How to Create Front Yard Privacy

When the wide-open spaces in your front yard cause you to feel less than private, your options to create more privacy include fencing, landscaping and creative gardening. What you end up choosing might depend on your aesthetics and time commitment as well as your location's codes regarding front yards.

Become aware of all restrictions in your area that relate to your project. Check with your city's zoning department to find height and setback restrictions for fencing or other landscaping materials. Call the zoning office and describe your situation, or check the planning and zoning department's website for details. If you live in a housing development, you might also have covenants regarding vegetation and fencing. Failing to follow the rules could result in fines.

Fencing will create the most solid barrier between you and your neighbors. Plus, you won't have to wait for trees or hedges to grow in to enjoy their benefits. Choose a type of fencing material that blends well with your home's architecture. If your house has cedar siding, for example, a cedar privacy fence will blend well. For a painted house, choose a painted fence in a complementary color.

Although an 8-foot-tall privacy fence may be appropriate in the back yard, you may not be able to have one quite so high in the front yard. In the city of Portland, Oregon, for example, homeowners need a building permit for a fence higher than 7 feet, and you'll be restricted in where you can put the fence based on the property line and the residential zone in which you live. If you build a high fence, then, for security purposes, consider adding peepholes or "windows" through which you can monitor action on the street.

Ensure your fence's posts are installed securely in the ground. About one-half of a fence's height is the depth that each post should be underground and secured with concrete footers. If, for example, a fence is 6 feet tall, then 3 feet of each of its posts should be below ground.

Hedges or shrubs can be alternatives to fencing and provide plenty of shade and privacy. When you choose hedges, think about how much maintenance you're willing to give them. For example, the common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) -- hardy from U.S. Department of Agriculture zone 6 through 8 -- requires regular trimming to maintain its "boxy" appearance while "Emerald" arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis "Emerald") -- hardy from USDA zones 4 through 8 -- has a less-tidy appearance and doesn't require much trimming.

Arrange shrubs and hedges in groups of three or five, the University of Missouri Extension suggests, and keep them about 15 to 20 feet from the street. Drivers need to see the street clearly as they pull out of your property's driveway. Check your shrubs and hedges regularly for loose, dead and protruding branches that could pose a safety hazard, and remove them as needed.

Another option is to grow "living screens," as the University of Minnesota Extension calls them, by creating vertical garden spaces in your front yard. Around the front of the house, install in-ground or raised-bed gardens with high wire or wood trellises, onto which climbing or twining plants can grow. If you have a front-yard patio, for example, surround it with trellises. Trellises also can be installed between picture windows and the street to provide privacy inside the house. Vertical gardens can add curb appeal to your home, too. As you would for a fence, ensure each trellis' posts are securely in the ground.

You have lots of options for climbing vines to grow on your trellises, but climbing vines that are perennials will return year after year. Perennial vine selections include trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) -- hardy from USDA zones 4b through 10a -- and hop vine (Humulus lupulus) -- hardy from USDA zones 4 through 8.