|
A Village in a Garden By Avery Harden
Backyards: fences Fences! Most townhome backyards, not just ours here in the Village, look like a bunch of mini Fort Apaches. Fences can be ugly and rude to boot. I am not talking about the short chain-link utilitarian fence to keep the dog in. I am talking about the 6 or 8-foot tall fences installed sometimes redundantly back-to-back with the neighbor’s preexisting fence. Presumably they are for privacy but ultimately they provide little or no privacy at all. After all, we are two-story tall units that look down on these puny 6 or 8 foot fences. The ground level privacy is only a small portion of the view we have into each other’s yard. Contrary to the intent, the main effect of these fences is to add to the already bountiful visual clutter. If you require full backyard privacy, then you will need significant money to buy an acre or two somewhere else. If you plan to stay in the Village and want to be a good citizen, accept the more realistic objective of a modicum of backyard privacy. Try to avoid the hyper mini Fort Apache look. My approach to privacy in the Village is simple. I want to be able to sit in a chair on my concrete slab out back and not burden the neighbors 15 feet away with having to look out their dining room window and see me scratch or whatever while I read the paper under my shade tree. I plan to get these 2 by 8 foot lattice panels from Home Depot or Lowe's, stand them up vertically, hinge five together accordion style, and anchor them to the existing short chain-link fence. This will relieve those very close suffering neighbors of having to look directly at me. In addition to appearing light and airy, the accordion effect gives the treatment structural stability. I plan to grow a vine on the lattice. Aesthetically, 8-foot lattice works where a section of 8-foot tall opaque fencing does not. A solitary section of fence looks odd, oppressive and unfinished by itself. The hinged 8-foot lattice panels are a friendly sort of spot-screen on the same principal as hinged panel decorative screens used inside the home. The lattice and vine approach, with its aesthetic advantage over fences, also has a functional advantage over shrub hedges. Hedges tend to be wide, consuming scarce, precious square footage. For a hedge to be effectively dense at 8 feet, it needs to be at least 3 or 4 feet wide. Three or 4 feet times 3 sides subtracted from a 22-foot wide yard leaves little yard. The friendly accordion lattice’s screening effect can be accomplished in a width of 0 to 1 foot. Besides, regular shearing of a hedge is a maintenance trap. An exception to this suggestion would be strategically placed single shrubs, permitted to grow large, that could then be very effective for spot screening and aesthetic interest. Remember that less is more. The key to using this lattice approach is to use it sparingly and strategically. Use it as a spot screen, not an encirclement of the yard. For example, for me there is one particularly unappealing view in my backyard of a cluster of small trashcans. Right next to these trashcans that need to be screened out is the massive trunk of the neighbor’s decent looking large maple that I do not want to screen out. The ground level view of this large tree trunk is very sculptural and worthy of embellishment. I will leave that view open to the ground while screening the trashcans right next to it. As stated, the trunk of the tree as it comes out of the ground is very sculptural. I do not want to screen that out - which a 6-foot opaque fence would do. The view beyond that tree into the area across the alley, across the neighbor’s yard to a view 500 feet into the distance is ok. Having that long view is nice. It would be a mistake to block that view. My back yard seems bigger and more interesting with that long view. I will place another 2 by 8 lattice panel on top of my tool shed in the horizontal position to screen out the view into the windows of my nice neighbor that lives straight across the alley. That way we can both check out the birds, squirrels and ladder thieves without being face to face. Over the top of the proposed lattice on top of my tool shed is an ok view. I see the nice brickwork and detail of the opposing roofline. I see distant tall trees over and beyond the townhouses behind me. The only other screen issue I have is with another nice neighbor in an end unit across the alley that has a bright white room addition in her backyard. There is no vegetation near it to tone it down and the bright glare it reflects is harsh to look at. I plan to ask my next door neighbor if I can plant one solitary, tall, skinny-growing Leyland Cypress at the back edge of his yard to play interference with that view. My next door neighbor will benefit as much as I will. The neighbor with the white room will also benefit with a more veiled view of my neighbor and me. A solid fence there would be ugly, screen very little, and impede a decent long view just to the right of the white room. Once I tone down the glare of that white addition, the view to my right will be ok. So, I have four elements I want to screen out, two elements I want to tone down and 3 decent views I want to leave open for embellishment. I will then have a decent backyard space that I intend to spend time in and enjoy. The principle of visually erasing property lines applies to backyards as well as front yards. Partially transparent short fences for pets and demarcation are necessary. However, being able to visually utilize our neighbors’ backyards gives us a sense of having a bigger back yard. If we all made an effort to remove our eyesores and open up and embellish the decent views we presently are unaware exists, the Village back alleys would come alive with a freshness and vigor. Backyard aesthetics should be considered as important as front yard aesthetics. Remember; practice aesthetic courtesy with your neighbors. |
