Does your yard need some privacy and shade? The trees below are excellent options for both!
These trees excel at providing tons of shade while also blocking the neighbors or that noisy road out. One of the best things you can do for your yard, is to plant trees that block any view of the road or views that look straight into your neighbor's yard.
Privacy trees are the best way to deal with these situations. They allow you to avoid putting ugly fences up that require maintenance. And they get better and better with the years. Your typical fence will need to be edged around every time you cut the lawn. It will also need to be painted every 2-3 years.
Trees don't require this type of maintenance if you put just a little bit of mulch around them. Plus, they get better as the years go by. Below are the top privacy trees that grow well in shade.
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1) Red Maple Tree
The red maple tree loves almost every backyard! This tree turns bright red every fall and grows quickly.
The tree is relatively easy to grow and will grow fast. The maple tree is a fantastic tree to plant in a row or by itself.
You can build a privacy screen with them by planting them 4-8 feet apart and then planting one or two smaller bushes between the trees. This will give you high cover and low coverage.
In fact, you could almost keep the dogs in the yard with this type of setup.
2) Northern Red Oak
The other really obvious tree that fits into the category of privacy trees that grow in shade, is the northern red oak tree.
The northern red oak is a fast growing oak tree. It looks very elegant when mature. You'll see them in a lot of upscale neighborhoods.
The tree can get up to 60-75 feet. It can grow in partial shade if you need it too. The tree provides tons of privacy.
3) Paper birch
The paper birch, river birch and pinnacle birch are all fast growing, easy to maintain trees that provide privacy when fully grown.
They can thrive in a lot of difference conditions. These trees are romantic in flare and provide a great contrast to the typical maples and oaks found around houses.
4) Quaking Aspen
The quaking aspen is most famous from Aspen, CO.
In Aspen, these trees line the roads and mountains and create quite the view. You can easily add elegancy to your yard with a clump of Quaking Aspens.
These trees get their name from the fact that they quake in the wind. It's quite the sound.
We highly recommend planting them in clumps to get the best effect.
5) Pin oak
The pin oak is a variety of the Nothern red oak. It's another great option if you don't love the red oak. The leaves lobes are slightly more pointed in the pin oak, the branches will be more angled, and they have shorter acorns.
Overall, oak trees add a lot of value to your property while giving tons of privacy and shade.
6) American SweetGum
This is controversial tree that not everyone likes, but I love.
The American SweetGum tree can be found all over the parks of America. They have an iconic leaf and silhouette. Their leaves look straight out of a story book.
They look fantastic in a row in front of a house. Or very elegant by themselves when some simple edging and mulch around them.
Tyler loves the challenge of finding the right trees for any piece of land.