Van Dycks

For many of us, the idea of a secret garden has a certain appeal. Perhaps it is our romantic side, coming to the front. Perhaps it is simply that we loved the book of that name. We may seek a place to which we can escape when we feel overwhelmed, angry or frustrated - and there is no place better than the garden to work out anger - all those weeds in need of killing! But all too often we long for that secret garden because of nosy or noisy neighbors, or the unsightly views their particular lifestyle subjects us to.

While you could hire a mason to construct brick walls, or invest in a tall privacy fence, you can also create privacy and a feeling of being in a somewhat more secret space simply by using plants cleverly.

You could start by planting evergreen shrubs. These provide year round privacy since they don't lose their leaves in winter. However, unless you are wealthy enough to afford mature specimens, this will not give you much in the way of instant gratification. Many years ago a friend of mine began her own secret garden by planting rows of Canadian hemlock around an area of my garden that had raised beds on two sides and a central seating area complete with pond and brick paving in the center. Unfortunately, even using the largest shrubs available locally, she was left with a shrub line that wasn't too much taller than the raised beds they were supposed to screen. So for several years she relied on tall perennials to create a feeling of enclosure.

Many perennials and bulbs can grow to great heights. Giant elephant ears, for instance, can reach 6 feet or more and provide a dramatic and elegant backdrop for other, smaller perennials. My friend mixed the green ones with the dramatic deep black of Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic' and then planted scattered drifts of the annual castor bean plant 'Carmencita', with deep burgundy foliage and almost neon red flowers among them. It was quite tropical looking, and created a lovely temporary wall.

Lavatera is another good, tall perennial that grows to its mature height quickly in spring. Even better are ornamental grasses, which grow both tall and wide and provide both sound and movement as the wind rustles through their slender blades. Zebra grass, which reaches to about 6' tall and has little horizontal dashes of gold running across each blade looks as though it is permanently splashed with sunlight. And it holds up fairly well even in winter, when its blades dry to a pale buff color but continue to add movement and a touch of color to the landscape. It must be cut back to the ground in late winter, but quickly grows back to its mature height.

Intersperse the grasses with perennials that get tall when they are in flower to add depth to your privacy barrier. Try hollyhocks, which have a romantically old-fashioned charm and reach a colorful 6' when they bloom in July and August. In June and July, use Pacific hybrid delphiniums, which reach 4-6' high when flowering - and stay in flower until the hollyhocks are ready to put on their show.

If your garden is situated in a way that allows the taller backdrop plants to create some shade for those in front, then Giant Shirley foxgloves will reach 4-5' in height during their June-July bloom time. Foxgloves fascinate me - the flowering spires seem impossibly huge and tall, as if they ought to be breaking the seemingly fragile stems that uphold them. They are dramatic enough to hold their own against plants with large, tropical foliage, but look equally well in an old-fashioned English country style garden.

Giant Ostrich ferns, which can reach 5-6' and will grow in sunlight if they receive enough moisture. Their native habitat is along streams with heavy, damp soil, but they easily adapt to lighter soil as long as they receive a regular supply of water. With their lacy foliage and graceful movement in the breeze they are at once elegant and yet earthy.

If you decide you need a tall, slender accent in your design then a good choice would be Eremerus robustus Pink, which will bloom with 4'5" candle-like spires of bloom in June.

Five feet may not seem very high if you have been thinking of high brick walls - but it provides a feeling of complete shelter if you are seated in your garden, enjoying a cool drink and enjoying the fruits of your labor, and is more than high enough when you are stooped over actually planting and tending the garden. It is enough height to keep you hidden from view - and enough to keep those pesky neighbors out of your line of sight. So the above plants should work well as a stopgap measure until any background shrubs reach their desired height.

Of course evergreen shrubs are not your only alternative when it comes to living walls. You could use lattice and plant fast growing vines to create privacy. Trumpet vine is one that grows with incredibly speed, and will cling to lattice with aerial sucker roots, so that it will pull itself along a fence or arbor without much help from you. As a bonus it sends out huge tropical looking flowers in late summer that are an absolute magnet for hummingbirds.

Clematis grow more slowly, and cling by sending out slender tendrils that wrap themselves around their support, and so require something with fairly slender rails in order to climb. Something as simple as wire of weatherproof cording strung between posts will provide support for clematis vines.

While you wait form them to mature, use fast growing annual vines like morning glory, hyacinth bean or scarlet runner bean to provide cover.

Perhaps the most economical and fastest way to create a privacy wall is to think of the English hedgerow. A hedgerow is, by definition, a planting of mixed hedges that often imitates the woodland edge. It may be backed with tall, deciduous or evergreen trees. But it can start with fast growing deciduous shrubs fronted by a perennial border as well.

One of the fastest growing shrubs around is the buddleia. Often called by its nickname, the butterfly bush, this plant truly is a magnet for butterflies. If you didn't know where they were stored in a nursery you could find them by following the Monarchs. In my own yard they also attract quantities of sphinx moths - often called hummingbird moths because they so resemble miniature versions of the hummer in flight. Buddleia bloom constantly from midsummer to fall with fragrant panicles of flowers in your choice of blue, deep purple, red, white, pink or yellow. While they look best of cut to the ground in late winter (this prevents them from getting leggy) they quickly grow back to their mature height and so provide a quick screen for most of the summer. While they do lose their foliage in winter they are twiggy enough to still provide some measure of privacy. Anyway - how often are you out in your yard and seeking solitude in the dead of winter? And I have always enjoyed the lacy shadow pattern created when the sun shines through the open branches onto the snow.

By the way, despite the recommendation that buddleia be grown in full sun, I've seen it grow and bloom most happily in shade. In fact, in my friend's garden two seeds must have been blown from the blue and the white buddleias she was growing - and they germinated in close proximity to each other in her woods. Visitors always did a double-take because it appeared that they were a single shrub sporting both pure white and true blue blooms.

You could plant a widely spaced row of buddleia in a single color, or a mixed array, and then front them with several Weigela 'Wine and Roses' for added interest. The weigela, which gets to be about 5' tall, doesn't need to be cut back, and so will provide some height in spring and early summer. In addition, it has beautiful burgundy purple foliage (which looks great with the flowers of either Buddleia 'Black Knight' or Pink Delight') as well as beautiful rose-pink flowers in April. These shrubs bloom on new wood, and so are pruned back after blooming - about the time the buddleia starts its rush of spring growth.

In shadier situations, lilacs offer lovely spring flowers and fast growth, as do the dogwood shrubs that sport brightly colored twigs in winter.

And, if you have a bit of patience, you can also form a truly elegant hedgerow by using tree peonies as a sort of under story planting for either an evergreen hedge or the buddleia. Tree peonies mature fairly slowly, but eventually can reach 5' in both height and width. Their foliage is extremely attractive, and looks great in the garden even when devoid of bloom. Their bare branches are elegant looking in winter. But in May and June, when they burst into glorious flower, you will have a hedgerow that is hard to equal for sheer splendor.

So you see, you don't need to spend extravagant amounts of money building walls and fences to create an area of privacy in your yard. A mix of shrubs fronted by fast growing vines and perennials that will create a temporary screen while the slower-growing plants mature will allow you to enjoy some peace and privacy in your yard this very summer.