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North facing fence and planter ideas

stylers_meal.0nstylers_meal.0n Posts: 1
in Problem solving
Hi, just after some advice and ideas please 🙏 
we recently had decking installed, and a planter to act as a barrier for the children as there was a drop. To do this they removed a conifer, we then had a new fence installed yesterday and now all is ready to ‘soften’ and plant away! 
Any advice on how to soften the fence (north facing), also hide the ugly conifer gap, and grow in the planter?
thanks in advance! :smile:  

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Hakonechloa macra for the planter?

    There is also a golden variety which would break up all the green.
    The seedheads will soon appear giving it a soft and airy feel and in winter the papery dead foliage still looks good and sounds great rustling in the breeze.

    Welcome to the forum :)

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I don't think the planter has enough width to plant anything very big. Photos can be deceptive but it looks as if it's very skinny, only maybe 10 or 12 inches wide. Perhaps some trellis/wires on the fence and maybe a narrow piece of trellis against the end of the hedge (it's conifer so it probably won't green up across the cut end), Then you could have annual climbers grown from seed each spring in that end of the planter, or maybe one of the smaller clematis (alpina or macropetala types, spring flowering, will take drier conditions than the others).
    If you could get some very big, wide and deep pots you could have shrubs against the fence to soften it.
    For the rest of the planter, if it gets plenty of sun maybe dwarf lavenders or mediterranean herbs like thyme, or the smaller kinds of shrubby salvias (Mirage Deep Purple is a nice one that stays smaller for me than most of the others). Summer bedding plants or some of the tougher alpines like aubretia would also be OK in the planter, and something that trails over the edge would soften the appearance and break up the wall of wood.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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