Landscaping of Front Lawn to Obstruct Ugly View

Does anyone have any ideas on how to landscape a front lawn to obstruct the view of a very ugly, unkept home across the street? The current home owners have old cars covered with tarps and other junk 1/2 covered with tarps in the driveway. They don't mow the grass, they leave everything in the yard. It is just unsightly. Coming up with a design to hide this would be so welcome.

Oh I sympathize with you! Hubby and I moved out of a subdivision that was going downhill partly to get away from such disgusting sights as you describe. Can you post a picture of your yard? It would really help us to have some idea of how big your yard is so we could suggest appropriately sized plants.

I agree, a picture would really help as there are structures you could try as well as all plants. The other thing you might try is, calling your city health and safety place or even the public health, friends of ours had a similar problem and after numerous calls and no action, a child ended up being locked inside one of the old cars and was inside, unknown to anyone for best part of the day, he fell asleep as know one heard his cries for help, ofcourse the child should not have been there in the first place, but it turned into an adventure playground for the kids when the owners were out of the house. but it came so close to being a tragedy. also the health department went on the lines of it also being a health hazard as these dumped cars also attract vermin eventually. hope we can all help you out somehow. good luck. Weenel.

I completely agree with you WeeNel. Very good idea. It's a shame they're right across the street--sure hope if tiredofugly reports them to the proper authorities they don't get into any spiteful payback type stuff. It's sad we have to share the planet with such trashy people.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I am afraid to call the township as I had to do that in the past when the same folks left a 50 year old heater on the front lawn for 8+ months. I ended up with roofing nails under my tires. I will try to post pictures soon. If it was an issue in the backyard I would put up a very high fence. However, the front is much more difficult.

Thanks

HI Tired
Why did the township folks tell your neighbor who made the complaint or even that it was a complaint? There must be some kind of city/township ordinance that addresses nuisance issues and safety issues so that the township should have taken care of it as a matter of ordinance or law enforcement. I feel for you - I have had to pass commodes and sinks alongside our drive for months at a time. Luckily we spoke with the neighbors and they didn't realize how it would look from 'the other side' since it was on the far side of their drive and hidden from their view. They were very responsive and really do a much better job of keeping up the property now. Maybe once you post your photo we can find some good solutions for you. Regards, Dorothy

I'd like to know the answer to that question as well. The township employees don't give your name when they come out regarding a complaint, they just sort of nod or look in the direction of the homeowners who complained. I don't think it is right, but that's what they do. You can't file a complaint anonymously, so we are really out luck. Talking to this family doesn't work. Lots of neighbors have mentioned the condition, they don't care. The grass in the summertime is usually over a foot high, the weeds are about three feet high. If it snows, they shovel a path about a foot wide to the car and leave the shovel standing in the snow until it falls over. Christmas decorations were up until August the first year they moved in. They never took them down, they eventually fell down. Christmas trees from two years are brown and thrown on the side of the house. Oh, I could go on forever.

Try installing a raised berm with evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs, maybe an upright Holly (if winter wind isn't an issue) and flowering trees like Weeping Cherry or a Winterking Hawthorn. You can even just install small flowering trees.

Here is the key - there are some things you can change and some you can't. Unfortunately you can't change the neighbor's property and you don't want to screen it completely out because it will make your property stand out (unless other neighbors have already done this) as well as make it look smaller. What you want to do is draw the eye away from the sore spot and have it focus on the beauty of your landscape. This is accomplished with a good design and the proper plant material.

Thanks, shrubbs. You are correct, I can't change the neighbors and I don't want to screen it completely along the street as I think it will look "odd." The other neighbors have not done anything and I doubt they will. A lot of the residents are original homeowners and they are getting up in years. They have such pride and keep their properties immaculate, but I don't see them investing much at this point in their lives to hide the mess. Can't say that I blame them. I have invested much money in home improvements over the past few years, so moving isn't an option. I will look into your suggestions. Much appreciated.

I don't know how big your front yard is, but what I've done in my yard is to basically cut the front yard in half--I put a black wrought-iron look fence, then created a little sitting area behind the fence, the vision is that eventually it will feel like a little private courtyard. So if you don't want things right up along the street, you could do something similar, create a little private area closer to the house, and plant your screen there.

Here's a pic of my area so you can see what I've done--I haven't done too much in terms of creating privacy yet, but you can imagine if I planted some taller things along the little fence it could create that effect.

Thats a great idea. Makes the space very manageable and directs the eye away from the street. Plus added benefit of making useful space.

There have been some very good ideas here, of course a foto would greatly help. And of course bushes kept thin depending on the actual yard size and perhaps small trees.
You might want to consider going the route of a couple of hand grenades and a few sticks of dynamite but that usually raises the issue of future legal problems and this behavior is generally frowned upon in most societies.
-Don

P.S. BEAUTIFUL job Ecrane!!

Thanks...but I can't take credit for too much of it. The fence and the seating area were my idea, but the rest of it was from my landscape designer.

Is it possible you could put in some thuja green giants? They would be quite tall and would obscure YOUR house from the street however. Not sure how high a cover you are willing or want to have though?

I think i'd just make of fence of mirrored tiles so they could see how ugly their mess really looks. then i'd get a couple of dump loads of the smelliest compost i could find and spread in my front yard. I'm sure the whole neighborhood would start complaining, including them, and they'd have to clean up their mess.

ROFLOL!!!!!!!!!! Mirrored tiles, facing them, THAT is a good idea! And perhaps a nice mosiac tile facing your side!

That's a hoot Len !
I wouldn't want you mad at me.

However, now that I think about it...... these folks don't seem to respond like ordinary people....perhaps providing a reflection of their property along the entire fence will make them feel like they have doubled their real estate!! And the addition of compost....... they will likely just celebrate the fertility of the land!!

well if that don't work, i think i'd try to get a hold of some hemp seeds and cast in their front yard, being that they never mow they'd probably get pretty tall and attract the local law enforcement. once the law is on their tail they'll probably just move out eventually.
My folks used to have the hillbillies of the neighborhood live across the street from them.
They finally divorced, the drunk dad died, and the kid run a meth lab in the basement, but once the kid was very acquainted with the police he eventually went to jail and the house was sold to much better neighbors that fixed it up. good luck!

Hemp - good idea.

On the arrest record: Occupation: Farmer; organic; herbal medicine

herbal medicine? hmmm lol!

Love you seating area Ecrane, the wrought iron fence was along the line I had when I mentioned some form of structure, that way you can grow Clematis, roses and lots of other vine like things for colour, will allow some light in and greenery. love Lens idea even better, these nerds across the street would probably think they had new neighbours moved in that they could befriend being like minded and not realising they were looking at them selves. As regards the city/town council or whatever you guy's call them authorities, here in UK, you dont have to leave your name or phone number, even if you do, the authority are legally bound not to divulge who called them, but if you do give your details, the have to give you, the complainer a full report in writing as to what action they intend to take and when, how long the mess has to be cleaned up by, if the messy folks dont do it, the authority can, but the bill goes to the hose with the mess, normally that is enough to get it half cleaned up, these folks dont want to spend their bear money on bills to the authority. good luck with the landscaping, lets know what way you go. WeeNel.

SURE HAVE ENJOYED ALL YOUR IDEAS. LOVED THE FENCED FRONT AREA. GAVE ME AN IDEA FOR A SPOT IN MY SIDE YARD WHICH IS NOT ATTRACTIVE.

WE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH "SAVERS" IN THEIR BACK YARD. JUST A CHAIN LINK FENCE TO SEPARATE US AND I GUESS THAT THEY THINK THE PRICE OF SCRAP METAL WILL KEEP THEM FROM A DOWN TURN IN THE ECONOMY. LOVELY PEOPLE, THEY HAVE LENT US THEIR TILLER, BUT I TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY TO PLANT SOME SCREEN-LIKE VINES AND THE LIKE ALONG THAT SIDE OF THE YARD.

Well, you could always organize all of the other neighbors and show up one Saturday and offer to clean their yard for them.

I always watch that show Desperate Landscapes, where the neighbors nominate a neighbor with a horrible yard. They interview the neighbors before they start and once they have completed the project. I always sit there and wonder if it looked so bad to you, why didn't you offer to help them clean it up. Just a thought.

Ecrane, I absolutely love your seating area.

Good suggestion, but truly, I think he likes his stuff... dont want to upset the neighbor with the tiller....

Well then, if thats the case, bring on the mirrored tiles.:)