April’s garden feature is all about Screening! You know this is probably the biggest role of garden design, it certainly is the most frequent consideration for my clients.

We live in communities, we are social beings and yet our home is our sanctuary and a green oasis is the best refuge from our busy lives, a place to spend time with our nearest and dearest, insulated from the world. 

So, how can we aesthetically preserve our privacy without making an aggressive defensive statement?

First consider where you are going to sit? Spend time and note the sight lines. A carefully planted tree or three within the garden rather than on the boundary edge can offer better screening. Remember the beauty of perspective: we get greater height coverage from something closer to us.

Pleached trees, which look like hedges on stilts are fabulous solutions for you if you do want to plant on the boundary line, though they are expensive and need time to establish and thicken out.

If you do want to heighten your fence there are legal limits on our fence heights generally at 6ft. However this can increase to 8ft with a trellis or slatted screening.

What is my preference? 

As a designer I would be drawing your focus not on what you need to screen but on what you want to see when you are in your garden. A pergola over a seating area can make a beautiful destination in the garden and provide screening for you when you are dining or chilling. Keep that focus positive and improve what you have in your space rather than bolstering your boundary with trees or fences that will draw your eye to the problem.

For more garden tips and information visit my Facebook page @mimosagardendesign 

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Email: info.mimosadesign@gmail.com
Call: 07737 286784