Disguising a fence

matthewhead

Hi all - new to the forum, hope you might be able to help me!

I have a very small garden at the rear of my terraced house. It's about 12ft wide by 20ft long. Never one to shy away from a challenge, my mission is to turn it into an otherworldy tropical jungle garden. I'm already on the way there, with some established palms, cycads and gunnera - plus a pond and a stream (I don't believe in less is more haha) but the main thing that smacks me in the face every time I look out are the ugly wooden fence panels. They're standard 6ft high panels with horizontal overlapping boards - in good condition for the most part. 

I would like to hide them/disguise them but I don't know the best thing to do - I'm also trying to do as much of this on a budget as possible. Ideas I have had so far are to paint them (dark grey so my jungle planting really pops against them), put up bark screening which I think looks quite tropical, or grow plants over them.

If any of you have any ideas I would be all ears - I'm up for trying new things. I really like the idea of those living walls where ferns are grown vertically, but I have no idea how I would do that on a fence?

So yeah - any ideas are very welcome! 

Obelixx

Find Friday night's edition of Gardeners' World on i-Player.   Two jungle gardens and no visible fences because the plants are large scale and hide them.  No need to spend time or money on painting or covering.  Just get the right plants.  Might need a bit of patience while they grow but get the soil right and they'll romp.

micearguers

I've recently planted a Hedera colchica, quite like it, I think it could fit a jungle theme if it melts in the background. You could go with a native hedera. It's good for wildlife and you can find it growing in the wild, takes almost immediately from cuttings. There are many many more climbers though; have you considered a climbing plant? It will affect the fence; is that an issue?