for nearby plants with shallow roots.  This may even help your grass grow better in summer... without watering :)

Answer 2

I planted Forsythias to divide my neighbors property, they grow fast and look beautiful in the spring, but since you don't want to prune I would suggest pine trees. They may not grow fast, but will give you the privacy over the years

Answer 3

Check the hardiness zone for your area, but these should work fine:

Taxus Hicksii  (Hicks Yew) Gets about 4-6'wide and 15 -18' tall. Dark green evergreen foliage, sun to shade OK.

Arbovitae Emerald Green  Gets about 4' wide and 12' tall. Arbovitaes can sometimes spread open under winter snows though.

Viburnum Leatherleaf  Sort of droopy, textured leaves. Broadleaf rather than conifer. Flowers - off white cluster and gets berries the birds will eat.  Gets about 6-8' wide and 12' tall. Being a broadleaf, responds to pruning better than conifers.

Wish you could use Viburnum Chindo there. not hardy that far north though. Wonderful screen. But in your case i would use the Taxus. Get the right one though. You want an upright. Some are widely spreading.

TopCatt

Answer 4

leyland cypress, virginia pine, hemlock, fir