How to Landscape to Block Noise

Create a framework with tall, coniferous evergreens. Plant them at theouter perimeter of your property. Choose pine, fir, spruce or balsam. Their dense growth habit and towering height will absorb a great amount of noise as it travels through their branches.

Fill in the understory with a combination of evergreen and deciduous shrubs of varying heights. Include a few mid-height evergreens, such as juniper and yew, as well as some shorter ones, such as American holly or rhododendron. Lilacs are tall-growing, deciduous shrubs that grow just about everywhere, with very little care. Add bridal's wreath spirea and hardy hibiscus for mid-level growth. For the lowest level, prostrate evergreens and shrub roses will block noise and provide visual interest all year long.

Place a few deciduous trees strategically so their canopies surround the area where you want noise reduced. For nearly year-round coverage, plant pin oak trees (Quercus palustrus). Pin oaks are deciduous trees that hold their leaves all winter, then drop them in spring a few weeks before growing their current year's crop of leaves. This happens mostly when the tree is young, but it will continue to retain leaves all winter on its lower branches as it ages.

Plant vining crops along a fence. Their stems and foliage with absorb noise that would have bounced off the stark surface of the fence, or traveled through it, depending on the fence's architectural structure.