Well, you used to live in NY, and I could recommend some trees there. Since you neglected to say where you live or what soil you have (stoney? Clay? I assume well draining.), I'll assume you have moved to......? Maybe you retired to FL. In that case, there are lots of kinds of palms that will fix your problem.

On a serious note, a 6 foot tree will block the sight lines from the bottom. Stand some sticks in your yard, pretend they are trees, and you will see what I mean. It is the people at the bottom of the hill who need 80ft. trees to keep you from watching them when they do married people things in their back yard.

I would try to find some of those N. Spruce and get em in the ground and growing ASAP. I'm assuming you are still in NY and they will grow well for you. They fastest growing shade tree (oak) I can recommend is the Chestnut oak, is a NY native It is Quercus Prinus/ Montana or Rock chestnut oak. Just adding my 2c.

Evergreen is over rated. Look at how that row of trees does create a barrier w/o closing in the world on you.

If you are zones five though 8 go metasequoia! Limb up a dozen feet for formal, leave the lower branches on if you want that big thick trunk.

Thanks---I am in Zone 6 northeast PA---and we have many deer. I ordered Norway spruce and douglas fir, i will look into metasequoia--i dont know what they look like but if they are big and deer won't eat them then i am for them.someone suggested flowering pear because it grows fast but i dont want leaves to rake, so evergreen is the only choice i can think of but then i am not a gardener and very unknowledgeable. I am posting other photos of the site and if anyone has ideas, would love your input. Photo of house its up high; side of house where bathroom window is and view from window showing why i want some trees or something, and photo of that part of yard outside the window

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we have a couple small fruit trees in that last photo and also when the very large tree near the stonewall has leaves, there is less problem but i wonder if i can plant something under that tree that goes up 10 ft or 8 ft to fill in the bare spot where the neighbors windows can see into my yard and bathroom. I even was thinking of clumping bamboo but it would be so out of place in this type location. I even thought a trellis near window but cant plant there all utility stuff is there and stones everywhere...the soil is ROCKY we are on shale BTW

Avoid the bradford and improved bradford pears. They blow apart and snap under snow and the flowers while quite good looking smell terrible. Not to mention they breed with other pears and produce strange invasive offspring. The ones at work did have good fall color last year though.

Far as leaves go, trees like bald cypress and the metasequoia have small thin needles. When they fall they blend in with the grass better and are easy for a mower to chew up.

That is what you want to do on a large yard. I just mow until right after halloween on a regukar basis. Chewing up the leaves helps them break down and feed your soil saving on pesky fertilizer. Keeping the grass mowed makes the light snows look better also:)

thanks! Do you have an idea for that side yard to block my neighbors view of my bathroom? COnsidering I do have a deciduous tree of some sort already there so i would have to squeeze a couple trees or shrubs to keep it private?

Nothing great. My home has a window to the shower. No one up the hill from us for a couple miles with a view but it bothered my wife.

We now have a sort of frosted tint on the window.

Are there shade tolerant evergreen ninebark or viburnum out there?

there is some sort of viburnum out here i have seen labels but cant remember what it looks like.i will look around here... I have even thought of planting something on the driveway close to the bathroom, a border of small trees or something --- for now, i just close the whole place up and dont look out, but in an ideal world be nice to enjoy the view

Red Oak
White Oak
Bur Oak
Tulip Poplar
Sycamore
-These are the largest trees you will be able to grow

Bite the bullet and consult a landscape designer. The services you receive can match your budget, however small or large it may be.
Least cost begins with a walk-through and verbal report.
Next step up is a landscape drawing
Next step from there is obtaining the plants and planting them.

You can have a quality plan for minimal cost!

thanks Jean---i will look into a designer around here.

Another thought--I m getting mixed messages on Thuja green giant some say it is deer candy some say they dont eat it---they did not eat my other species of arbor vitae in NY, but dont know about green giant if anyone has a clue. Also i am trying to stay away from oaks --we had over 50 on our property in NY and raking was a full time job...fast growing and dense at the bottom is what i would like. I keep seeing douglas firs grow like fire--does anyone know about that? have ordered a couple small and a couple norway spruce...

Agree that it's worth it to suck it up and have a landscape architect draw up a master plan for you. If you're willing to get your hands dirty, you can use it as a blueprint, do your own work, and save a ton of money.

Growing up in NE PA, I can tell you greenthumbzdude's list of trees would work for your purposes.

If it were me, I would certainly plant trees from that list for shade, but would incorporate understory trees and shrubs as well. The rest of the yard? Hard to imagine needing all that lawn. I would scalp it and plant a native grass/wildflower meadow from seed. In a few years, it would be maintenance free, aside from mowing it once per year in the spring. Right now, it rains and everything runs off into the street, into the gutters, and into the waterways - taking all the pesticides and fertilizers needed to keep the lawn so green with it. The meadow/wooded area would provide a stunning alternative.

Please consider working with a landscape architect who specializes in native plants. The most beautiful areas in NE PA are where nature is left to take its course. Like everywhere else, it's being wiped out by the ever-expanding suburbs. I guarantee that a woodland/meadow combo on your property would make you the envy of your community and would go a long way in creating a trend of responsible land stewardship. That, and you'd never have to worry about raking those leaves or spending entire weekends manicuring a lawn ever again.

If I had all that space ( which I do) I would plant an oak somewhere in there, it will be still doing fine after many other trees will be long gone. Not the Metasequoias though, they as far as I know they live long also. If you had a hard time with many oaks before, one that drops all it's leaves in fall would do good. Just mow them down once the tree is done shedding leaves. My Swamp white oak. Willow oak,Burr oak, Northern red oak,Scarlet oak,English oak,and Chestnut oak shed in fall. Oaks are a passion of mine as you can tell. It's your yard and your decision of course.

Thanks poaky and c2g---i love oaks too--we had over 50 huge old ones on our property in NY and the only reason i am not thinking oaks is because my husband will end up doing nthing but rake for the rest of his life. They were a ton of work though beautiful.And I wanted something evergreen if possible since privacy here is really an issue. The deer werent much of an issue in NY either so arbor vitae were fine--anyway....looking into a landscape designer but will be putting in norway spruce douglas fir and 3 metasequoias--all are ordered already. I would love fto be creative and all but i am so concerned to have my privacy back like i had in NY...i cant stand feeling i am in a fishbowl...

well you dont have to rake...make it into a forest or savanna

greenthumbz---that is a great idea if husband will go for it. I actually woundt mind some kind of forest as we need firewood in the winter; and the shade is welcome in the summer...will offer this idea and see what happens. Thanks!

Taffy, I like your attitude. Poaky needs some company around all us somewhat blunt and sarcastic tree guys!

Hey, if your husband is good get him a leaf blower or tell him just to munch up the yard leaves with the mower.

Now if he doesn't meet specs send him out to the back 40 with a hand rake and a sack for the weekend lol. I own a rake but couldn't tell you the last time I moved it.

Cant get any bigger than Giant Seqouias, they grow 3 ft a year. Will grow fine in your area. They love water, so hopefully your area has a nice supply of ground water.

Here is a link that might be useful: where you can buy

max height of giant sequoias on east coast is around 90 feet...they don't do that well here

I am confused now--sequoias are the same as metasequoias i gather but giant sequoias are different. I did a little look around the web and i see one is deciduous and the other described as perisstent. Do they both grow quickly? And 90 feet is good enough for me just want to have thick branches or bushy leaves so the neighbors cant see in my yard. I hate to sound so picky abut my neighbors as they are lovely people but i really like my privacy and being able to sit outside just doing nothing and not being watched doing nothing!. I know you all understand. I can't stand having a big open yard on display.

Here is a link to some in New York and RI

Here is a link that might be useful: New England Sequoias

One does not need enormous trees to provide privacy, especially if their houses are located above those areas where they wish to block a view. That's the hardest way to do it. You have plenty of room to plant some stately giants, but it's all about line of vision. Twenty six years ago, when I moved into this house, one could not see another structure. But not everybody appreciates their privacy like we do, so we decided early on to plan our plantings to provide an optical 'stop' to lines of vision from passers-by driving down the road to certain rooms of the house. This can be accomplished by creating garden spaces with smaller trees, closer to the house. Our bath is behind a row of broadleaf evergreens and a crabapple. If someone is right up close to the house, it doesn't provide complete privacy, but they'd have to be up on our porch to see in. We have these islands of plantings at various places on the property and chose where by considering the views both from the inside looking out and from across the road looking in.

calliope--Thanks and thanks for photo---Yes I have thought of this and trying to rethink the bathroom thing---it is gravel and has utility and oil tank outlets immediately outside the window, but the berm where we park the cars offers some space (my last photo) and since it is elevated it will give me a leg up, so to speak for shielding the window, but hopefully allowing me a view of the sky...i thought of flowering pear trimmed down or forsythia but i definitely want evergreen something that doesnt turn naked in winter. Altho if we plant enough flowering pears close, maybe even the bare branches in winter would shield the window. Any ideas for plants? I know holly could do it but it grows too slow ....oh, and deer....THANKS everybody i am so happy as a brown thumb to get knowledgeable advice from you experts!

calliope--
"behind a row of broadleaf evergreens"
Are you referring to the purple flowering ones on the left side of the pic? Could I ask what is the name of those evergreens?

Those particular ones are azalea.......not a broadleaf in the truest sense, but they do not shed their leaves in winter here so suffice. I also use rhodies, boxwood, holly. The planting I pictured does not really show how far away they are from the house, but actually a good distance, since the porch is eight to ten feet deep on a stone foundation. This allows a lot of light into the room, actually since I keep them trimmed down to about five feet and prune every five years or so. The deciduous crab allows us lots of light in winter, but shade in the hottest part of the day in the warm months. This isn't our only line-of-sight barrier from the road. The house sits on a plateau of ground perhaps ten feet above the road level and quite a ways back from the road. There is another mixed bed before this plateau ends to a hillside sloping down to the road and there are a mixture of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs there, and it effectively blocks the view of the house across the road from us. The gentleman who built it not so long ago decided to place it close to the road, with their living room window facing our loo. LOL. He had many, many acres of beautiful ground and lakes but put it right close to the road. His ground, his choice. I'm glad we started early with the islands of trees and shrubs and sitting high, it does not really block our view of anything we wish to see. I know some people wish to 'show off' their architecture.......and even turn spot-light type landscaping lights toward their own homes.......but that is not us. Our house is a plain and simple farmhouse and I don't really care to exhibit it, and figure my plantings are good enough views for people I don't even know. ;-)

Thanks! I was looking for evergreen shrubs that can hide utility boxes and a side of my front porch. If those shrubs flower, it would be a plus.
The planting island you have there sure looks VERY NICE.
It must be a pleasant view from inside, too.

if you are looking for incredibly fast growth I would check out the hybrid poplars...there are many kinds, some grow over 7 feet or more per year to around 90-100 feet. However their lifespan is around 20-50 years so what I would do is underplant some slow growing trees like the oak so that when the poplars begin to die you will have large, decent sized oaks ready to take their place and those trees should outlive you and your great, great,great, great grandchildren.

Underplanting is a much under-used strategy. It can be effective for more than just quick growth. We are hard-core birders and leave scrag trees with cavities in them for nesting purposes, knowing full well many are dead men walking. I've planted slower-growing but choice replacements well before the established trees should need removal.

I have to correct one thing. My Quercus Robur do hold on to some leaves. I stated it shed in fall, that was incorrect. I (like Toronado) like my Metasequoia. The "Big tree" Sequoiadendron Giganteum is the hardier evergreen redwood. I just watched last night on Nat Geo Wild, where they mapped the natural areas of growth for Redwoods. I think it was the taller less hardy coast redwood from the area they showed to be their natural range. It was along the Pacific coast.

will check out hybrid poplars for my area...are they messy? i heard the flowering pears leaves are so little there is nothing to rake when they fall---also I did order some giant sequoias and since they like water i was going to have them planted at the edge of the trench or drain thing that surrounds our property so whenever excess water comes down the hill they will be near it. I wont plant it in the trench but near it, unless someone has a good suggestion for these. I am putting 4-5 on one edge and 3 on the edge near my neighbors whose house i can see in my dining room and wish not to see..we dug up 3 norway spruce yesterday, volunteers in a field that belongs to a Xmas tree farmer, he sold them to me for $5 EACH. HARD WORK DIGGING OUT but lovely trees and we planted them yesterday. will enclose photo later...

here is where i am planting 3 sequoias to block neighbor white house
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and i plan 2 put 4-5 sequoia down here --note utility line markers, and the drain where it is lower and moist; on the other side of the utility lines i want to zig zag some douglas fir and norway spruce---i will get a landscape designer to help with the body of the yard but want to get in privacy screen on the outer edges of property as soon as i can... if there are other ideas or advice please tell me. I am looking at the poplars for inside the yard but want to wait for designer. still looking for one in my area.

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metasequoias are Dawn Redwoods and are Chinese, I prefer the much hardier Giant Sequoia which are American. They grow faster than Dawn Redwoods and are disease resistant to everything. Giant Sequoia will be there for 3000 years. I posted where you can buy in an earlier post.

Fastest evergreen tree that I have seen (that is healthy, unlike Leyland Cypress) is Cryptomeria japonica 'Yoshino'. Thuja plicata 'Green Giant' is fast as well, but can't hold a candle to the Yoshino Japanese Cedar. Planted a #3 7 years after planting 12-15' White Pines and the Cryptomeria is now about 20-25', only 5' feet or so shorter than the pine trees are now, and MUCH more densely branched.

Just to be as clear as possible.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides, dawn redwood, drops its needles in the fall just like bald cypress. Metasequoia does very well in zones 5, 6 & 7 stretching east to the coast from Missouri. Leave the lower branches on and you get a very thick tapering trunk with indentions under the branches. Limb the up and the trunk stays smoother, very formal.

The ones in the pic are 1950ish vintage and the pic is a couple years old.
Missouri Botanical Garden row of Dawn Redwoods taken in 09 I believe.

Here is a link that might be useful: mobot metasequoias in winter

This post was edited by toronado3800 on Sun, May 12, 13 at 3:19

Sequoiadendron Giganteum is the evergreen giant sequoia. It does grow some places on the east coast. I think of it as a very noble experiment. I have killed two in Missouri.

If the Blithewold tree is about a hundred feet tall (from a 1911 planting) that agrees with the largest height I recall seeing for an east coast tree. England seems to agree with them very well I hear as a matter of trivia.

We're beating the huge neat conifer thing to death I fear lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: a bit on metasequoia rediscovery

There are two discussions going on. The discussion to answer the literal question about big trees, and the discussion to answer the real question about privacy. They are very different questions.

Dealing with the privacy question, what are the moundy green things in this picture? And who do they belong to?

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My guess is they are white pines belonging to the neighbor. In other words, the neighbor has already planted a native evergreen capable of getting to 100 ft, and doing it extremely quickly. Any other potentially large tree is going to compete with that tree line and slow both of them down.

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This privacy issue would benefit most from Calliope's solution. A small tree or large shrub planted directly between the neighbor's house and the window would provide privacy without closing in the whole area. Even during the winter, densely branching deciduous shrubs can work.

The front yard is going to be the trickiest one. Planting a wall of big evergreens is just going to be like building a big wall. A better idea would be planting something that was large enough to block the lower houses, but short enough to still allow views of the hills across the valley.

Unfortunately, spring is the busy season for landscapers and landscape designers. People have been arranging for their services all winter, and now is the time for them to start to deliver.

Double post

This post was edited by toronado3800 on Sun, May 12, 13 at 10:55

Thanks all--wildcat--is Yoshino deer candy??? I put the norway spruce between the neighbors house and our yard, a bit away from stone wall, and they did not plant anything on the other side.

As far as the white pine my neighbors planted, because the other house is so high i dont know if it will ever be blocked from looking in my backyard. Even if I move the giant sequoias out from the wall, wouldnt that let the white pines grow?

I feel like the 5 sequoias for the bottom of the property will be fine as there is no other growth and it is a moist area...we'll see.

I chose them over the metasequoias because they hang on to their leaves....i will follow up on the yoshino and maybe rethink where the white pines are, it is just so very naked on our side and exposed to the house on the hill. thanks

They are deer resistant. One of my favorite trees, and everyone that sees them inquires about them. I would always recommend a combination of plantings in groups of 3-7 so that if , by chance (or bad luck), something became an issue with one type of tree (emerald ash borer with ash, for example) then you would never loose all your trees at the same time. If you plant a group of Cryptomeria and then a group of Western Arbs , you will also get the additional benefit of contrasting colors/texture. Yoshino's are light green and Green Giant's are very dark green. Good luck.

I looked for Yoshino, thank you wildcat, could not get any here, but found seeds on ebay! What I have done is try to cure the privacy issue re. bathroom and neighbors view--by planting a row of lilacs t the edge of the driveway directly opposite my bathroom and then farther off near the stone wall between my neighbor and me we planted some norway spruce we dug up from a neighbors tree farm. Not the greatest or most creative solution but something we could manage. We even transplanted some decent sized norways--was that work! and some of them had multiple tap roots going underground all the way to a mother tree that was about 60 feet tall at least...we dug a lot of volunteers and some of them had some age on them. Anyway that's the beginning...

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If it were me, I'd cover the whole place with a mix of tulip poplars, various native oaks and try some dawn redwoods (Metasequoia) near any wet spots you find. I'd mix in all sorts of evergreens native to the area too. In other words, I would help it go back to "wooded".

Deer are going to move in on whatever you plant. I would source most of the trees as whips from the state, or a well-known vendor, or even Arbor Day.

I'd plant some areas just for the deer/wildlife, full of things they like, in areas where they can be close to cover. (Various berries, hazelnuts, apple trees, you name it).

Deer and the need to keep new plantings watered for optimal growth are the two big challenges with that much space in an exurban setting.

This post was edited by hogmanay on Mon, Jun 3, 13 at 10:38