Now that the leaves are off the trees and the landscape is looking stark, you might find yourself surprised at some of what you can see. When did your neighbor install that ugly shed? How have you never noticed that gap in the hedge that so clearly frames another neighbor’s satellite dish? And the bare roses are sad enough without that asphalt street in the background.

Don’t run screaming, think screening. Judicious use of screening can increase your privacy, block ugly views, enhance your garden and encourage or discourage wildlife, depending on your preference.

Screening doesn’t have to be complicated. The first element many people think of is a fence. Good fences make good screening, but don’t race to the home-improvement center and grab the first piece of stockade you see. Fences don’t have to be monolithic or boring. They can be an active part of garden design. Think about what you’re trying to accomplish and how you might do it more imaginatively.

If you want to screen a single spot, do you really need to fence the entire perimeter? For example, to simultaneously screen and get rid of the view of that shed, simply install two lengths of fencing placed at an angle to each other. For greater interest, choose a material other than wood planks. You can achieve some Landscape Screening great effects using reed, wicker or bamboo, or a couple of walls of brick or stone to add a private sitting garden or a niche for a bit of statuary.

Wood fencing comes in a variety of styles. Choose one in the style of your home to reinforce the appearance of your garden.

A common style is stockade fencing, with narrow boards nailed close together. The boards are finished on top with a peaked, square, or rounded end. It’s simple and is associated with New England architecture. The shape of the top of each board can give a formal or less formal look. The boards can also be shaped into arches or scallops. One disadvantage is that the back side of the fence, where the cross rails are, is not as attractive as the front. A solid-board fence with boards on both sides of the rails is more attractive from both sides, and offers an aesthetically pleasing three-dimensional background to a planting bed. The alternating boards can be attached vertically or horizontally.

A solid board fence can also be topped with lattice, which allows more light and a little less privacy. Wooden lattice panels will also create a windbreak and sense of enclosure. One side of our deck is backed by three lattice panels with a shelf for potted plants. Vines can be trained on the lattice to turn it into a “green screen.” A formal green fence idea is English ivy trained on a non-rusting frame. It’s beautiful and simple, but requires several years of patience to establish and regular maintenance to keep it looking good.

Fencing offers instant gratification, but maybe planting something would ultimately be a better solution. Hedges do take several years to grow, but they can be a beautiful part of the garden and serve as a practical screen.

The idea of hedging is an old one. Used for centuries in Europe, the root word in Dutch (haag) signifies enclosure, as in the capital of the Netherlands, the Hague. Generally speaking, there are two types of hedges, formal and informal. The formal type is a narrow, living wall of greenery that requires maintenance to keep it that way. Formal hedges usually have to be pruned every year, at first to keep them neat, and later, as they reach maximum desired height and width, to keep them the proper size. Informal hedges also require pruning, though not as often. They tend to be bushier and take up more room than a formal hedge. Many hedges are evergreen. Lots of small creatures like them for homes as well as for food in the form of berries flowers.

One British idea that’s found here in various forms is a tapestry hedge. Instead of being a uniform planting of one kind of material, a tapestry is a mixture of different plants. The variations of flowering times, texture, color and form make a pleasing green patchwork. This can be a mix of deciduous, broadleaf evergreens, conifers and other shrubs that are planted so close together that regular pruning is necessary, or planted far enough apart that they grow together, attaining full size and requiring little pruning.

A trellis can also make an effective small screen. Train ivy to climb it, or use flowering plants such as roses, clematis or honeysuckle.

An earth berm – a raised patch of ground – combined with plantings is an excellent way to screen for both noise and privacy. You can get maximum effect by planting the berm with evergreens to screen out a noisy highway. But you can also plant small shrubs, perennials and annuals for summer color and year-round interest on the mounded berm of soil.

Lerner is president of Environmental Design in Capitol View Park, Md., and author of “Anyone Can Landscape” (Ball 2001). Contact him through his web site, www.gardenlerner.com.