I am at the end of my rope with my looky-loo neighbors across the street and their endless parade of random visitors/guests. I live in a quite rural area and when I bought the house, I looked at the map and there is one house down a small street across from me. I figured how bad can one house be? Reader, the traffic in and out of this place is crazy. And they love nothing more than to park at the end of their road and stare at my house.

I have tried miscanthus giganteus; it has grown a bit (planted 2 years ago) but hasn't gotten too tall and is still quite sparse. I hope it will fill in in coming years but not sure it will. Other things I've tried have failed to thrive, as the soil is nutrient-poor and tends to be quite dry, especially as we are in a drought.

One begins in such a situation to be tempted by invasives. I won't do it, but can anyone recommend something that grows in an invasive-like weedy manner that will provide some cover from these folks while the rest of the food forest matures? It won't be an issue in a couple of years as other things I've planted closer to the house grow in, but right now I need a quick fix. I'm in zone 6b, Maryland.

I have an area that's about 30 ft long just inside my backyard fence that is mostly shade but gets a few hours of sun a day. The only fast-growing plantings I've been able to find through Googling in our zone (6 - Ohio) are varieties of bamboo. Any other ideas/suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

Hello, I’m looking for suggestions on some good fast growing trees or shrubs that won’t cost an arm and a leg to plant. Long story short, the lady who lives in the unit with the fence is a part of an HOA, (we live in an apartment complex with 4 units) and requested these trees be taken down. We are renters and had no say in this. These trees were the only thing that gave us any ounce of privacy in our unit. Yes we have curtains, but I’m super upset that I can’t be out on either of our decks or have the curtains open to let in some light without people having a direct view into our apartment including our bedroom. Not only is the new view horrendous, but there are a lot of questionable folk that roam around shouting and yelling in the middle of the night in the parking lot and surrounding area. We’ve seen people arrested/pulled over/you name it in this lot. Easy to say we don’t necessarily live in the best part of town as young adults starting out. I spoke to my landlord who said she has no issue with us planting our shrubs next to the fence to give us and the neighbors some kind of solitude. We will have to pay for it (of course) but moving is even more expensive, and honestly I miss being able to be outside on the decks (we pay a fricken mortgage to live here and the place is not kept up even in the slightest) and have curtains open without being exposed to this lot and the highway directly outside. I’d be lying if I said it’s not making me super depressed. The only little “backyard” and section of greenery we had is gone and the debris is everywhere. Any help is super highly appreciated. Wish it wasn’t upsetting me this much.