I have an open plan front lawn that joins onto my neighbours. The boundary is along the North/West side of the garden.
I'm not wanting to put a solid hedge down - on the one hand I want to break up the view of his front door and drive (and reduce the number of times I get captured and talked at for hours on end when I'm out the front). But by the same token I don't want it screaming 'get lost!'. I like him - I just want some control over when I talk to him! Once he starts a conversation you simply cannot get away - he doesn't give you opportunity to say "Oh, I need to go - I've got a cake in the oven". He just keeps talking. I've spent last year tackling a 'viewing platform' he's built at the back - a deck level with the top of our fence! That's now been sorted with a series of pergola's and bamboo. I guess that experience has made me sensitive over privacy.
I've created a bed that runs 2/3 of the way down the boundary. The flower bed sweeps around my house then curves down the boundary line. There are two areas that are about 4-5 foot deep and the joining bits narrow down to about 2 foot. The shape of the bed makes it ideal to get a couple of nice, tall (5 foot or so) shrubs in with shorter shrubs around it. I'll put the tall plants in the spots that will best hide our view of his car and front door (where he always catches our eye to start a 10 hour 'conversation').
I need plants with height rather than width. The beds aren't huge and I want room for annuals at the front. We're in Scotland - cold, wet climate. Full sun, fairly exposed to the prevailing winds. Ideally something that will grow up quite quickly. I'm wondering if a small tree (weeping cherry for example) might be suitable in this situation? But presumably you couldn't plant around it's base? But the idea I want is something tall surrounded by smaller shrubs and annuals.
Any suggestions? I like a cottage garden kind of a look.
I'm not wanting to put a solid hedge down - on the one hand I want to break up the view of his front door and drive (and reduce the number of times I get captured and talked at for hours on end when I'm out the front). But by the same token I don't want it screaming 'get lost!'. I like him - I just want some control over when I talk to him! Once he starts a conversation you simply cannot get away - he doesn't give you opportunity to say "Oh, I need to go - I've got a cake in the oven". He just keeps talking. I've spent last year tackling a 'viewing platform' he's built at the back - a deck level with the top of our fence! That's now been sorted with a series of pergola's and bamboo. I guess that experience has made me sensitive over privacy.
I've created a bed that runs 2/3 of the way down the boundary. The flower bed sweeps around my house then curves down the boundary line. There are two areas that are about 4-5 foot deep and the joining bits narrow down to about 2 foot. The shape of the bed makes it ideal to get a couple of nice, tall (5 foot or so) shrubs in with shorter shrubs around it. I'll put the tall plants in the spots that will best hide our view of his car and front door (where he always catches our eye to start a 10 hour 'conversation').
I need plants with height rather than width. The beds aren't huge and I want room for annuals at the front. We're in Scotland - cold, wet climate. Full sun, fairly exposed to the prevailing winds. Ideally something that will grow up quite quickly. I'm wondering if a small tree (weeping cherry for example) might be suitable in this situation? But presumably you couldn't plant around it's base? But the idea I want is something tall surrounded by smaller shrubs and annuals.
Any suggestions? I like a cottage garden kind of a look.