Landscape suggestions to keep out 13 year old peeping Tom?

Question

My roommate & I love to lay in the sun by our pool topless. With minimun half acre zoning our our neighbors aren't a problem. We have tons of privacy. the property is fenced in, heavy with mature bushes and the like. The pool area is even more private as it has buildings on 3 sides & the area above has 15 ft tall Xylosma congestun. Lately our neighbor's 13 year old son a a friend have been sneaking in from above & hide in the Xylosmas spying on us from above. Forget talking to his parents & calling the Sheriff way out here for a peeping Tom is crazy. Any suggestions for a landscape cure to our problem? Our fences are at zoneing limits & the boys still climb over. Help.

Answer 1

MASTER GARDENER TO THE RESCUE! As a Master Gardener I am often called upon to speak at Neighborhood Watch Meeting on the subject of landscaping for home security. The Xylosma gave me a good idea of where you live & if I'm right, you have a steep pool bank behind your pool with a flatter area behind. I assume the Xylosma are planted on the crest? The boys just push thru & have a great view, yet remain pretty much hidden from your view. Am I close? I bet I'm right on the money? Okay, here's what you do.... the area where the boys are climbing over must have a object assisting them on their side. With max zoning fence, they couldn't clear it on their own. Find where they are coming over and plant several Pyracantha. An attractive, fast growing shrub. Easy care & low water use. The more common name is FIRETHORN & if you have ever bumped one, you know how it got it's name.
Behind the Xyosmas, plant a neat row of Carissa macrocarpa. Natal Plum. Fast growing, nice looking, easy care, low water use shrub. It's flagrant white flowers hide a surprize that has distroyed the plans of many a burglar. The spines along it's branches will more then discourage even a 13 year old in puberty.
If you start planting now, you'll still have time this season for a good skinny dip.

Answer 2

inside the fences, plant some really thorny stuff. trellises of climbing roses make great security measures, and provide a little added privacy. They also make a whole lot of noise if anyone tries to climb down them.

Pyracantha does a similar job, but provides more privacy and more thorns, but less noise if someone tries to push through it.

Most any citrus tree will tend towards a bush shape with lots of spines that can work if you have a lot of area (I believe you do...) as well as providing fruit. However, as your sole defense, I would not count on them, as they also provide snacks to go along with the entertainment.

If there's a lot of ground between your fence, and where they come to spy, some nasty ground cover, such as rosemary (doubles as a spice, and leaves quite a smell on visitors) or most berries, such as blackberry, gooseberry, raspberry, etc. around where they come in may help.

For privacy, italian cypress is pretty hard to see through, and if you keep the ground around it clean, it will shed a lot of spines when it gets disturbed. It's only slightly prickly to the touch. Golden bamboo is said to be a good privacy barrier too, and may have some good spikes or something.

A nice row of pomegranite trees (bushes, more like it) can also be rather useful. They tend to take a while to get going, and their fruit forms in the winter, when you're not likely to be out sunning yourself. Pomegranite plants form twigs which serve almost better than spikes. The worst I've ever gotten scratched up was when I was trying to trim a row of pomegranites. The weight of their fruit pulls the branches down, but they naturally grow back upwards, so a hedge of these will end up with intertwined branches that are impossible to force through. Patience will be needed, but the ends should justify the means. Pomegranites also attract humming birds, which in fact are territorial. It should prove difficult to spy on skinny dippers from inside a thicket of prickly plants with a fast buzzing bird distracting you.

You might also consider removing the privacy fences. Obviously they don't work, and unless I'm mistaken, you've got the pool itself fairly well hidden from view (or you will have it that way) without the fences. Set up some plain chain link fences around the perimeter, or some metal bars or something classier if you've got the cash. If everyone can see in, just MAYBE the parents, or third parties will do something about the kids they can now see sneaking off to peep at your pool. Pools generally need to be fence off separately to prevent accidents anyway, so put the privacy fence along that third side. Or, as a slightly cheaper way, you might have the fences cut down a little to stick the trellises above the fence to zoning limits. Like I said, climbing over a prickly trellis is tough.

Answer 3

Well if the Xylosmas are on your property and they are in them all you have to do is tell them go get off your property or you will have them taken in for trespassing. Any one on your property that you don't want and tell to leave that dosent can have that happened to him. Or you can try cutting off the branches to the tree up high enough so that they cant climb into it. Not to be mean but here are some other things Go around town telling people that Tom and friend are peeping toms and to watch out for them Get a Rot. and teach him to chase after them when they come around.

Answer 4

Other than barbed wire and strategically placed cacti, you might just try readjusting your thinking. The boys are 13, this is a cheap thrill for them, and they're trying to learn a lot about themselves and their own sexuality at that age. I'm not saying that what they're doing is right, but is it really hurting anything? They're passively watching - hopefully - and are at the least not out molesting 13 year old girls in the park. They'll get enough of it eventually - especially if no one makes a big deal about it, as that just makes it more fun and daring.

Answer 5

Set up a camera and catch them at their own game. Make copies, then threaten them with it. Tell them that you'll send the tapes to the authorities if they don't stop!

Answer 6

When they are peeping I would confront them tell them to knock it off or your calling the cops! Why can you not talk with this kids parents?

Answer 7

A couple of strands of twisted barbedwire secured at the top of your fence.

Answer 8

If they are climbing over YOUR fence and getting onto YOUR property that would be TRESPASSING. Call the cops.

Answer 9

Plant a climbing rose bush, or something similar, with thorns.

Answer 10

I noticed you didn't say whether you talked to the boy's parents? Could it be you are enjoying being viewed a little bit?