How To Create Additional Privacy In Your Garden Using The Beauty Of Plants

We like to say on our team that our fences are the hugs of the garden. No we haven’t gone mad – bear with us on this! If your home is a safe space that you can escape in. Maybe the world feels a bit big, bad or scary on some days – or there’s just ‘too much’ out there for you? It’s bliss to know that when you’re back home again – the world stops at your fence until you want to take part again.

Your fence is the metaphoric arms of your safe space around you and your home saying ‘this is where you belong – I’m here to tell everyone else where to stop’.

Healthy boundaries are not walls.
They are the gates and fences that
allow you to enjoy the beauty
of your own garden – Lydia H Hall

Your home is where your heart is, so it goes without saying that you want all you care about to be in safe hands. But besides your fence being the physical and legal boundary of your property, it’s also a way of creating privacy so here are a few ways we regularly use plants for a more natural boundary…

Improving Your Privacy With Pleach Trees

If you have a garden fence which you’d like to extend the height of, without looking too harsh or clinical, pleach trees are a fantastic way of doing this. They soften the effect of the boundary by adding foliage, but they grow in such a way they’re still amazingly neat and straight to complement the fencing without you being up ladders every two months to trim them!

The stilted hedge they create above your fence line is both effective and is quite a subtle way of adding an extra layer of privacy to your garden without intruding on your neighbours aesthetics. They’re super easy to look after – two varieties we regularly use are Hornbeam which is semi-evergreen so offers a lovely visual aspect to your garden as it transitions the seasons with you.

For more formal gardens, we love using Cherry Laurel too which has it’s beautiful waxy long leaves to add a rich texture to the garden, but it also flowers in the summer so your garden boundaries are definitely inviting you to appreciate them.

It will keep you sweet with the neighbours too as most people would welcome additional nature like this to their periphery rather than a tall invasive fence!

Adding A Trellis And Pleach Tree Combination To Your Boundaries

Maybe you know you don’t want a full height fence, but you’d still like the protection it offers. Or perhaps a fence feels too solid, and you’d prefer a little more light through? This is where a trellis can come in really handy.

If you have a relatively small garden for instance, putting a uniform fence around the edge could really close it in, and you may also be limited with the space available for plants.
By using a trellis, you’re instantly breaking the potential monotony of a solid fence being the only boundary in place, but you’re also creating a place where plants can grow without taking up too much of your garden space. This combo is perfect for dividers too – maybe zone your garden into various sections but in a way that allows you to grow gorgeous foliage to do that job.

Using Strategic Tree Planting On Your Boundaries

One problem many people have is that they are overlooked by neighbouring properties. This is a very common problem we’re asked to help with on new build properties. Gardens aren’t the size they used to be, and you can easily find yourself with 2 or maybe even 3 houses overlooking you.

But you can’t exactly whack an 8 foot fence up can you!?

By looking at exactly where the windows located are on the properties around you, we can use our extensive knowledge of trees and how their species grow, to position them in the best place to block the view.

This is a handy solution if cost is a factor in your fencing needs and garden design, giving you a soft scenery in your own garden with the trees, but the protection they offer from neighbours checking out what’s on the barbeque this weekend!

Need privacy in your garden? Call our design team today on 0116 210 0760 to discuss your options with us.