Question
Hi Laura

Please can you help?  I have a 30 foot long back garden, which I have spent the last 2 years getting into attractive, but low-maintenance, shape.  The bottom of the garden is surrounded by a 6foot tall (relatively flimsy, but all I could afford)larch lap fence.  In front of that is a low shrubbery containing Pieris, Aucuba, Azalea and Lonicera.  Beside this is a rockery which is beginning to look really well established.

However, yesterday morning the new neighbours across the back cut down all the beautiful trees at the bottom of their garden which screened their house from ours.  The back of our house is raised, and they can see me and my family moving about the kitchen, dining room and patio area.  I HATE the loss of privacy, especially since one of them seems to like to stand at their back door and stare at us!!  To top it all off, they are having a 2 storey extension built at the side of their house, and we are going to have no screening from the mess, noise and workmen.

Is my only option to go down the Leylandii route, and grit my teeth for the next few years until they are tall enough (I need a 10 foot high object to block the view)?  If I put these in I'll have to dig up my shrubs, remove my rockery, and get rid of the paving at the bottom of the garden.  I am very short of money, and the fence is too flimsy to support a 4 foot trellis. Please help!!  

Answer
Marion,
I CAN RELATE HONEY! That is MY SPECIALTY.
Whenever I look at a property that has neighbors in close contact(within seeing distance)I immediately rectify that situation and mark it as TOP PRIORITY. Even if it seems no problem to the customer,I insert my feeling for privacy,because you just never know.

Also I have personally had some bad neighbor experience myself several years back.It was ugly and I could probably write a book about it and turn it into a movie.HA!
Anyway...here goes my brainstorm.

Don't remove anything you have established and looks good.You have worked too hard to remove that.

Can you explain your fence again to me.Exactly what is a larch lap fence.Is it made from larch branches interwoven or is it vertical branches.Is this a homemade fence or did you purchase it already made? We need to concentrate on different fencing or lattice panels, materials that are going to fit into your budget.
It sounds like you are innovative and creative and those are THE most important traits for the American gardener.

So write me back or better yet,can you photograph the area in question? Photos would help me tremendously and most of the time I can come up with something right away if I can just see it with my own eyes rather than a detailed description.
If you have a digital camera you can download them onto your computer with either a program you already have or buy some software that is compatible with your camera.I have a very inexpensive Kodak digital camera and Kodak Easy Share software.It was very inexpensive,but it is all I use and serves its purpose just fine.
If you don't have a digital camera,you can send me photos to my address:

Laura Walker
1709 Plainview Dr.
Murray,KY.42071

Also where are you located?
I can help you better fix the dire situation if I know the facts.Remember,there is ALWAYS a fix in gardening no matter what the situation is.
I specialize in finding the cheapest methods that will work.I just do what I would do if it were my garden. So either go into detail on your fencing or send me photos.

My email address is: [email protected]
I would be glad to help you block out those nosy neighbors!