Not Fences Or Retaining Walls: The Yard Feature That Can Increase Your Home Value

There's science behind creating more comfortable outdoor living spaces. With theories that explain the feeling of being exposed when your neighbors can see you, it's easy to see why, even on a parcel in the middle of a hundred-acre field, that feeling drives homeowners to build privacy fences and stone walls. But for many modern homes, an outdoor living wall is the landscaping feature that can solve your privacy concerns and boost the value of your home in the process.

Sophisticated landscaping design and privacy features both add value to your home, and an outdoor living wall is a real landscaping project that creates privacy just as well as a fence and can deliver a solid return on your investment. Whether it's a thick wall of plants, a hedge of tall grasses, or mature arborvitae, privacy hedges are an eco-friendly alternative to fences that can create shade, block wind, and mute sounds just as well. These living walls are used to block lines of sight and add visual interest to your design.

We're not talking about seasonal vines on garden trellises, but rather a thoughtful landscape design that considers irrigation, structural requirements, and the right type of plant for the area, while also providing plenty of curb appeal. There are several ways to create an outdoor living wall, but if you're installing a support system, set posts or foundations below the frost line to meet residential building codes. Also, check local building codes to determine if you need a permit. 

Designers rely on shrubs and climbing plants to create green walls in outdoor spaces. Since creating a living wall is a project many homeowners can tackle on their own, this DIY project pays off in the long run while making your living spaces more comfortable in the short term. Although they require maintenance, green privacy walls often improve as they mature, becoming fuller and greener, so even if you're not thinking of selling for a few years, now is a good time to plant one.

Because they hold their leaves year-round, evergreen hedges provide privacy in the winter. Popular evergreen hedges and shrubs such as holly, boxwood, and yew are best for dense privacy plantings. These evergreens also provide cover for wildlife and can create a thick boundary that's impossible for people to walk or see through once it's mature. Because they take a long time to get established, a mature planting has real value.

For climbing plants, much of the value is often in the structure itself. Although there are many climbing plants you should never grow along the side of your house, a solid wall built just for the purpose of supporting them creates instant privacy. This option works well with clematis or wisteria, provided you build a strong enough system to support the weight of the mature plant and give it heavy annual pruning. If you want to see a return on your investment, all living wall systems should be made from rot-resistant materials.