Ask your neighbor what they would rather have. Shade, leaves, acorns, squirrels, surface roots, etc or a neighbor with a privacy fence.

The nicest thing to do is to tell them what your ideas are and get some feedback from them about it. As mentioned, you could come home one day to find half the tree missing.

I think I remember from your other posts you are in southern louisiana. You may be able to accomplish what you're looking to do with more compact screening trees or shrubs that are not so messy such as hollies.

I do have a privacy fence and also I have two trees very close to my neighbor line. I did not plant them they grew on their own. I think they are Maple or just huge green trees. They are so beautiful like drawn by an artist extending 80-90 feet tall and spreading their branches and roots in my neighbor's yard.I asked the neighbor permission to come to their yard with my ladder and chain saw. They did not mind. I trim as much as I can. It is embarrassing. I asked the Neighbor if it is a bother to them I can remove them and his wife said "No don't I love the trees you don't know how much oxygen they are producing and look how many bird nests in the trees I enjoy the singing of the birds". I planted 4 Apricot trees this year on the same side but left a good 6 feet between the trees and the fence. Even they are dwarf Apricot trees and don't grow that much I wanted to make sure they stay in my property. Some Neighbors are very cynical once I had a neighbor who used to get upset when my cat walks on his grass He moved. I am lucky now I have Good ones.

i would do shrubs to hide a mess ....

long before i would contemplate planting a 50 to 100 foot tree...

a tree will take decades to cover most anything ...

a shrub will take care of the issue inside a couple years ...

it might really help.. if you gave us a clue as to where you are ....

is this a HOA agreement ... or just the neighbors BS'ing??? .. personally i would never restrict what i do with my property.. on a handshake and a nod ... who knows what will happen in the future ... other than litigation i suppose

ken

he's a good guy. he wouldn't flip out on us. he would just be annoyed by leaves etc.

i'm in south La (southwest of baton rouge). i don't want shrubs. i don't really like the way they look in the middle of a yard. i was thinking about camellia sasaquas, but they are so expensive down here because they only sell them in REALLLY big gallon pots. i'd have to get a truck to get them to my house. i prefer the price and the ease of a tree that i can slide in my minivan.

i don't expect it to hide the mess, just distract from it. i'll think about a holly

The first impression is one of two things:
If he becomes mad at any point in the life of that tree, he could willingly prune it so whatever is on his side - he could cut making the tree now a grotesque specimen. The other is to offer, only if necessary, to rake up any leaves on his side.

Then you see what Ken wrote above which suggests that "anything" could happen. Not to sound loudish, but what happens if you decide to move sometime leaving the litter mess of leaves now to the ('responsibility') of the new home-owner. Even more so, what happens if you die. This is getting wild, but now you see that it really does initiate future complications.

If you can agree on an Oak planting, Quercus coccinea would be my first choice for speed - fall color - and a liking for southern climates.

Dax

Scarlet oak may like the northern, upper elevations of the South but I'm not so sure it would like the gulf coast. Does anyone know?
I'm thinking Nutall might be a better deciduous oak for that location.

Is a deciduous tree with a canopy well above-ground really the best option for blocking or detracting from the view of messy ground clutter in a neighbor's yard?

I don't know what works well in your region; I'd ask around & see what would create the effect of a row of Green Giant or Emerald Green Arborvitae, hollies (perhaps Oak-Leaf Holly, which can produce berries without a male), or something like that.

I get that things would look a bit better with a large, beautiful oak, but then again, you can see around the trunk and still see the junk.

Richard.

We have a neighbor that claims that when he bought his home that he was told that the tree line was his fence and before we bought the home he got into a heated arguement with the previous owner when the owner tried to trim these trees . well now my wife chop most of them down and he has called her twice wanting us to get a surveyor

the fence line is clearly there . and a passing hurrihurricane knock down a section and behold he planted four trees right on the fence line my wuestion is can he do that ? hiw far awy can he plant a tree from the property line?

I'd plant some large shrubs. They will hide the mess better than the trunk of a tree.

HU-6603608,

You should start your own post/thread and add pictures of the area.

You'll get better answers that way.