Hi all, am new here and this is my first post. I am trying to find some ideas as to how I can best screen the neighbouring single storey house which is built on the boundary and in particular the roof & velux windows (an area 6 - 8 feet above our patio/garden). The wall of the house is mainly covered by my 6 foot fence. I do have a photo but am not sure where this needs to go. Thank you for reading.

Your options may be limited by local planning rules as to the height of fences you can build.

You could put some trellis up on the fence, similar to this which I have between the corner of our house and the "garden side" of our garage, our drive is between this and the low fence between our property and our neighbour's. This brings the height of the fence to eight feet. As it's not on the boundary this is acceptable. If there were legal objections to yours, you might have to take it down.

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6097/pict0117m.jpg



You could however, make a similar construction say of all trellis to more or less any height you like, if you set it back from the "party fence" by several feet, as a garden feature.


Or you could plant something like leylandii along the fence, but by the time it reached the height which would achieve what you wanted, you might have forgotten about the problem.

Thank you for your response. I do like your picture and I did think about trellis on top of the fence with climbers but was concerned that the climbers might start climbing up the neighbouring property.

I could install a second fence but my living room window is only about four feet from the boundary fence and I wouldnt want to block out any light. I have also been thinking about a single pergola set in between the boundary and my living room window which mightn't be too bad. The neighbours house is 40 feet long starting at the back of my house and running alongside my patio and garden, so its a big area to screen.

Leylandii are out of the question as the neighbouring house is on the boundary and I would hate the roots to cause a problem.

I will try and learn tomorrow how to post an image!

Thanks again.

If you're worried about them looking out of their windows into your living room window, probably the only effective solution will be net curtains.

But if you're more worried about the view from your living room window, you could consider providing a focal point rather than a complete screen. They idea is to merely break up the view, rather than to screen it out but to draw the eye away from next door and in to something attractive in your own garden.

We have a view of next door's vehicles and wheelie bins. It's not practical to plant a screen of trees (that terrace is virtually the only part of our garden which is not in the shade), so we've extended the stone wall upwards with a row of heavy wooden posts with a rail along the top. At the moment I'm growing ipomoeas and sweet peas while I consider more permanent options. We can still see the vehicles and bins, but we don't notice them because the eye is drawn to the more attractive flowers.

Thanks for those thoughts Kay, I think having a focal point is a great idea, but I am hopeless with designs and cant make a decision as to what would work the best.

I am so annoyed with myself because I cant fathom how to include a sketch for you all to see!

I think I have managed it!

Ah, I see! You basically have a garden with a pleasant sitting out area, and what looks like a warehouse down one side ;-)

I think what you need to do is break up the expanse a bit. A couple of feet of trellis wouldn't come right to the ridge of the roof, but you could grow clematis up it, some of the tendrils will wave above trellis height, and in summer flowers will most definitely attract your eye towards your garden and away from the roof.

You've already got a couple of shrubs breaking up the line. I think you'd get away with not bothering with the trellis and having a couple more verticals. Think of something that's either slender/columnar or not too heavy. Rather than aim for the roof to become invisible, aim for it to become unimportant background.

Ideas include a columnar flowering cherry like Amanagawa or pyramids of sweet peas (or even runner beans or, say, purple podded french beans). If you used an attractively shaped support rather than simple cane pyramids, it would still function as a distractor during the winter months.


A hamamelis (witch hazel) would look good in winter, with yellow flowers on bare stems - and remember that with some choices of plant the roof is a positive bonus, in giving a dark background to show up the flowers better.

If you go too heavily on the screening, the garden will feel closed-in.

Very good sketch, by the way. I'm impressed!

Ha Ha I loved your comment about the warehouse, my thought too, basically its an extension our new neighbours recently built as a welcoming present! But thats another long story!

You have given me lots of ideas and I will look up the plants on the internet to find out more. I agree about heavy screening making the garden feeling even more closed in. I would like some sort of shaped structure, something a bit out of the ordinary, that I could grow plants up. I love the Amanagawa, have had a look at that on the internet, I could place that to shield out one of the windows and it would definitely draw the eye away from the (warehouse lol) roof.

I have already bought two climbers, a Solanum Jasminoides Album and a Passiflora Caerulea, what do you think of them?

As for the sketch, unfortunately its not my handy work, I cheated and used some software that converts photos!

On Feb 1, 10:58*pm, Doghouse Riley Doghouse.Riley.
wrote:
CheshireCouple;949031 Wrote:

Hi all, am new here and this is my first post. *I am trying to find some
ideas as to how I can best screen the neighbouring single storey house
which is built on the boundary and in particular the roof & velux
windows (an area 6 - 8 feet above our patio/garden). *The wall of the
house is mainly covered by my 6 foot fence. *I do have a photo but am
not sure where this needs to go. *Thank you for reading.

Your options may be limited by local planning rules as to the height of
fences you can build.

You could put some trellis up on the fence, similar to this which I have
between the corner of our house and the "garden side" of our garage,
our drive is between this and the low fence between our property *and
our neighbour's. *This brings the height of the fence to eight feet. As
it's not on the boundary this is acceptable. If there were legal
objections to yours, you might have to take it down.

[image:http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6097/pict0117m.jpg]

You could however, make a similar construction say of all trellis to
more or less any height you like, if you set it back from the "party
fence" by several feet, as a garden feature.

Or you could plant something like leylandii *along the fence, but by the
time it reached the height which would achieve what you wanted, you
might have forgotten about the problem.

--
Doghouse Riley

Yes, and by then they'll have another bigger problem.

Kay's thoughts on breaking up the offending view or making some kind
of distraction like a focal point are more practical and usually less
obvious and more pleasing to the eye.
A solid block is usually too obviously an attempt to hide something
and is often itself not a very pretty sight.


Rod

I agree that a solid block would look like an obvious attempt to hide something, which would defeat the object really.

I think I would like to add some trellis to the top of my fence, and try creating some sort of feature for climbers and I definitely like that Amanogawa, so pretty and its narrow tall shape is good.

I am very grateful for all the ideas people have shared, keep 'em coming!!!

Have just read that the Amanogawa has vigorous roots and shouldn't be planted close to foundations.
Thats such a shame!!!

Out of interest does anyone know how far away from a building the Amanogawa can be planted? Thanks.

I think evergreen is good, fortunately I do have an established red robin bush, which I normally keep pruned, am going to let it grow in height and width this year. I have attached the sketch again for you to see.

On Feb 2, 10:10*pm, CheshireCouple CheshireCouple.
wrote:

I agree that a solid block would look like an obvious attempt to hide
something, which would defeat the object really.

I think I would like to add some trellis to the top of my fence, and try
creating some sort of feature for climbers and I definitely like that
Amanogawa, so pretty and its narrow tall shape is good.

I am very grateful for all the ideas people have shared, keep 'em
coming!!!

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

--
CheshireCouple- Hide quoted text -

Some nice ideas being kicked around here. I built all of my fences
here with a bit of trellis on top, it gives more scope for climbing
plants without making the fence too opressive.
Please don't lose sight of the fact though that your garden is yours
to do as you like with and express your own personality and aesthetic
- you don't get many opportunities like that so make it your own,
don't let us or anyone else design it for you because then it won't be
yours anymore.

Rod

I like the idea of a little 'grove' of slender trees, any suggestions as to what type of trees I could plant that wont harm the neighbours foundations?