How to landscape narrow side of house?

Cbennett

Hello, hoping to get some help on landscaping ideas for the side of our house. It's a narrow space at 1.2m wide and want to do something that will provide screening/privacy from the neighbours as our house sits higher and we can see over the fence into their place. We get part sun/shade throughout the year. We have a fair number of windows that look out to the space so want to ensure if looks nice. Not looking to just pave the space as we love plants. Thanks

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Cbennett. It's amazing to have you join us and many thanks for your question on landscaping.

That’s a nice space to work with, but at around 1.2m wide it does come with a few limitations, especially when you’re trying to achieve privacy as well as keep it looking green and attractive from your windows.

One thing to be mindful of is the soil condition. It looks like fairly compacted sandy fill, which can struggle to support lush plant growth without improvement. You’d likely need to condition the soil with compost/organic matter or consider raised garden beds to get the best results. Even then, in a narrow strip like this, you’re generally limited to smaller shrubs or natives, as larger screening plants won’t have enough root space to thrive long-term.

Because of that, achieving privacy purely with plants may be difficult, especially to get height above the existing fence. A more effective approach could be to look at a fence extension, for example, a slatted or lattice-style topper (including Colorbond-compatible options). This gives you the height for privacy, and then you can soften it with climbing plants to keep that green, natural look.

Just keep in mind that since your property sits higher, any fence extension could impact your neighbour’s side, so it’s worth checking local council regulations and having a quick conversation with your neighbour before going ahead.

For planting, you could look at a mix of climbers and compact shrubs that handle part sun/shade and tighter spaces:

Climbers (great for vertical screening):

• Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) – evergreen, fragrant, good coverage
• Hardenbergia (Native Wisteria) – hardy native, fast-growing
• Pandorea jasminoides – attractive flowers, suits narrow spaces

Compact screening shrubs:

• Lilly Pilly (dwarf varieties like ‘Resilience’ or ‘Straight & Narrow’)
• Westringia (coastal rosemary) – very hardy, clips well
• Viburnum (kept trimmed narrow)

From a layout point of view, you could combine:

• A narrow planting strip with improved soil or raised beds
• Stepping stones or gravel for access
• Vertical elements (climbers on trellis or fence extension)
• Feature plants near windows for visual interest

That way, you’ll end up with something that looks lush from inside, while still working within the space you’ve got. Checkout these helpful articles: How to choose screening plants, How to choose a hedging plant and How to add an extension to a Colorbond fence. Also, you might like to check out this ever-popular community project: Training climbers to screen a fence by @royq.

Here's an AI image I generated for some inspiration.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell