Any suggestions to build a 'screen' along the wall in my back garden to
hide the neighbours?

They're indulging in gazebo, pergola, the works, and because the gardens
slope upwards away from our houses you can see (& hear) everything they do.
(They've even got wind chimes to stand duty annoying us when they're not
actually there themselves.... )

There's already a 5' high panel fence, But I need it to be about 50% taller
than it is, as their erections are much higher than the fence.

I was thinking of say a hedge or row of bushes that grows quickly to about
8-10' and stops, needing minimal maintenance? Would need to be along a
distance of about 10m (5 standard fence panels and come in a line alog the
garden edge right up to the back of the house.

Obviusly want to avoid leylandii, and looking at the FAQ the options
suggested a
privet
laurel
camelia (not sure what this is)
clematis

But as a non-gardener, without much time to spare, which is best to let me
achieve a decent screen , ideally within about 6 months without too much
cost?

There is already a single clematis (I think - it's got great big flowers)
there so perhaps the best is a row of these? I would prefer a screen that
still works in winter as I want to avoid seeing what they have in their
garden all year round.

Back of house faces south, garden slopes upwards away from house, located in
Exeter, Devon.

Can anyone suggest the best options to look at?

thanks

Keith

In 6 months is a tall order but with a trellis on top of the fence then
Clematis Armandii would be year round as its evergreen and pretty fast as
are many honeysuckles
Clematis Montana is fast once it gets going but it soon overtakes everything
and its not evergreen

Otherwise Pyracantha or Escallonia or variegated privet are the fastest ,are
evergreen and most controllable
Pyracantha has the extra benefit of berries in 3 different colours all
winter ......its easily trimmed with hedge trimmers and keeps out invaders


"keith" wrote in message
...
Any suggestions to build a 'screen' along the wall in my back garden to
hide the neighbours?

They're indulging in gazebo, pergola, the works, and because the gardens
slope upwards away from our houses you can see (& hear) everything they
do.
(They've even got wind chimes to stand duty annoying us when they're not
actually there themselves.... )

There's already a 5' high panel fence, But I need it to be about 50%
taller
than it is, as their erections are much higher than the fence.

I was thinking of say a hedge or row of bushes that grows quickly to about
8-10' and stops, needing minimal maintenance? Would need to be along a
distance of about 10m (5 standard fence panels and come in a line alog the
garden edge right up to the back of the house.

Obviusly want to avoid leylandii, and looking at the FAQ the options
suggested a
privet
laurel
camelia (not sure what this is)
clematis

But as a non-gardener, without much time to spare, which is best to let me
achieve a decent screen , ideally within about 6 months without too much
cost?

There is already a single clematis (I think - it's got great big flowers)
there so perhaps the best is a row of these? I would prefer a screen that
still works in winter as I want to avoid seeing what they have in their
garden all year round.

Back of house faces south, garden slopes upwards away from house, located
in
Exeter, Devon.

Can anyone suggest the best options to look at?

thanks

Keith

I would nip in and throw the wind chimesaway, they are torture from
hell!!!!!!!!

keith wrote:
Any suggestions to build a 'screen' along the wall in my back
garden to hide the neighbours?

They're indulging in gazebo, pergola, the works, and because the
gardens slope upwards away from our houses you can see (& hear)
everything they do. (They've even got wind chimes to stand duty
annoying us when they're not actually there themselves.... )

There's already a 5' high panel fence, But I need it to be about 50%
taller than it is, as their erections are much higher than the fence.

I was thinking of say a hedge or row of bushes that grows quickly to
about 8-10' and stops, needing minimal maintenance? Would need to
be along a distance of about 10m (5 standard fence panels and come
in a line alog the garden edge right up to the back of the house.

Obviusly want to avoid leylandii, and looking at the FAQ the options
suggested a
privet
laurel
camelia (not sure what this is)
clematis

But as a non-gardener, without much time to spare, which is best to
let me achieve a decent screen , ideally within about 6 months
without too much cost?

There is already a single clematis (I think - it's got great big
flowers) there so perhaps the best is a row of these? I would prefer
a screen that still works in winter as I want to avoid seeing what
they have in their garden all year round.

Back of house faces south, garden slopes upwards away from house,
located in Exeter, Devon.

Can anyone suggest the best options to look at?

thanks

Keith

Robert The Devil's Advocate www.pafc.co.uk

"
But as a non-gardener, without much time to spare, which is best to let
me
achieve a decent screen , ideally within about 6 months without too much
cost?

There is already a single clematis (I think - it's got great big
flowers)
there so perhaps the best is a row of these? I would prefer a screen
that
still works in winter as I want to avoid seeing what they have in their
garden all year round.

Back of house faces south, garden slopes upwards away from house,
located
in
Exeter, Devon.

Can anyone suggest the best options to look at?


In 6 months is a tall order but with a trellis on top of the fence then
Clematis Armandii would be year round as its evergreen and pretty fast as
are many honeysuckles
Clematis Montana is fast once it gets going but it soon overtakes
everything
and its not evergreen

Otherwise Pyracantha or Escallonia or variegated privet are the fastest
,are
evergreen and most controllable
Pyracantha has the extra benefit of berries in 3 different colours all
winter ......its easily trimmed with hedge trimmers and keeps out invaders
thanks
Keith

I agree that a trellis on top of the fence is a good option. A variety of
climbers will look good. Another fast growing one is Passion flower (P.
Caerulea) which has the advantage of being evergreen, has a long flowering
period with magnificent flowers, followed by fruit (which is edible although
quite bland).

Natalie

May not help but check with your local planning officer since the
construction is overlooking on your garden and invading your privacyit may
be in breach of some local planning rule.
L

"keith" wrote in message
...
Any suggestions to build a 'screen' along the wall in my back garden to
hide the neighbours?

They're indulging in gazebo, pergola, the works, and because the gardens
slope upwards away from our houses you can see (& hear) everything they
do.
(They've even got wind chimes to stand duty annoying us when they're not
actually there themselves.... )

There's already a 5' high panel fence, But I need it to be about 50%
taller
than it is, as their erections are much higher than the fence.

I was thinking of say a hedge or row of bushes that grows quickly to about
8-10' and stops, needing minimal maintenance? Would need to be along a
distance of about 10m (5 standard fence panels and come in a line alog the
garden edge right up to the back of the house.

Obviusly want to avoid leylandii, and looking at the FAQ the options
suggested a
privet
laurel
camelia (not sure what this is)
clematis

But as a non-gardener, without much time to spare, which is best to let me
achieve a decent screen , ideally within about 6 months without too much
cost?

There is already a single clematis (I think - it's got great big flowers)
there so perhaps the best is a row of these? I would prefer a screen that
still works in winter as I want to avoid seeing what they have in their
garden all year round.

Back of house faces south, garden slopes upwards away from house, located
in
Exeter, Devon.

Can anyone suggest the best options to look at?

thanks

Keith

"keith" wrote in message
Any suggestions to build a 'screen' along the wall in my back garden to
hide the neighbours?

They're indulging in gazebo, pergola, the works, and because the gardens
slope upwards away from our houses you can see (& hear) everything they
do.
(They've even got wind chimes to stand duty annoying us when they're not
actually there themselves.... )


You think you have problems. Our Godson and girlfriend are buying their
first home, a run down terraced house, and between them viewing and buying
their new neighbours have used their back garden as a tip. These morons
broke through their hedge, destroying it in the process, and have covered
the garden in up to 3ft of rubbish...black plastic sacks, old TVs Hi-Fis and
Radios, broken kids toys, you would not believe it.
Although he told me, I could not picture the mess until I saw it. Skip
loads. Must have taken them hours to do.

And this nice hardworking young couple are going to have to live with these
people next-door!

Oh, and the Council tip is all of 10 mins away by car.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"keith" wrote in message
Any suggestions to build a 'screen' along the wall in my back garden to
hide the neighbours?

They're indulging in gazebo, pergola, the works, and because the gardens
slope upwards away from our houses you can see (& hear) everything they
do.
(They've even got wind chimes to stand duty annoying us when they're not
actually there themselves.... )


You think you have problems. Our Godson and girlfriend are buying their
first home, a run down terraced house, and between them viewing and buying
their new neighbours have used their back garden as a tip. These morons
broke through their hedge, destroying it in the process, and have covered
the garden in up to 3ft of rubbish...black plastic sacks, old TVs Hi-Fis
and
Radios, broken kids toys, you would not believe it.
Although he told me, I could not picture the mess until I saw it. Skip
loads. Must have taken them hours to do.

And this nice hardworking young couple are going to have to live with
these
people next-door!

Oh, and the Council tip is all of 10 mins away by car.

This happened in a big way to the son of a friend of mine. He hired a JCB
and simply tipped all the stuff back over the fence. He heard no more about
it.

[Franz Heymann]

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

On Sat, 02 Aug 2003 22:27:47 +0000, keith wrote:
But as a non-gardener, without much time to spare, which is best to let me
achieve a decent screen , ideally within about 6 months without too much
cost?

Keith,

To achieve a screen that fast, you will need to put 10 foot fence panels
up!! As an alternative, add trellis to the top of your fence, put some
mesh on the fence itself (to provide something for the plants that need it
to grip onto) and grow climbers. This generates a fairly fast, very thin,
fairly esy to look after screen.

Its not quite the right time of year, but in general the usual advice is
to grow fast growing annual climbers up this sort of screen (e.g. sweet
peas), whilst the perennial permanent planting is growing in.

Beware of the weight of plants grown like this, they need GOOD support.

Plants you could consider are ivy, clematis, rambling roises, golden hop
(although this dies back in winter), jasmines (some are tender and not
suitable), climbing hydrangea (good for shade, but takes a while to get
going), boston ivy, and even - if you are careful russian vina (aka mile a
minute) - but that takes some cutting back to keep it under control.

Make sure you buy healthy plants, dig them a good hole, and give them some
fertiliser, and water well whilst they establish. Its just a matter of
keeping them tied to and twisted through the mesh / trellis, and spreading
them out to provide good all over coverage after that.

Sarah

The message
from "keith" contains these words:

Any suggestions to build a 'screen' along the wall in my back garden to
hide the neighbours?

I was thinking of say a hedge or row of bushes that grows quickly to about
8-10' and stops, needing minimal maintenance?

Buddliea would fit the bill, and it's cheap. Plant them about 4 ft apart.

Janet

On Sat, 2 Aug 2003 22:27:47 +0000 (UTC), "keith"
wrote:

Any suggestions to build a 'screen' along the wall in my back garden to
hide the neighbours?

Gardeners' Question Time yesterday had a question from the manager of
a park next to Newcastle Football ground, who wants to plant a border
of giant plants.
You can listen to the programme on; http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/gqt/
and click on "listen again". If you want to go direct to the question
it is at about 10 mins in. You can jump forward 1 min at a time.

Plants suggested were;
globe artichoke
jerusalem artichoke
gunnera (tie leaves to supports as they grow to get them to go
straight up. Untie when the stems are set.)
Paulonia tomentosa (foxglove tree) which produces huge leaves in
summer if cut back hard in spring. (10 feet)
innula magnifica; (large leaves, big yellow flowers, 8 ft)
pampas grass

Pam in Bristol

Thanks for all the suggestions

trellis is probably out as too obviuosly a provocation to neighbour , so
I''ll look at variouos clematis etc an m ay just have to wait a bit longer.