There are many privacy landscaping ideas that can be integrated into Houston landscape designs that enable homeowners to relax in the outdoor without the worry of being seen by all the neighbors.  This enhances one’s sense of retreat, and it also helps discourage neighbors from inviting themselves over whenever they see their friends outside.  There are a number of landscape elements that can be constructed that will shield special places from the prying eyes of others without looking like obvious barriers that rudely shut out the world.

One of the most popular privacy landscaping ideas involves the placement of stone walls around zones of interest.  Stone is the oldest building material used by humanity.  Its durability speaks for itself, and its diversity allows for the creation of forms that will support traditional, rustic, classical, formal, and contemporary Houston landscaping plans.

Stone walls can be used to build patio courtyards and backyard kitchens.  They can also be placed along the property line in back yards if sufficient tree growth is present to make the stones look like a natural part of the landscape instead of an arbitrary barrier erected just to keep others out.

Another very common privacy landscaping idea is to use hedges to create organic boundaries that others cannot see past.  Hedges do not have to be very tall to be effective for this purpose.  In areas where people will be seated for most of the evening, a hedge can be only four feet tall and effectively block the activities within from public view. 

Hedges are an integral part of garden design, and they are excellent privacy screens for garden courtyards centered on fountains, waterfalls, or ponds.  Hedges are also very effective in front yard landscaping along the borderline between two properties.  Neighbors tend to appreciate hedges from their side of the property line as much as do the homeowners because the privacy screen works both ways, and because hedges contribute an ordered sense of beauty to their environment.

Other privacy landscaping ideas involve the planting of tree walls.  Tree walls work the same as hedgerows, but they are much, much taller.  Typically, trees that grow between 15 to 30 feet are used to build these walls. 

However, this is not an absolute rule.  Technically any kind of tree that will grow in tight clusters can be used to plant an arrangement that is both decorative and impenetrable to the view of those standing outside the yard.

Tree walls are sometimes made from a single species of tree, such as Japanese Yew or Japanese Maple.  Other arrangements of privacy landscaping trees involve mixing several species together to vary the vertical impact.  This diversity is further magnified at night through the use of landscaping up lights and special tree lights installed in branches high above the ground.

There are also many privacy landscaping ideas that involve the use of manmade structures.  Certain types of fencing are very effective privacy screens.  Retaining walls shaped like hills are another unique, and highly innovative, way to block off parts of back yards from the sight lines of yards to either side.  These hills can surround little patios, cooking areas, or morning gardens that are shut out from everything else but the immediate natural world.