Narrow border privacy ideas with pic

[FirmlyRooted]

I would very much appreciate suggestions for what to plant in a new border along our driveway. Ideally something with some coverage throughout the year and tall enough to cover the neighbours' six(!!!) bins.

I'm a bit lost in terms of what goes together and what works in this location, east facing so sunny until early afternoon and fairly exposed.

Any advice would be amazing!

Oh, width is about 50cm so fairly narrow

Not sure about plants, but I’d be putting some lattice fencing up to hide it now. If they ask about it, say it’s for plants to climb up.

That's a good idea, I do like climbers and lattice fence or trellis would provide some coverage in winter. I definitely want plants or shrubs too, clematis would look nice I think.

Privet or Box hedge. Avoid Leyland because the roots will spoil the drive and wall.

Who owns the retaining wall?

Have you had a dig in the border because sometimes the concrete from the wall and drive comes out further than you think. I would definitely put up something to screen especially whilst waiting for plants to grow.
Do you like Sarcococca? They are evergreen and have a lovely scent when flowering.

I would dig down and check the soil first as a PP said.

I don’t like hedges really myself so I would put a big flowering shrub like a lace cap hydrangea (bees only like lace cap), weigela, mock orange or Buddleja in the middle, lower branches pruned off so it looks like a tree.

Then i’d plant rose bushes and gaura either side.
Bright and colourful for most of the year.
Not evergreen though sadly.

Gaura and roses (and what looks to me like a purple catmint or Russian sage in the background)

If it is your wall then attach something to it. I rather like the horizontal slats you can get now, which I think would hide the bins well, especially if you stained them a dark charcoal to match the driveway. You could then either continue the dark and stormy night theme by planting black grasses , or choose something else depending on whether you want to ring the changes or keep it low maintenance. I might be tempted by some of the variegated phormium that are available which are striking and look after themselves but are very beautiful.

Weigela, mock orange and Buddleja

Neighbours own the retaining wall, it's two flats with share of freehold as far as I know, generally on good terms.

There doesn't seem to be concrete but will have a proper look across the whole length of the bed.

Love the idea of a flowering shrub, and a flowering evergreen could be a good choice. Would something like hydrangea work with an evergreen?

Thank you @DiddlyWiddly, great suggestions

trellis and then winter jasmine or evergreen honeysuckle. both are pretty tough & have flowers & scent.

I'd plant something like crocosmia underneath if there is space too.

@viques I can probably attach a fence to the wall, doubt the neighbours would object

I like the sound of beautiful that looks after itself, I'm sadly not very greenfingered and usually a little distracted so easy maintenance is a plus.

Hydrangea I think loses its leaves over winter, Ceanothus is evergreen though.
I have one pruned to look like a tree, it has beautiful blue spring flowers.

Calistemon, hypericum and viburnum I believe are all evergreen.
Camelia, Azalea and rhododendron too but they need ericaceous compost.

Following as I have the same question - narrow border, east facing, need height for privacy. Have to be careful with roots too as, like OP, neighbour’s drive is right behind the wall.

I like the sound of beautiful that looks after itself, I'm sadly not very greenfingered and usually a little distracted so easy maintenance is a plus
Honeysuckle as suggested by PP would be a good shout then as that needs no care though it can take a few years to settle in and start flowering.

Roses benefit from a chop in April but they are very easy apart from that.

Spring bulbs are the ultimate in low maintenance, it’s too early now but in Autumn spring bulbs like bluebells, hyacinth, crocus etc can be planted and they pop up every spring to flower then die and disappear in summer only to appear again next spring and the spring after and after and do on with zero care from you

Lattice or trellis work fence with scented or decorative evergreen climbing plants

Honeysuckles, passifloras and some jasmines.

I would go for a wild privet. It is relatively fast growing and you can prune it to whatever height you want.
www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/wild_privet_hedge.html

I'd have a trough (or two) placed against the wall so no need to attach anything to it, fairly tall if possible and plant into that. I've used bamboo in the past for an immediate screen (best in a trough as it is invasive).

I'm mostly just astounded that they have six bins!

You've got two limiting factors 1) the bed is very narrow and up against a wall on one side and hard paving on the other so it's likely to be very very dry. 2) I'm guessing you want something more vertical than horizontal, so it doesn't sprawl all over your drive.

For those reasons I'd lean towards the trellis-and-climber options, although there are loads of lovely ideas above.

Either way I would recommend investing heavily in soil improvers (your soil is probably rubbish), don't stint on water for the first summer at least, and try to go for a sense of repetition rather than one-of-everything, it looks much classier. EG if you go for climbers you don't need three identical clematis, but three clematis with some kind of linking colour or time of year will look fab.

Thank you all, work annoyingly keeps getting in the way of spending all day on mumsnet

This is fantastic advice, much better than anything else I've found, thank you again!

So on the soil, what's the right approach here? Add enhancers into topsoil? Use compost when planting? It probably will be dry, we're on a hill sloping downwards, although back garden definitely gets soggy in the winter

I would use planters as will give you more soil to play with....if you get sturdy ones then you can attach trellis to them or you can get planters with trellis already ...just Google search....that gives you flexibility.....on Monty Don the other day they mentioned a couple of good climbers....other option could be to buy a part grown hedge....otherwise Holly..tough and good for wildlife and Christmas decorations

And on the bins, it's 2 flats next door and each flat has 1 rubbish, 1 recycling and 1 garden waste bin plus some small food bins. It's a lot!!

I would use compost and with holly, most varieties of holly will not produce berries unless you have a male and female plant, so just bear that in mind. Though they may have brought out cultivars that don’t need a partner now, I’m not sure, but it certainly used to be the case that you needed two plants of opposing sex