Jan Flora wrote:

In article , "Shelly" wrote:

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

Plant lombardy poplars. They grow like weeds and they'll block the view,
while some slower growing trees grow just inside of that row.

Lombardy's are cheap and that water ditch will make them grow fast.

Deciduous will let your new neighbors look into your house all winter. Do you
want that?

I'm low-income, but I'll be damned if I want to look into anyone's house or have
anyone looking into mine. Just because we're poor doesn't mean we don't want
some dignity, for Pete's Sakes! The folks who move into that complex will be
used to trading their dignity for public assistance. It would be cool of you to
give a little bit of that back to them, in the form of privacy and a sound
buffer.

Jan

Lombardy poplars are seldom recommended for urban settings - the grow too fast and
too big, are weak-limbed and prone to wind damage and sucker rampantly. Few
reputable local garden centers even offer them for sale.

Columnar European hornbeams (Carpinus betulus 'Fastigiata' or 'Franz Fontaine')
make an excellent privacy screen. They are moderately fast growing, relatively
inexpensive, will reach a size compatible with most city gardens and have a very
dense, upswept branch system which provides very effective screening properties even
when the tree is out of leaf. Very tidy, crisp green foliage in season, followed by
a golden fall color. Additionally, they offer a rather narrow profile which makes
underplanting or filler planting in front of the trees simple. Other narrow columnar
trees could work also, but few will offer the same winter screening potential of the
hornbeams, unless they are evergreen.

pam - gardengal