How to hide ugly north facing fence

[Setyoufree]

I'm not great at gardening but my neighbours have a really ugly orange 6ft fence running down the side of my garden. It's their fence so I don't think I can add trellis etc. and to make it harder, it's north facing!

Any thoughts on how I can hide it?

Honeysuckle grows like the clappers but you must maintain it to stop it growing over their side.

Or you put your own fence up.

Paint your side a dark grey almost black, and then use it as a background for some really nice big shade loving ferns and an evergreen clematis such as jingle bells.

That could result in paint seeping through the other side and if it's their fence they could say you've damaged it and ask for it to be repaired or replaced.

The best solution is just to put up your own bloody fence if you can't live with a particular colour.

Grey and black are awful, I'd much rather look at an orange fence.

If you can be sure it won't dribble through and down the other side, paint your side a plain brown. Wood coloured looks far more natural in a garden than anything else.

How can they paint it if it's not their fence?

Thanks all. I think painting is probably a non starter as it's a cheap fence so will be impossible to stop it seeping and I don't want to start a fight with the neighbour.

Not keen to put my own up as it's a fairly long but narrow garden so would be thousands of pounds and I don't want to narrow it further.

I'll check out whether there's honeysuckles that might be happy there, thanks! Most things that I've found so far won't like north facing unfortunately

Www.screenwithenvy.co.uk

Beautiful panels in black or grey ( we have moucharabiya) and they’re light so can be fixed with a couple of nails. We got six panels in 6ft x3ft. Plus they have a 30% sale on at the moment !! You can also buy them individually so don’t be put off by the “deals”

Hydrangea petiolas might grow on North facing fence. Evergreen and white flowers in spring.

A couple of nails into what?

It's their fence so I don't think I can add trellis etc

I'd ask them if they minded - I wouldn't have thought it'd be a problem.

The panels are placed across the ugly fence that you want to hide, but they’re really lightweight and because they are fretwork, you can just bang a couple of nails into the fence and hang them up a bit like a picture. I’m sure there is a more professional way of hanging them or you could screw then into the original fence which would be more solid.

You can't bang nails into someone else's fence though @Rainydayinlondon which is why I asked - I don't see how you could hang them with nothing to nail them into.

I've got vine eyes in what's technically our neighbours fence (at the fence posts, not sticking through the boards)... they've been there nearly 30 years with no problem.

If I couldn't attach some form of plant support to a fence I'd probably make some sort of trellis fence a few inches from it. It'd have to be treated to be durable.

But the nails won’t go onto their side?
most people have some sort of trellis etc on fences and they will not be jointly owned

just ask them!

Anyway OP if you are minded look at Trustpilot. Mixed reviews.

I would (and do) put some vine eyes into the posts and run wires between. They will never know and I think it would be ok if they did. That hydrangea would be ideal, I would think honeysuckle will scramble for the sun. Plant some taller shrubs and dog woods, ferns underneath etc. lovely.

Climbing Hydrangea likes a north facing surface. It’s self clinging. Takes a couple of years to get going but two would do the trick.

You could put up obelisks with wires between, and train jasmine, clematis and ivy between them.

Those screen things are fine if you have a modern garden but look awful if you have a traditional garden.

You could try lightweight bamboo reed screening - it comes on a roll in various heights and lengths and takes up very little width.

If you don't want to attach it to the existing fence, make your own free-standing posts. Use plastic plant pots or buckets. Insert an upright sturdy bamboo cane or wooden post and fill with cement. These will hold the reed screen in place, and you can link the posts with wire if required to secure the screen further.

If the upright canes/posts are sufficiently narrow, you could drill a hole in a second pot/bucket large enough to thread it onto each cane, fill it with compost and plant trailing or climbing plants in it to disguise the posts and buckets.

1.8M height x 3M length is £40 on Amazon. Cheap enough to replace every few years when required.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FB-FunkyBuys-Screening-Protective-Protection/dp/B094DBNQ4M/ref=sr_1_2?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.xRIZtO-pYN9_1MBZ0efDSJLeVOBvJdRDhh_3ZYp3XlVCfS8Q4T3Sg07u0Yx8syfykbeDPsT36IDEZmNWtaEVuHGi3rJAAdUILd8gCvaNlx5b2bP1nQZactlT6h3HCyia60xOVZ_X6W4NjX4gtxqdYUGUHaaxD1slwjwjP3RHdF0N9o2AXIXsRfjsOuNqEYx_bR1SUjNFCt1ZsrCJxgQ6_QfuIF6i9Wf16k0nU9C_ZhecfH0kfqlXm4pi_JgmYGDL_PsYUoN5nd72_YtcaeaVG9CpUEdDLZGRjA15kqyW6NI.1x-pY8AGBX-jFbkuyBgs7rlYIMf4Zpnz5L9eFQ-85r8&%3Bdib_tag=se&%3Bkeywords=FunkyBuys%20Bamboo%20Reed%20Screening&%3Bqid=1714337983&%3Bsr=8-2&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Please be careful if you have a dog. Honeysuckle and hydrangea are both poisonous to dogs ☠️

Thanks so much all for the suggestions, lots for me to research there!

I agree with the hydrangea petiolaris, I've got a massive one over my ugly fence (and have two dogs, who have no interest in it).