Help me cheer up this ugly shady corner

[RhubarbCrumble1]

I'm not sure how I could improve this area. It's quite shady (gets few hours of sun in the morning)
Any suggestions welcome to get me started

My immediate reaction is

repaint the fence in a lighter colour (if you can)
put trellis or sheep netting on the fence
get some nice large pots and fill with shade-loving plants.

The RHS has plenty of suggestions for plants for shade. Astelia is great if you want something spiky and dramatic. Clematis is happy with its roots in shade and head in the sun, so should do well on the fence.

who does the fence belong to?

Very glad to see PigletJohn straying into gardening.

Although I would always ask the neighbours first, I've also always assumed it's OK to paint your side of the neighbours' fence or attach things to it, as long as you don't let the colour leak through to the other side or do actual damage. PigletJohn will now tell me I'm wrong.

you're wrong

also it's no use trying to stain a dark fence to make it light, unless you first strip off the old stain. A jetwasher will do it, but you have to get the nozzle close, and it will scatter sticky fragments for many yards around

Well, I did say paint the fence if you can, but I stick by my belief that only the most curmudgeonly neighbour would actually, when asked, object to a bit of trellis nailing or paint (setting aside the practical issues for the moment).

A fern garden, great in dark shady areas

Mums neighbour objected to trellis so we put up posts on our side and attached 1.2 m trellis to the posts. They moaned of course. Very satisfactory I thought.

Actually I quite like that fence but agree, clematis (eg avalanche) would be nice: could trail it on wire stretched between vine eyes attached to the posts. Pots essential: Pieris does well in shade, so also ferns. Love the long box waiting for plants! Vinca is nice to trail from those, anemone blanda,
There is a wonderful south african plant which likes shade: clivia miniata. There are some nice variegated grasses too

I think if you plant lots of climbers, you won't even be able to see the fence soon! So if painting is a problem, you could try that instead - attach a trellis, or even just some wire.

Then pots - lots and lots of pots! Keep them a little distance from the house walls so that a bit of air can circulate, but you can get a low, wide trough along that house wall. Some trailing plants in pots along the brick wall on the other side would soften it down - if there's sunlight in that part of your garden, you could think about a trailing rosemary. Think: those Mediterranean terraces you see in Italy and Greece where it is full of greenery.

I would try to place a fairly tall-but-slender plant - a shrub perhaps - in a large pot on the LHS of the photo, just in front of the stairs. The idea being to break it up visually so you can't see the steps and you have a bit of a surprise around the corner.

A perfect example of a curmudgeonly neighbour, funnyperson!

If that's an ugly plastic conservatory just behind the fence ::squints:: something tall, like bamboo, in a huge pot might be good for breaking up the line and making it less conspicuous.

Great idea, Maud! It would really take the eye away from it.

Thanks, Holly! A very useful idea I picked up here on MN is that you don't need to hide something completely, but just break up the line - as with camouflage - so that the shape merges and recedes from view.

I would go for one or two large, bold plants complemented by some smaller ones rather than a collection of small pots which could look 'bitty'. Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Variegatum' is a quick growing variegated shrub which should be ok in a large pot (I'm looking at that half-barrel!) and will light up that corner even in winter. It prefers sun but can cope with some shade. You can keep it trimmed back to avoid blocking access to the steps. It can get quite tall so with Maud's bamboo idea would help to screen the ugly conservatory.

I would have loved the fence a lighter colour (tho it's not quite as dark brown as the photo shows) its just my husband had the mammoth task of doing all the fences, decking and border edging and I nearly tipped him over by suggesting a change of colour.
I think it's ours (though not sure)
We haven't really the money to do massive alterations (or time with a baby) and are planning to move in a year or two so these suggestions are good.
ive filled the trench with winter pansies and spring bulbs and tried putting a pot at the bottom left hand side of steps Holly and it already looks better.

Has anyone bought a big wooden planter (like the one on left
Hand side but deeper) and attached a trellis to this? My husband is stressing about nailing things to fence.. The ready made planters with trellis are either very small or very very expensive. Unless I bought the long trench and filled it with bamboo as suggested then put smaller pots in front?
Thank you so much

I see the fence has concrete posts. It is best not to try to drill them as it may start a crack. You can though put loops over the top, to tie things. Stainless steel wire, if you can get it, or polypropylene rope (or baler twine) will last a few years. You could attach netting or light trellis, with the permission of the fence-owner.

If the other side of the fence has triangular rails, you can screw vine eyes into them (drill pilot holes first) near the edges, not in the middle where they may cause bowing. Again, you can get stainless steel eyes or hooks, though they may cost a pound or two each. The screwed shaft should be long enough to penetrate the rail by at least an inch, preferably two or more. Don't try to screw just into the boards as they will come off.

Many fences just have small battens, and they have little strength.

Thankyou pigletJohn I'll shop him this

Show!

A tree in a pot would be lovely in front of it to create some height - it wouldn't block it in winter but would still create a nice shape. Maybe one with white or silvery bark to be a nice contrast...

If it's a dark corner clematis will grow but the flowers would probably only be viewed by the neighbours!

Impressed with techy advice about attaching things to fences but what are triangular rails?

pizza v true, though depends on the height of the clematis, though I suppose if in deep shade the clematis might not flower at all.

I've seen trellis attached to plantars and also obelisks in plantars. Also gnomes, owls, windmills, dinosaur gardens etc which babies love.

at gnomes and windmills on Mumsnet! I do love an owl though

You can get more shade-loving clematis, and more sun-loving ones. www.thorncroftclematis.co.uk/quick-selection-lists/shadetolerant.html

I was thrilled when DH brought me back an authentic gnome from Germany, the historical homeland of gnomes (or should that be gnomeland?)

Funnyperson

If you look at a traditional close-boarded fence, you will see the back has horizontal Arris Rails of triangular section. The hypotenuse is vertical and the featheredge boards are nailed to it. The shape sheds rainwater, slowing rot, and economises on material.

Although some fence panels are also made this way, most are made of flimsy timber slats pinned to rectangular laths. These are cheaply made and too thin to attach things too.

Not had time to do much but had a shuffle round and think it looks better already. bough three umbrella bamboo plants to try in the planter. Next door are Chinese and have loads of bamboo in pots so didn't think they'd object
Think the tin pots need to go as look out of place

The fence is pitifully weak

At present my daughter is too busy trying to eat dirt/pebbles to be interested in anything else!