Picture looking up from the kitchen sink and meeting the neighbor’s kitchen window 12 feet away. That’s a view across the side yard. Standing at the front gate and seeing straight down the passage to the back patio is a view along it. Different problem, different planting.

The space between two houses is also a working space. The trash cart rolls through on collection day, the bike comes out on weekends and someone needs to reach the hose bib and the gas meter. A plan that hides the neighbor but blocks the bin is a plan you’ll end up pulling out.

I’d start with one rough sketch: where you stand, what you see from there, and the path you can’t give up. Each of the 11 ideas solves a different piece of it.

Recommended products for planning privacy landscaping between houses

Recommended blogs

• Plants outside a window for privacy
• Privacy plants in pots
• Tall narrow plants for privacy
• Climbing plants for privacy
• Window box privacy plants

11 privacy landscaping ideas for the space between houses

Graph paper and a 25 or 50 foot tape are the only tools you need to test these on paper first. A kneeling pad makes planting and weeding a narrow bed easier on the knees, flexible edging only belongs on a bed that has already passed the walk-through test, and a hose guide keeps the hose from dragging across new plants at a corner. Anything you already own does the same job.

1. Use a narrow evergreen spine

A short row of columnar evergreens along one side gives you year-round green without eating the passage. Look for plants sold with a mature width of 3 to 4 feet, plant them 3 to 4 feet apart on center, and set the row so the outer edge of each plant ends at least 3 feet from the path. In zones 3 to 7, columnar arborvitae is the common choice; in warmer zones, nurseries usually carry narrow podocarpus or upright junipers instead.

A 5 to 7 gallon nursery plant usually runs $35 to $90 and needs 2 to 4 years to close the gaps. Podocarpus and yew are toxic to dogs and cats (ASPCA), so skip them where a dog spends its day in the side yard.

2. Stagger shrubs around the window view

Instead of a straight hedge, set two or three shrubs in a loose zigzag in front of the window line. Seen from inside, the offsets overlap and close the gap; from the path, the open spaces between them keep the side yard feeling wider. Shrubs that mature at 5 to 7 feet tall cover a ground-floor window, which usually sits about 3 feet off the ground and tops out near 7 feet.

Space each one at least half its mature width plus 1 to 2 feet from your wall so you can still paint, wash windows and reach the siding.

3. Place a small tree at the widest point

Most side yards have one spot that opens up, often where one house steps back or the yard meets the back garden. That’s where a small tree belongs. Multi-stem serviceberry (zones 4 to 9) and Japanese maple (zones 5 to 8) stay in the 15 to 25 foot range and have fine, airy canopies.

Most extension advice keeps even a small tree’s trunk about 10 feet or more from a foundation, so measure that distance before you fall in love with the spot. A 15-gallon tree usually runs $120 to $300 at a local nursery.

4. Screen the sitting area, not every foot

If the side yard leads to a small patio, put your effort where you actually sit. Seated eye level is about 4 feet, so a 5 to 6 foot planting beside two chairs does more for privacy than 40 feet of hedge down the passage. One planted corner of 4 by 6 feet is often enough.

5. Keep the service path on one side

Push the walking path against one house and give all the planting to the other side. A single 2 to 3 foot bed on one side plus a 3 foot path fits in a 6 foot side yard, where two thin beds would leave both too narrow to grow anything. Choose the side with more sun: most screening shrubs want at least 4 to 6 hours.

6. Train climbers on a slim support

A climber on a freestanding trellis or wire panel takes less depth than a shrub, but not zero. Plan for about 12 to 18 inches: the support, the leaves and room for your arm to tie in new growth. Star jasmine covers year-round in zones 8 to 10, and clematis works in zones 4 to 9 but drops to bare stems in winter. Clematis is toxic to dogs and cats (ASPCA). Skip English ivy and Japanese honeysuckle, which are listed as invasive in many states.

7. Use layered pots near the patio end

Where the soil is all concrete or the space is rented, a cluster of three pots in stepped sizes builds a screen you can move. One 20 to 25 gallon container holds a tall grass or a narrow shrub; two 10 to 15 gallon pots in front fill the base. Containers that size dry fast in summer, often needing water every 1 to 2 days in full sun.

8. Step plant heights toward the street

Keep plants low near the front, around 2 to 3 feet, and let them rise toward the back where the private part of the yard begins. The front stays open and friendly, and the tall material lands where people sit. If the side yard opens onto the front garden, the ideas in front yard privacy landscaping with a welcoming entry pick up from there.

9. Preserve access to utilities and gates

Gas meters, electric meters, AC units, hose bibs and cleanouts often live in side yards. Mark each one on the sketch and leave it open. Most AC condenser makers ask for around 12 to 24 inches of open space on the sides for airflow, and utility workers need to walk straight up to a meter. Before you dig deeper than a trowel, call 811, the free US dig line, at least a few business days ahead.

10. Share light with an open upper canopy

Side yards are often shady, getting 2 to 4 hours of sun at most. A tree limbed up to about 7 feet lets light and air move below while the canopy blocks views from upstairs windows. You keep a brighter kitchen, and so does the neighbor. For views from a second floor looking down, focus on canopy, since nothing on the ground will reach.

11. Let the tightest pinch point set the plan

Measure the passage at its narrowest point, often beside a chimney, meter or downspout. If it’s under about 4 feet, leave that stretch unplanted. Everything else in the plan has to work around that pinch, not squeeze through it.

Identify whether the exposed view crosses the passage or follows it

Start the plan by naming one view. Is it the window directly opposite, the long look from the front gate to the back, or a view from above? Each needs a different answer, and most side yards only have one that really bothers people.

On graph paper, draw the two houses at a scale of 1 square to 1 foot. Mark the spot where you stand or sit when the view bothers you, then draw a line to what you see. A line that crosses the passage is a window problem. A line that runs down it is a lengthwise problem.

Direction matters here. A row of shrubs running parallel to the path blocks views across it but leaves the view straight down the middle wide open. A tree canopy blocks views from upstairs but leaves the eye-level view at 5 to 6 feet untouched. For a view from a neighbor’s upper floor, a tree or umbrella over your seat does more than anything on the ground.

Keep the daily route visible on the planting plan

The second layer on the sketch is the path you can’t lose. University of Florida extension designers suggest recording doors, windows, utilities, views, water movement and sun before drawing any plants, and the same logic applies to a side yard. Draw the walking path in a bold color first so every plant has to fit around it.

A standard 96-gallon trash cart is roughly 2 feet wide and about 3 feet deep, and a bike with handlebars runs 2 to 2.5 feet. A clear 3 foot path handles both comfortably, with a bit more at any turn.

Walk the bin turn and the gate movement

Roll the actual trash cart from its storage spot to the street and back, including the turn through the gate. Wheel the bike through. Open the gate fully, a 36 to 48 inch gate needs that much arc to swing, and notice where you stand to lift the latch. Mark every spot where a planned bed would force a detour.

Then think about year five. A shrub labeled 4 feet wide fills that width at maturity, so a bed planted 1 foot from the path today may push 1 to 2 feet into it later. Plan to the mature width on the tag, and add room for whoever trims the back of the plant.

Mark downspouts, the low spot where water sits after rain, and any slope toward a foundation. Those are problems to solve, not places to hide with a bed. If the plan changes grade, drainage or how water leaves the house, get a site assessment from a landscape contractor before planting. Ground around a foundation should slope away from the house, usually by about 6 inches over the first 10 feet.

Put the planting where it interrupts that particular view

Three common layouts, and where the planting ends up in each. Start from whichever looks most like your side yard.

Situation	Where the planting goes
Two kitchen windows face each other	One pocket on the window line, outside the path, 5 to 7 feet tall
A straight passage opens at the back	A group or small tree at the wider rear corner
The middle is under 4 feet wide	Nothing in the middle; screen the seating area beyond

A pocket between facing ground-floor windows

Say your kitchen window and the neighbor’s are about 10 to 15 feet apart, with the path between. On the sketch, draw a pocket of about 2 by 3 feet on your side of the path that crosses the line between the two windows. Then stand at your sink and have someone hold a broom or stake at the spot. Shift it a foot or two until it breaks the view.

The tallest plant doesn’t have to sit against the glass. Set a little off the window, it can soften the view while still letting in daylight and a glimpse of sky. Once you know the spot, the ideas for planting along a privacy fence help if there’s already a boundary fence to plant against.

A planted corner at the end of a long view

This one is a straight passage that opens into a wider corner at the back. A group of three shrubs or one small tree in that corner closes the long look from the front gate without putting anything across the path. The middle stays free for the bin on collection day.

It has limits. Someone standing at an angle may still see around it, and the planting doesn’t act as a gate. If that corner is actually where the bin turns, the idea fails the walk-through and the group has to move or shrink.

An open middle with screening beyond the passage

In the third layout, the middle of the side yard is only 3 to 4 feet wide. There’s no room for a border without blocking the bike. Leave it simple, maybe gravel or pavers and a clean wall, and put the planting where the space opens near the back patio.

You’ll still see the passage itself. What you do beyond it gets real screening, and I think that’s a fair trade. If you need the passage itself hidden and there’s no soil to work with, landscaping alone may not get you there, and a screen or fence becomes the better tool.

Specify plants for the pockets that remain feasible

Only once a spot survives the walk-through should you shop for plants. Take a short list to a local nursery rather than a plant name off a photo:

• Height you need: usually 5 to 7 feet for a ground-floor window, 6 feet for a seated area.
• Width you can spare, measured from the path edge to the wall or fence.
• Hours of direct sun the pocket gets, counted on a clear day.
• Whether the soil stays wet a day after rain.
• Your USDA hardiness zone and how you’ll reach the back of the plant to trim it.

Be skeptical of “narrow” on a label. Mature width varies by climate and pruning, and a columnar plant can spread wider than the photo suggests. Ask the nursery what the plant does in your area after 10 years.

Plant woody shrubs in early fall, about 6 weeks before the ground freezes, or in spring after the last frost. Water deeply once or twice a week for the first growing season, and spread 2 to 3 inches of mulch, kept a few inches off the stems.

Leave out the beds that make the passage harder to use

Before you buy anything, look at the sketch and cross things out. Which bed exists only to make the drawing look balanced? Which edging sits right where the bin wheels pass? Which pot or bench would make bringing the cart out harder on a wet morning?

Every bed you skip is one less thing to water, weed and edge. Low maintenance in a side yard mostly means fewer things in the way. If edging stays, it should sit flush or under about 1 inch high so nobody trips and water still drains through.

Pick one pocket from the plan to plant this season. Live with it for a year, see how it grows and how the path feels, then decide if a second one is worth adding.

FAQ

Do I need to plant along the entire space between two houses?

No. Most side yards have one or two views that matter, and a single 3 to 4 foot planting pocket in the right spot often does more than a full-length hedge. Plant there first and leave the rest open.

Where should planting go when two ground-floor windows face each other?

On the straight line between the two windows, on your side of the path. Test the spot from your own window with a stake or broom before planting, and aim for something that matures around 5 to 7 feet tall. Setting it a little off the glass keeps more daylight.

Can I put planted borders on both sides of a narrow passage?

Only if the side yard is roughly 8 feet wide or more. That leaves 3 feet to walk plus two beds of about 2 to 2.5 feet. In anything tighter, plant one side and keep the other as plain wall or fence.

How can I keep a privacy planting from obstructing the back gate?

Open the gate all the way, mark its full swing on the ground with chalk, and keep plants outside that arc plus about 1 foot. Leave room to stand at the latch side. If the gate is part of a pool barrier, its self-closing hardware and the area around it follow local code, so check with your building department.

Will a tall plant at the end hide every view along the side yard?

No. It blocks the straight view down the passage, but anyone standing off to one side or looking from a second floor can still see around or over it. Test from the two or three spots where people actually stand.

Should I add a raised planting bed where water collects between houses?

Not until you know why the water collects. A raised bed hides a wet spot without fixing it and can push water toward a foundation. If the puddle clears within 24 hours of rain, plant nearby on level ground; if it lingers, have the drainage assessed first.

How can I improve privacy when there is no room left beside the path?

Move the screening off the ground. Use window film or a sheer on the window itself, a small tree where the yard widens, or a slim trellis panel against a wall if you have 12 inches to spare. For options without soil at all, see the ideas for privacy without building a fence.

Final thoughts

Good privacy landscaping between houses usually means less planting in better spots. The side yard still has to carry bins, bikes and the person reading the meter. Leave room for them and the plan will still work in 10 years.

This week, walk the bin from its spot to the street, then stand at your kitchen window and mark the one view that matters most. For help turning that sketch into a scaled plan, the UF/IFAS guide on drawing a planting plan walks through the basics.

Last update on 2026-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API