I recently moved into a home with great landscaping except for the side walkway. That side butts into the back patio of the neighbor's house since they're the corner lot. Therefore, there's a lot of exposure between us that I'm hoping to remedy with foliage of some kind.
Some notes:
- I'm in zone 10b (San Diego)
- The strip of land for planting is 4'6" x ~50' running north/south. See diagram below.
- There is about 6 feet of clearance from our house to the planting location and about 10 feet from the other house. Both houses are two stories tall, so there is decent sunlight but more shade in the winter.
- The planting location currently has 3' shrubs and 16' skinny, sparse trees (see pictures). I plan to have these all removed since they aren't helping.
- On the neighbor's side, which runs parallel next to the planting location, they have 14-16' skinny trees (Lonicera Ciliosa) with light to moderate foliage coverage but only between the 8-12' feet range. Below that is minimal. These trees will remain so they'll have an impact on the sunlight for the new plants.
- There's a 4' shared fence between the properties.
- I'm willing to pay for something nice. Pros would be reasonably native to SoCal, easy to maintain, provide good privacy, drought resistant, aesthetics, etc.
- I'm OK waiting a year or two before the new plants grow and help out. I don't necessarily want something fast growing if it's going to be a beast to maintain.
- I got a quote of $2-$3k for removal of existing trees/shrubs, plus additional for planting the replacements. Seems reasonable given size.
- I was told the planting location could support 15 gallon plants.
- I love the idea of having Italian cypress, but the lack of sunlight and our neighbors’ trees seem like they would cause growth issues.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
From the front looking back
From the front looking back 2
From the middle looking front
From the back looking front
Backside (planning to remove the Ficus in the middle left and the tree left to it but keep everything to the right)
