On 02/03/17 08:06, Mr Sandman wrote:
Thanks both for your help.

So, for the fence, grow stuff on it as suggested? and may be a tree or two
planted near to it to break up the length? You can see from the pictures i
have recently planted a few trees in the garden but they will take a few
years to really make their mark.

for the seating area, a wooden pergola with wisteria growing up each leg.
and what about the area behind the seats in front of the fence? just a
selection of shrubs of various sizes to hide the fence and 'frame' the area
a bit? as its all pebble ground there, i really want to avoid leaves being
dropped, so maybe mostly ferns of varying types?

Thanks for the advice:-)

Cheers,

Steve

You don't need four wisteria plants. One, perhaps two, will soon take
over. One evergreen plant to cover the fence is Rubus tricolor, a superb
plant with shiny leaves and red-brown hairy stems. If you want to take a
chance, you could always try a passion flower, as they are a lot hardier
than many think. If it survives, a machete should be on the list of
required garden tools!

I doubt many ferns are suitable for the area you mention; from what you
said, it faces west, and will get very hot and dry in summer. Small
cistus and similar plants would do very well, also some herbs such as
rosemary. Maybe some of the giant alliums and things like kniphofia
would add interest, and would take the heat easily. Also consider trying
some eucalyptus, but quite a few get very big, very quickly!

A few choice conifers of various colours and shapes (check for
suitability on growing over chalk) would help break things up, too.

--

Jeff