Am I right in assuming this is a new house, to you? If so your neighbours will lose interest over time, its natural to see what the new neighbours are up to at first! Even of its not new to you, you are doing interesting and lovely stuff there, so again, they will get bored eventually.
With regard to different planting for your screening, it would look more coherent if the planting was the same or similar, but you could repeat one plant/shrub in both to tie it together and have your front hedge a bit more solid than the side one or vice versa.
I do empathise, it is tricky to focus sometimes when there are so many lovely plants out there and we are all giving you different ideas. Ultimately you just have to go with your gut and what you like. Just remember that nothing is permanent and you can change things later... I get things wrong all the time and shuffle things around, part of being, or learning to be, a gardener.
The horsetail is a worry as it will grow through pretty much anything and a weed membrane will not stop it. That is something to tackle first, as much as possible. Search for Horsetail/Marestail on here as there have been a few threads on how best to deal with it.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Yes Nollie, since I started getting into planting a new garden, I've spent endless time looking at all these lovely plants and it does make the head swim. I am gradually getting a plan and will do it in stages as I go. Yes, will search up the horsetail woes!
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With regard to different planting for your screening, it would look more coherent if the planting was the same or similar, but you could repeat one plant/shrub in both to tie it together and have your front hedge a bit more solid than the side one or vice versa.
I do empathise, it is tricky to focus sometimes when there are so many lovely plants out there and we are all giving you different ideas. Ultimately you just have to go with your gut and what you like. Just remember that nothing is permanent and you can change things later... I get things wrong all the time and shuffle things around, part of being, or learning to be, a gardener.
The horsetail is a worry as it will grow through pretty much anything and a weed membrane will not stop it. That is something to tackle first, as much as possible. Search for Horsetail/Marestail on here as there have been a few threads on how best to deal with it.