How to add privacy to garden?

[LMadriz]

Hi community, 

How would you get privacy for this garden? 

The fence is around 70mts long and 1.8mts in height. Slats are merbau with gaps around 2cm

The plants we have are viburnum odoratissimum emerald lustre. They’ve grow beautifully during fair weather but get destroyed with a heatwave. I pruned them very hard few weeks ago.

Not sure if I should replace those plants for other type of plants. Or just cover the fence with inserts. Or put a vertical garden. It outdoor fabric screens. Or better care of existing plants. 

Thank you very much for your input 

 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @LMadriz. It's to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about creating privacy.

Do you have an irrigation system set up? If the viburnums are watered deeply and regularly during hot weather, they’ll cope much better with heatwaves. Mulching around the base and using a slow-release fertiliser in spring and autumn can also help them recover from pruning and stress. If you want quicker privacy while the plants recover, you could consider adding outdoor screens, bamboo panels behind the fence slats, or vertical garden panels with heat-tolerant plants. 

Viburnums are generally a solid choice for a living screen, so with proper care, they may bounce back well and save you the cost of replacing them.

You might like to read through these helpful articles: How to choose a hedging plant, How to choose a screening plant. Also, check out our Top 10 most popular screening projects for inspiration.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[LMadriz]

Many thanks for your reply. Love it. I’ll give the plants a better go this year and improve irrigation, soil and mulch.

I still want to find some sort of temporary screens while the plants grow. 

[JacobZ]

Hi @LMadriz,

For some temporary screening, I'd suggest using shade cloth. You can roll it out over the existing fence and use Coolaroo Black Timber Fasteners to hold it in place.

This would be easy to install, and in future, remove, if you'd like to do so.

Let me know what you think.

Jacob

[LMadriz]

Many thanks @JacobZ,

This is perfect, I just went to Mile End and got those two items..

I’ll be cutting the shade cloth in small vertical sections to see how it goes… hopefully the material won’t fray.

Thanks again! 

L