How I designed our Back Evergreen Privacy Screen

Have I mentioned I’m getting anxious for spring? Maybe we all are. I can’t help but flip through books, catalogues, and online shops of plants pining for so much variety. Where can I get it the cheapest? Where’s the best sale? Will what I want even grow where I want it? If not can I find something that looks like what I want and will grow here in our harsh Zone 5 (-20 F) Colorado climate?

I spend hours daydreaming. Sometimes… okay oftentimes it keeps me from getting needed work done. But I chalk it up to “mediation.” We all need more of that in our days right? Pages of lists in my notebooks of plants for here or there or that I love or that I wish I could grow.

The very back of our lot for instance. I don’t have many neighbors but the concentration is at the back of the lot and I’d really rather not look out our back door and see their boring house, windows and back porch looking into all the maybe a bit over the top projects we’ve got going on. Again, we like our privacy.

I’ve been drawing up plans for a couple months now for how to grow a beautiful evergreen screen at the back of the lot. Here are some of my drawings based off trees I’ve found on some online tree shops.

This is my outline for the trees along the back fence using what I found on FastGrowingTrees.com

This was from Garden Goods Direct, not as many options there.

This is my rough outline based off trees from The Tree Center’s website. Some of what I want is out of stock so I’ll have to come up with some other options if I go this route.

My other option is to join the Arbor Day Foundation again and get 10 free Norway Spruce trees with my new membership but then I won’t have the variety and I’ve had trouble with their trees in the past. Last summer I got something like 10 barefoot trees from them and only one, the serviceberry, has seemed to make it. I’m quite depressed about it actually. And now quite wary of barefoot trees.

I’m leaning toward the list I’ve made from “The Tree Center,” they have a particularly nice and informative site, 20% off your spring preorder (which is a lot if you’re spending as much as I might) and free shipping. When I showed my tree choices to the neighbor this morning though she laughed. “No way, no how you’ll grow all those here,” she told me shaking her head quite confident.

She’s owned and grown on her neighboring property for over 20 years so I should take her advice but something in me says, “well I gotta try.” So knowing me, I’ll probably overlook the good advice and go for it anyways.

These are the trees I plan to order from The Tree Center:

The Kousa Dogwood
I’ve already got a hole dug and ready for this tree (not along the back fence) and I’m just in love with those white four petaled flowers. The neighbor says she only knows of shrub dogwoods growing in our area and thinks I’ll waste my money on this but I have the water, and it should grow in our zone 5. Maybe it’ll be the crappy clay soil that does it in but I can’t help but try.

Blue Prince and Princess Combo Holly Bush
“Now hollies will do fine,” she tells me. So I’m excited that this plant should be a winner. Both the male and female of this cultivar are planted together here so I’ll be sure it’ll flower and have the red berries anyone would want. It should grow 8-12 feet in height and width so set between other larger trees I’m hoping it’ll block some of the view and add that winter color I don’t really have.

The Arizona Cypress
Again she was incredulous. “Cypress won’t grow here!” And I’m a bit sceptical too. My mother-in-law has a couple of these gorgeous trees on the North side of her house in Boise, ID and I just love their color but she is at least a zone warmer than us here in Colorado. And The Tree Center says, “hardy to zone 7” so I’d be pushing it with this tree but Lauren Springer Ogden a well known landscape designer in Northern Colorado boasts the tree in both of her books, The Undaunted Garden and Plant-Driven Design (2 of my favorite garden books!). If she can grow Cupressus arizonica then I should be able to too!

Hollywood Juniper
The swirling nature of this tree is just awesome and it reminds me of California, where I grew up. We certainly had one or more of these at the house I grew up in. Hardy to zone 4 I think they’ll do fine. The neighbor agreed on this one too. “Will probably do okay but, they cause allergies” she tells me. Can’t win.

Skyrocket Juniper
I like this juniper too because of it’s color and tall columnar nature. Ogden suggests the Juniperus Virginiana ‘Taylor’ instead because it takes snow loads better but sometimes it’s hard to find specific cultivars. This one should get 15-20 ft tall and 2-4 feet wide and does fine down to zone 3 so I’m feeling it’ll do fine.

Hicks Yew
I love this evergreen, its gorgeous, very long lived, and hardy as can be. But it is slow growing. And if I want a screen, I’m not gonna wait that long. Instead it’s gonna be an accent tree/shrub and then I can get some experience with growing it. I have a feeling I’ll want some more. It grows 12-20 feet tall and 8-12 feet wide and makes a gorgeous hedge if you’re patient. There’s some that grows near the library that always catches my eye.

Black Dragon Cryptomeria Japanese Cedar
Another odd little tree. I like a lot of these because they’re different and the variety is exciting. It grows to about 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide and I like it’s little cones.

Slender Hinoki Cypress
Another cypress, I don’t know why it would have any problem growing where I plan to put it but I guess we’ll see if I’m the one totally off base here. It grows from 15-25 feet tall and 5-10 feet wide but takes it’s time doing it. But I like it’s form and again it’ll be an accent tree filling in the gaps between the larger faster growing trees and shrubs I intend to plant.

Norway Spruce
Okay the Norway Spruce is certainly a winner for a great big privacy tree at the back of the lot. The back is at the North of the property so I’m not worried about shading out our yard (the neighbors is already in shade from the cottonwoods growing in the back ditch). And it’s also a fast grower getting 40-60 feet tall and 25-30 ft wide. Definitely makes the list as one of the 3 large trees I’ll be planting along the back.

Colorado Blue Spruce
Of course this tree would have to make the cut because it is such an iconic colorado tree. It’s relatively fast growing from what I’ve read, is a striking color and fills the spot for the 2nd large tree in my back privacy evergreen “forest”. 30-60 feet tall and 10-20 wide, I’m not worried about this tree either. The neighbor has both a Colorado Blue Spruce and a Norway Spruce in her yard and they are both big and beautiful. Unfortunately they are both about 20 years old and the size I want mine to be tomorrow… Best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago they say.

Austrian Black Pine
This is the third large tree on my list because they seem to be so successfully grown. The neighbor said they aren’t long lived so I looked it up on Google and read they can live 500 years. What she might mean is that they fall ill easily to a lot of different issues so I’m on the fence with this one. But it gets big and grows “fast” for an evergreen and those are characteristics I’m looking for.

Nana Lutea Dwarf Hinoki Cypress
Another accent tree here, it doesn’t get large, only 3-9 ft and 2-6 wide. But that color! I gotta have me some yellow in the mix. It says zones 3-8 so I should be fine.

Weeping White Spruce
Some of the trees I want are out of stock and I’m always admiring weeping conifers when I visit my family in Boise, ID. A lot of these weeping varieties I love tend to be just outside my Zone 5 though, liking a bit warmer conditions than I can give them. But this beauty grows all the way down to a chilly Zone 2! It would replace one of the other trees that I’d chosen that’s out of stock.

There are a few trees I really want that are out of stock but I honestly can’t find anything that I’d want to replace them with so I’ve decided I’ll have to wait.

Red Star White Cypress
Kind of obvious why this is sold out! What a beauty! The color is incomparible. And so I’m gonna have to come back later to get this one. Worth it? I hope so, I’ve never actually seen one of these in person. It’s green in the summer but this reddish purple in the winter. Grows to 20 feet tall and 10 or 12 wide so a good screen when full grown.

Two others I definitely want but won’t be going in the back evergreen “forest” are:

Autumn Gold Gingko
This should grow fine here in Colorado despite me not seeing many around but they are hardy trees and with water rights I’ll be able to give it whatever it needs.

And the

Bracken’s Brown Beauty Magnolia
Okay so this one is a gamble. It says hardy to zone 6 here at the Tree Center but I’ve read, “to Zone 5” somewhere else and it is the most hardy evergreen magnolia I have been able to find. It’s got those brown undersides to the leaves and big gorgeous flowers! I mean it could die, but I’ll always wonder if I don’t at least try. I guess I like to push the limit and I’ve killed enough plants to not have much fear of it anymore. That’s how you learn I figure.

So a rough view of what the back would look like with full grown trees is this:

Is it over the top? Seeing it like this, maybe it’s too many trees. Then again they won’t be big for a LONG TIME. And scale isn’t the most accurate in this quick little sketch, nor can you truly get a sense of space. But I think there’s gonna be a good amount of blockage of the neighbors house don’t you think? Should I click buy?

Have you done this kind of project in zone 5 before? Any suggestions on fast growing evergreens that will block a view in a harsh Colorado climate? Would love to know!

And as always check out my posts on TangibleDuality.com if you would rather listen to them instead!