Privacy from 6 storey block of flats

[dg93]

Any advice is appreciated - we have a nice, large garden with a block of flats overlooking our garden. We've just had 6 foot fencing put up, but the ground floor flat can sit on her sofa, look out the window and see everything we're doing in the garden as the flats are 2 foot higher than our garden. 😩

I didn't really mind before, but now we have a baby on the way, and I know we will want to enjoy the garden next summer - is there anything you think we can do? I know we won't get complete privacy, but I'd really like a little bit.

I was thinking of putting a tall bush or tall Trevil fence with flowers where I've drawn the blue line on the photo - will this work? The red arrow is the side the flats are.

Really all I'm concerned about is blocking the ground floor flat floor a little bit of privacy.

Thanks in advance! X

I'd suggest a pergola, a frame which you can grow climbers over.

This kind of thing.

I know many people dislike it, but I think a buddleia hedge along the left hand fence would work.
It wouldn't give complete privacy, but it would grow fast and tall - up to 10 feet and maybe more. It's not deep rooted so unlikely to have issues with root invasion than tall trees.
It's canopy is less dense than many trees, so allowing in some filtered light. It's deciduous, so loses it's leaves for a spell during the winter. It's very hardy, easy to grow in most conditions, has beautiful flowers for much of the summer, it's fragrant, and attractive to wildlife. It needs very little care - just one prune a year in the spring.
As it's not evergreen it is unlikely to fall within the remit of the council high hedge restrictions.
The main issue is it self-seeds freely, so either deadhead the flowers before they go to seed or ensure you remove any stray seedlings sprouting as soon as they are spotted.

...also meant to say - you can grow buddleia as either a tall rounded shrub; or if you didn't want it to take up too much lawn space at ground level, you can restrict it to one main stem and it will grow as a standard (tree shape) with one main woody trunk for each plant and canopy at the top which which is sort of fountain shaped - this is also likely to encourage it to grow taller.