Recommendations please..

marklAp-XZRd

Looking for recommendations to help screen the neighbours and make the border look really nice.

The garden is south/south west facing. 

We have thought about italian conifers or an espalier evergreen - but not sure what would work the existing olive tree.  In hindsight I wish we hadn't planted the olive tree there, because then we could screen the entire section.  







The house you can see sits slightly higher than ours, which means they can look into our garden from their sitting room.  One option is to heighten the entire fence or we could put a trellis on top of the fence, but I am not sure it will  provide is the privacy we would like.

Annoying as the whole garden is very mature and well screened, and the only bit that isn't is right where we have our outside dining space, and spend most of the time!



All suggestions welcome.

Thanks, Mark

Perki

I probably go with a sambucus they is quite a few variety's to pick from but are fast growers, or maybe a Cotinus Royal purple or one of the other variety's or even a buddleia , lots of other small trees like amelanchier or crab apple or fruit tress to pick from. 

tui34

What a beautiful garden and dining area!  So green and calm.  Sorry, no suggestions.  I live in the wrong area to be able to suggest growing species.  Good luck.

amancalledgeorge

With that olive tree you have made it difficult on yourself...I personally think privacy in gardens is overrated. But as Perki mentioned a climber would make sense. Since the planting with the olive is so regimented you'd probably want to follow it up with something equally regular. You can always try and cover a trellis panel on the top with a climbing annual while waiting to pick a parennial or for it to grow to the required size.  

Lizzie27

Hello Mark, welcome to the forum.  I definitely wouldn't plant either Italian Cypress (far too tall) or Cotinus Royal Purple which doesn't know when to stop growing. I think the most elegant solution would be to erect a good quality, quite dense diagonal trellis along the whole fence - you would be surprised how much screening it does provide just on its own. That would give you scope in the empty space to plant a really lovely climbing rose - one with a good perfume would be good as it's near your sitting area.  Alternatively, if you're not keen on  
 roses, an evergreen climber such as Trachelospermum Jasminoides or Asiaticum, which is easy-going with small perfumed white or cream flowers about now would also be a good choice.

marklAp-XZRd

Thank you for the replies.

I agree with Lizzie, I think adding a 30cm heavy duty diamond trellis along the top, with a nice climber or two will help considerably.  Will also hide the fence - instead of it being a bit of an eyesore, it will be a real feature!

Can you mix climbers?

marklAp-XZRd

I just wanted to provide an update on this thread.

We moved the Olive tree to a new spot in the garden - surprisingly easy to do as they are very slow growing and the roots are shallow (Mediterranean plant, water etc.).  It seems perfectly happy in its new location, which is a relief as it was quite expensive.



We have planted 7 pleached Photinia Red Robin to give us the screening we require.  Back braking work as they were very heavy!  

Planted 3 climbers to cover the fence.

Now we need fill the border.  

Any resource (book, website, app) recommendations for plant combination border design?  

It would be great, for people like me, to have a website that allowed you to put in:

Soil type

Soil Ph
Sun position
Water requirements 
Flowering time
height 
spread 
colour
etc...

that way I could pick and choose plants that suit our requirements.  Does such a thing exist?

Thanks, Mark

punkdoc

RHS website is good.
There are a lot of experts on here, who can often give useful advice.

rachelQrtJHBjb

The Creative Shrub Garden by Andy McIndoe is a book I return to time and time again. At first glance it may not seem particularly special but when you read the text in conjunction with the pictures you'll appreciate the breadth of his knowledge. He starts with a particular shrub and then expands on the plant associations.

AnniD

This book is a few years old, but l found it very useful and the basics still apply. 
Mine went to the charity shop a few years ago and l still regret it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Creative-Gardening-Readers-Digest/dp/0276352238/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=readers+digest+garden+books&qid=1616057748&s=books&sr=1-9

PS Beautiful olive tree.

JennyJ

I use the RHS website too https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-Form