Well that’s my privacy gone

[frostedviolets]

I know I am probably going to be told IBU but I am so so upset.

Neighbour behind has rows of mature massive trees.
Mostly planted right against my fence so they lean in and left unpruned they cover almost half of my garden.

I constantly have to prune them back to the boundary which is a real pain in the arse but I love the privacy they provide, without them i can see straight into their house and garden and they mine.

Every year they get some bodger with a chainsaw to behead them all about half way down in a straight line so they look utterly ridiculous now they appear to be chainsawing them down completely.

All my privacy gone.
I’ll no longer be able to go into my living room or bedroom or garden without being clearly seen now.

I have an espalier tree growing in front of the fence that I am very careful to keep in a single flat layer so it doesn’t fall onto neighbours to have to keep pruning it but it’s small, it’ll be fucking years before it gets anywhere big enough to provide me with some screening.

WIBU to plant bamboo or even the devils work, leylandii or something?!
What grows mega fast and mega big..?

I’ll keep the side trimmed back so it doesn’t cross their boundary.

I need privacy!

Previous house I think we looked at and got a few plants from here
www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Fast-growing-hedge-plants.html -they have a fast growing section which has beech in.

You couldl do a privacy style fence then grow vein plants up it - we did that in last house. The neigbour had jumped the fence and killed our existing hedge when we'd been away - so we planted some real thug veins that she never managed to kill.

Bamboo screening? Just staple it to the fence. It's not expensive, and no maintenance.

vines - not veins - honestly I do prrof read though should probably not be trying to do more than one thing at a time

Just get some voiles like a normal person 🤷‍♀️

I understand about your privacy loss. For now I would concrete in some scaffolding poles just inside your fence and use them to string a washing line and clip shade sales to. This might give you some privacy for this summer while you take the time to think this through. Don't bother planting anything that's not evergreen. Not all bamboo run riot but many do. You'd need to do some very careful research. I've grown a very effective bamboo hedge in half barrels before but it's an arseache with mess and having to water and feed often though you could use a watering system that'll do it automatically.
You can also research putting things further inside your garden because the nearer they are to your house the more privacy they'll provide. You can do this in a staggered way so as not to ruin your view of the garden.
Currently in place of the bamboo hedge I have a fridge - ivy densely grown up a wire fence. You could grow it up carefully positioned frames and call them garden art.
Also, a big gazebo placed so that the roof is blocking the cross view from their windows into yours is really useful. You can make them very colourful and pretty too.

Shade sails

I find it baffling tbh that you don't want the tree overhanging your garden at all, but are upset that the neighbours have removed them

These were BIG trees and where a lot of them were planted literally right against my fence the overhang snaked across half my garden!

They had such a dense collection of trees at the back there against my fence with smaller trees/shrubs in front of the big ones they wouldn’t have even been able to see the back of the big trees where I’d pruned them.

Fedge not fridge - classy

We planted a row of ornamental pears a few months ago to block out our new view of the neighbours' just-built extension. They're doing a fine job, though we did buy them at 3.5m high already, so they weren't cheap.

ginghamtablecloths has come up with best idea. A solid trellis (8' high?) 2' within your garden and grow stuff up it - because it would be closer to your house than their fence, it will give you more privacy. Net curtains at upstairs windows. If the trees were that tall then their roots would have been massive and could potentially damage foundations. If the land is flat, you must be quite tall to stand in the living room and see over a 6'ft fence into their living room.

Honestly this could be an opportunity to gain privacy in a better way OP. I'd be gutted too though.

No don't plant bamboo it will spread everywhere.
Do plant your own trees and shrubs. That way you can control your own privacy. I learnt that lesson when a new next door neighbour chopped down every living thing in his garden and I realised that if I wanted privacy I should not rely on anyone else.
I suggest silver birch grown in multiples - they don't grow into giant trees if you plant them that way.
Or you can get smaller silver birch trees if you just have room for one.
Any kind of fruit trees.
As an alternative to bamboo try flowering raspberry it is great for filling big gaps and it will grow tall and thick enough to block out nosy neighbours.
And buddleia grows tall fast and there are some spectacular varieties.

I should have said, the ornamental pears we bought have trunks that go up as high as the top of the fence and then the foliage is above that.

Wouldn’t go for bamboo, my friends neighbours had it. It ruined her garden. Took her patio up & attacked her shed maybe fencing as a quick solution

Can't you plant your own?

We have the same set up you had. Our neighbours across from us all have massive trees. I know I won't like it if they ever cut the trees down. I totally understand how you feel.

I'm sorry OP

I don't have any solutions knowledge but I'd be upset too.

Voiles can be used on more or less any scale of window (and in any room), but are particularly effective on large scale windows. They provide a practical level of privacy on such windows without taking too much valuable daylight from the room

You can still have privacy and don’t need your curtains closed 23/7

Privacy glass. Before we moved, our front windows looked directly into our neighbours back windows. They had something added onto the glass that obscured the view in, but they could see out and still get light through.

Net curtains are vile, I'd go with bamboo but in pots so you can keep it under control

Not sure how many you need or what your budget is but what about planting pleached hornbeam or pleached photinia in your garden.

Get lace curtains. You can see out but no one can see in unless it is dark and you have the lights on but you will just need normal curtains at night to solve that problem.

pergola? - I keep looking at them as our living has patio into garden and is south facing so gets very hot think might help make soem shade and impove privacy to our side who are higher up hill than us.

I think you're over reacting a little. They're not going to be stood at their window or in their garden watching your movements around the house just as you won't be watching them.

But plant something yourself by all means

If you planted Leylandii, it would fuck up your garden first...Bamboo will also fuck up your garden. And everybody else's. As will Cherry Laurel (which has the added bonus of being poisonous)

Christ you should see our garden. There's half a dozen leylandii and 4 cherry laurels (which I can confirm are poisonous, as I gave myself a stinking headache shredding the cuttings from them in the autumn)... the bloke who owned the house before us was a total fecker by all accounts, so no surprise...