"Shelly" wrote in message ...
Hi, I hope you can help me, but if I'm in the wrong newsgroup, please
forgive me. My family and I live on almost 2 acres in an older
neighborhood
in a small Southern Oregon city. Recently building started on the acreage
abutting ours - a three storey, 96 unit apartment of low income housing!
Now I'm not about to say that low-income people can't live near me,
especially since my husband and I are closer to low-income than we are to
middle-income. But I am uncomfortable with the fact that many of those
apartments will be looking directly into my windows.

So we've decided to plant trees on the border between our property and the
new neighbors. We're leaning toward decidious trees, something
attractive,
with seasonal changes. We may want more privacy, but we want it to be a
beautiful change. I just don't know what to plant.

We're hoping for fast growing trees, not especially expensive. The site
has
good drainage, but also has a good water source in the form of an
irrigation
ditch that flows between our lot and the lot under construction. There
are
no power lines to consider, although there is a metal sewer line that is
buried underground within 10 feet of where the trees will be planted. We
are not considering planting the entire 330 ft border with the same tree,
we'd like several kinds to add more interest.

Any ideas?

Thanks so much,
Shelly




Penty of ideas! ... red maples (Acer rubrum) will do well, with wonderful
fall colors and many varieties to choose from,
each with a slightly different 'coloring' times ..
Careful selection of varieties will give you a continious show from late
august to mid october.
They are quick growers and many get to heights of 40-50 feet with 30 to 50
foot crowns.
Common and inexpensive.
Might maybe possibly invade the sewer line.

Northern red oak "Quercus Rubrum". fast grower, pretty danged big when full
grown (60ft tall w/ 60 ft spread)
Not invasive of water/sewer lines. Might be difficult to find and/or
expensive

Linden trees (Tilia americana OR Tila Cordata) are another nice choice.
Can grow to be well over 80 ft tall (take THAT oh intruding housing
project!)
Heavily scented blooms in spring. Transplants well Yellow fall foliage

OOH! Bald Cypress (Taxodium distchum) should do wonderfully for you in
Oregon! Likes wet conditions (drainage ditch and Oregon wetness!) a pretty
pyramidal shape, gorgeous bark and has decidious needles that turn an
interesting shade of brown before dropping. (They also make a kicking
mulch!) They usually reach 70 ft tall with a 30 ft spread.

Don't leave out your native Mahona, either...


And best use an evergreen to screen the veiws into your back porch, patio,
deck area from the apartment dwellers. everything else can be as deciduous
as you wish