Privacy Tree Walls: Our Process
Privacy Landscaping is a major desire of many homeowners. Let’s walk through the steps on how to achieve this custom, private look.
Soil Prep
The most important part of any long lasting landscape is good soil. The first step we take to ensure a healthy tree wall is preparing a fertile soil bed. We start by tilling, fertilizing, and grading the bed. If needed, we will create a berm to elevate the entire bed.
Planting
Once the soil bed is prepared, the holes for the trees are dug and the trees are placed individually. While digging the holes for the trees, it’s important that roots, debris, rocks, poor soil, etc. are removed to ensure the new trees have room for their root systems to develop. Holes will be either hand dug or with a machine depending on the size and amount of trees. Once the trees are planted, they are plumbed, backfilled, and water packed. Water packing the root ball is an essential step in securing the tree in place. This step removes all of the air pockets in the soil and locks the trees into place so they do not shift.
Trees
Lets talk about what types of trees we may plant. Typically for privacy purpose, we use evergreen trees with dense foliage that have good size potential. A few popular varieties that we use are:
Leyland Cypress
Green Giant Arborvitae
Nellie Stevens Holly
Juniper
Schip Laurel
Southern Magnolia
These are just to name a few. The plant varieties used in each privacy tree wall will address the specific needs of the home or land owner.
Top: Leyland Cypress, Green Giant Arborvitae, Nellie Stevens Holly; Bottom: Juniper, Schip Laurel, Southern Magnolia
Size
Typically, when planting for privacy, trees in the 8 to 12 foot range are used. When privacy is the focus of the project, we do not use trees under 6 foot tall. However, shrubs like Schip Laurels, Ornamental Grasses, and other types of smaller screening shrubs under 6 foot can be used to supplement the planting.
Spacing
Getting the most privacy out of your tree wall will require staggered spacing. This is for two main reasons . Firstly, staggering the trees gives more instant privacy by covering the gaps between trees. Secondly, it gives you a thicker, fuller tree wall from multiple angles than you would have had by planting in a straight row. When planting in a straight row, some plant varieties will not offer much coverage towards the top, so there will always be large gaps. We help mitigate this by staggering or alternating the trees to fill those gaps.
Mulching
Once the planting is complete, it’s time to mulch. Our number one pick for mulching option is pine needles. First of all, they look good. Two, as time goes on, the pine needles form a mat that helps inhibit weed growth. Three, they are better for drainage. Pine needles allow water to permeate down to the soil bed much better than hardwood mulch. Raw wood chips are also a good option as they will decompose over time and they do not contain chemicals and dyes that black and brown hardwood mulch do. This being said, we can accommodate most any mulching need.
Watering
There is no such thing as ‘Maintenance Free’ plants. Privacy Tree Walls are no different than a car, a house, or a garden in the sense that they will need proper care in order to last. Water is an essential element for your Privacy Tree Wall. Hand watering each tree individually is the absolute best option to helping the trees get established. Irrigation systems work well also, but there must be zones in place, specifically, to irrigate the trees. In the heat of the summer, this is much more of a concern as opposed to spring, fall and winter when the weather is more fair and there tends to be more rainfall.
Final Thoughts
Privacy Tree Walls are a great investment for any home or landowner who wants to reclaim their space. It gives you a solution that becomes more valuable with time. In addition to providing privacy, tree walls also establish property boundaries, they can block neighbors, they screen your property in and give a sense of security and comfort at home. Eight foot fences never grow, tree walls do.
If this type of privacy landscaping is just what you’re looking for, we would love to design and install a Custom Privacy Tree Wall for your property.
Bye bye neighbors, hello mature tree wall.