Plants that actually block a two-story neighbor's view
Standard fast-growing hedges often fail or get too thirsty, leaving second-story windows completely exposed. Using a mixed planting of resilient species like podocarpus, hopseed, or clumping bamboo prevents a single pest from wiping out your entire privacy screen.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Staring back at neighbors through their windows
- 2Building a taller fence
- 3Planting trees anyway and hoping they grow despite insufficient sunlight
- 4Asking online communities for specific plant recommendations tailored to local climate zones
- 5Considering narrow columnar plants like sky pencils
- 6Removing artificial turf strips to gain a little extra planting space
- 7Considering various fast-growing screening plants, trees, and hedges such as ribbonwood, pittosporum, bananas, bamboo, cabbage trees, and lancewood to create a privacy screen.
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Star jasmine and/or podocarpus - go for the gracilior variety. That's what we did for adu that was built 4ft away from us 🫠”source ↗
“Cypress get big and thirsty fast in SoCal, maybe look into a layered approach with something like hopseed or clumping bamboo so you don't lose the whole screen if borers hit one species”source ↗
“Has anyone planted these trees in an area with 2-3 hours of sun and they still grew to max height and stayed thick?”source ↗
“If not, what is best alternative for a privacy hedge at least 12 ft high with this much sun?”source ↗
“Any advice on what to put along the fence to create some privacy from the neighbor? Need it to be around 10-15 ft high and cover around 30ft.”source ↗
“There aren't many things that will get to the height you want, stay narrow, provide consistent screening, and then stay at the size you want.”source ↗
“I have a two story house behind us and I want to plant to block it out. There is only a 1.5 metre fence betwen us so we literally can make eye contact.”source ↗
“Im leaning towards planting Ribbonwood trees but Im wary of how much it may cost to trim after 5 years.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3How to kill volunteer trees near a house without herbicides
- 16Neighbor is encroaching on my property line to sell their house
- 3How to stop dogs from ruining yard paths
- 2Neighbor mowing lawn too short and damaging the grass
- 2How to hide trash cans with plants for HOA rules
- 9How to stop water pooling against the house from sinking concrete