Our neighbors painted their house this color and now our dining room and kitchen have a pink glare. We’re planning to rip up our side of the driveway and plant a tall, fast growing, slender hedge (preferably not arborvitae). Any recommendations? We’re in zone 8b.
by Adventurous_Roll3700
41 Comments
Wooden trellis for a narrow footprint and immediate dampening if glare with a locally-appropriate vine that‘ll fill in
Oh that is just unfortunate 😕
Heavy curtains in the meantime. Ouch.
Green curtains will work in the interim.
You could probably fit about 56 cypress trees in there.
Drapes
Trellis with vines as opposed to trees.
That color is 1000 times better than the current popular grey,black and white.
https://preview.redd.it/mk6kejf2gqzg1.jpeg?width=588&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c4742c70ef88197f89610bb4dc36f0eb7ce4cf1
Sky pencil holly?
Yardline Viburnum, Recurvifolium Ligustrum grow fastest. Cephalotaxus Fastigiata, Ligustrum Coriaceum grow slower but are narrower.
Would green sheer curtain panels cut the red/pink in the meantime?
Howzabout some purple pillar hibiscus
https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/hibiscus/purple-pillar-rose-sharon-hibiscus-syriacus
Bamboo. Few hundred $ worth. You can container them. It’ll take 2-4 years but faster than other plants
Do you have another driveway or place to park if you pull it up?
Personally I don’t think it’s that bad but I could certainly see how it bothers you
I’d get ficus in pots. Instant green wall.
I honestly really like the color they chose, but I understand not liking the pink hue it’s turned your dining room. In the short term, green sheers will help filter the red glow into a more neutral, warm color since red/pink + green = brown. You can amp it up with additional sources of warm lighting if the sheers make it feel too dark.
Anything you plant is going to take several seasons to even begin to block the neighbors house.
Back when I lived in a warmer climate, had a neighbor that was about a foot off the property line and stared into our backyard. I bought 8 podocarpus trees that were all about 6 ft tall at time of purchase. Planted them 3 feet apart and within a year we had a dense 10 ft tall wall. By year 2 I had to top them at about 15 feet we kept them about 3 ft wide but I’ve seen them skinnier too. They handled pruning really well and look much nicer than arborvitae or cypress. Highly recommend going that route.
I like the color but holy cow, that’s an unfortunate side effect.
r/ArborvitaeAreGarbage so you are on the right track. Look for an evergreen vine
So you’re saying that you *didn’t* want your house bathed in a Barbie glow? 🤣 What are the (natural) light conditions? How many hours a day does that area receive full sun, because that’s what will dictate your options
Northern privet.
I could be wrong, but I think green window film will cancel it out. It might be worth a try while your plants grow.
Feel your pain. Tbf that window was likely put there to bring in light. I’d look at closing it up and putting something nice against that wall, big piece of art, aquarium etc.
If you set on keeping the window that view will be difficult to improve in a sustained year around way with plants, but commenters have already provided plenty of good advice on that route.
1000 bamboo
I know you said no arborvitae but I want to point out that there are new cultivars that stay very narrow and are fast growing upright. I am just assuming that your issue with arborvitae is that they generally either grow fast and wide or slow and narrow.
If you are fine with a deciduous hedge you can use japanese maples like Twombly’s Red Sentinel or Tsukasa Silhouette.
Ginkgos can also be easily turned into a hedge and you can even make them grow together and a single entity and form complex patterns such as making a living fence out of them. The more lime you give them the faster they grow.
Window film with green tint would help for the moment, and how wide is the space? I like the idea of planter boxes with a trellis, maybe build slightly taller planter boxes to make the plants more visible from your window and increase the height of the attached trellis. A few of these would be an easier solution than a full hedge, if only because changing driveway and removing it usually requires permits and heavy equipment which typically does not happen quickly. You would also probably have to do some soil remediation in the area where the driveway was, because under it is probably gravel and compacted fill dirt, which wouldn’t really be good for growing things in. But longer term if you wanted to do a hedge, you should measure the width of the space the trees can have at maturity, what height you want them to end up at, and how much sun it gets in the area, then decide.
Oh my goodness that color is so visually offensive, I would be so mad
That is some post apocalyptic / Mars vibe that reflects in to your house because “devils red hot sauce” won out in your neighbors mood board.
You can also use window tint film that has Neutral base tones and Dual-Reflective layers. Some are applied on the exterior of the window, others are meant for the interior, but they’d basically counteract the warm or intense colors reflecting off nearby surfaces. The dual-reflective films have a reflective outer layer that bounces back the incoming colored light. It’s a non-reflective/neutral material so you still see outside without any distortion or whatever.
I planted one single passion fruit vine on my sideward fence and that thing took over the fence in one summer. So I’d say passion fruit. Bonus: delicious fruit about twice a year. You’ll need to trim the vines aggressively though.
Bamboo
/s
Japanese blueberry trees. Thick, lush, & fast growing.
Get some Frank Lloyd Wright style transparent glass covers for those windows. Pretty cheap and removable.
podocarpus macrophyllus
Autumn rocket camellia
(if they work for your planting zone)
In the short term, hang sheer curtains. If they are green it may help tone down the pink glare as it is a contrasting color to the red and when the two are mixed creates gray. I’m not sure if it will succeed but it’s worth a try in the interim.
Corn
Holy cow that is some red!