TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Plan plantings ahead and you can have privacy for your garden

ADVERTISEMENT

By MONICA BRANDIES

Tribune correspondent

Published: July 1, 2009

One of the most important elements in making outdoor areas comfortable is privacy.

In Iowa, when I put up a stretch of fence in our backyard to offer both our neighbor and ourselves a bit of privacy between often-used back doors, the neighbors reacted with animosity rather than appreciation. It might have helped had I talked to them before, but they were never very friendly, and at least this way I had my fence. They moved before we did, and the new neighbors were both friendly and very grateful for that fence.

But at that time, in the Midwest, to surround a whole yard with privacy fence would have been considered a declaration of war. In Florida it is common and bears no malice. It was also expensive and we might never have had this luxury had it not come with the house. Between that and the Florida weather, we did think we had died and gone to heaven.

Privacy is not a matter of giving anyone a cold shoulder. Solitude is very important for most of us, even from those we love the most. Planting a buffer between houses gives an advantage to neighbors on both sides. Leaving one path or gate for easy access can assure the continuation of friendliness.

On the other side of that Iowa house our wrap-around porch looked out on another neighbor's driveway. We were always on good terms with those people even to the extent that they let me use their vegetable plot the summers they could not. Still I'm sure they would just as soon have not have had to greet us every time they went to get their car from the garage or to start out on a run and vice versa. Vines climbing a trellis along the porch helped some, but screening it in helped even more because we were well hidden behind the combination.

The ideal amount of privacy allows you to see out without being seen. Our house now is very close to our neighbors at the front edge, but the two houses slant away because ours is on a curve. From the time we moved in there has been a privacy fence in the back and a hedge on their side. We sometimes hear children playing, and are surprised to remember how close they really are. Most of the time we feel completely secluded by that border and the planting within the yard.

When our front yard was wide open, we were appalled that most Florida houses have no screen door, so we bought and installed one and that first change made a great difference in the feel of the house from inside, looking out. At last, it seemed like home.

Then we had a trellis built because my friend Better had given me two muscadine grape vines, and I'd already found out that the critters would eat the grapes elsewhere in the yard. It turned out they ate them over the front door, too. We'd come out in the morning to grape skins on the sidewalk telling the tale of the wildlife parties in the night. But the shade on the front window and door and the feeling of seclusion were reward enough. Even when the trees grew bigger and the first trellis fell down, we felt we had to have another, better one built.

There may be areas around your home that you seldom use because of their lack of a comfortable level of privacy. This is especially true of narrow side yards and balconies. A few well-placed plants in containers can make a remarkable difference in the comfort zone. It is a natural human trait that we don't mind much if people see us working but would just as soon not be seen resting. Therefore plantings that are waist or chest high can seclude a sitting area.

Remember to consider the shade or sun in small areas like a side yard and plant accordingly.

Today's pick

Torenia (to-RE-ni-a), also known as the Florida pansy because it tolerates heats and summer rains so well, is one of the best annuals for summer bloom. It grows in partial sun or shade in well-drained soil and only gets 4 to 12 inches tall, so it is ideal for edging or for hanging baskets. It is supposed to attract hummingbirds.

Bedding plants are readily available from early spring on and I always buy a few of the first ones I find because I love the blue color. There are more and more new varieties and hybrids with pink, white, or yellow and purple flowers. They spread enough that a plant every 12 inches will soon fill in the spaces. They stay neat though they defy deadheading by producing so many constant blooms. If they start to look a bit seedy, shear them back once or twice through the summer.

Now's the time to...

•Remove any mulch from around the trunks and under the leaf span of citrus trees. Some people say don't mulch citrus at all because they are susceptible to root rot, but I mulch through the dry months and have raked it all out to the edge now that the rains have come. This is also a good chance to remove any weeds.

I managed to clear out enough space in the sun to plant another citrus, this time a Temple orange at the recommendation of George Hoagland of Dee's Trees in Seffner. He likes them better than navels and they ripen at the same early winter time. He said it is better to auger out holes 12 to 18 inches deep just inside the rim of the tree's leaf span and put citrus fertilizer down in the holes.

"This is a good time to do it with the soil so wet," he said. "You can use a tire iron or anything that will make a hole an inch or more wide. That way it causes the roots to grow down deep. If you put the fertilizer just on the ground, much of it washes away or evaporates."

Monica Brandies can be reached at monicabrandies

@yahoo.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT