Property immediately at end of garden, advice on improving view?

Thinking some more, how are you with computers, specifically graphics software? That's a pretty clear photo. It would serve well as the backdrop to go into any paint app, then you can drop in some stock images of various small trees and plants to get an idea of what it could look like. If you're a master of graphic design, great, but if you're not, even just sketching over it with crude lollipop trees will give you an idea of where the focal points will be.

 

I just think that once the fences are covered with some kind of plants/greenery the wall will look less evident.
I think you really need to look at what you want to do in your own garden before worrying about that wall.
The way the patio/slabs stop is very odd, and makes the whole picture look odd.

To me that wall would be my last problem.

Create some interest in your garden and the wall wont appear to be so evident.

 

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions everyone, so much great stuff and many things I hadn't even considered which is exactly what I came here for.

I've got a garage which I don't use for the car, so don't think I need a shed. A garden office could be a thing though!

Ah now that's something I hadn't thought of. Perhaps I can convince the neighbours to grow something up the wall in future.

So many great ideas coming from this forum. Thank you and yes I will update in future!

I was thinking maybe up to 1m high? I don't mind really investing time/work/a bit of money into a solution if its going to be good. Hardest part of that is probably all the soil!

Thank you Yes I have been checking the max heights when looking at conifers and some grow far too big. Good info on the roots etc, much appreciated.

Cupressus looks interesting in height and the compact root ball, but maybe a little too thin for the purpose I'm going for.

Unfortunately there is a 1m gap between my fence and the wall itself, which is how that house access their rear garden, so I can't plant anything directly to grow up the wall.

Thanks - any suggestions on suitable tree's? I probably need to be a bit careful on the right side not to block the sun that the house isn't already blocking though.

I'm planning on adding some raised beds down the sides and filling them out with lots of nice plants, so perhaps could start with this and see if it takes the focus off!

Good idea, I'm a software engineer but not too bad with graphics apps. I'll have a play about and post results if I come up with anything half decent looking.

I hope that is the case! the patio is very odd to me too, they extended it behind the garage which I can't make sense of. I plan to take out 3-4 slab rows from the end of that column and redistribute them to the right, so its a straight patio all along the house. Then add some raised beds down the sides and perhaps separating the patio and the lawn. Maybe a bit of curve on the patio if I get ambitious!

 

On request from @Clueless 1 v2, here's a mockup of the conifers + raised planters approach - sort of! perspective/sizes are all a bit off, can't seem to get them far back enough.



I think that's shown me though that the menace of the house is still going to remain no matter what I do. So it's definitely a case of softening it or at least doing what I can within my space to make it as nice as possible regardless.

Might try a few other ideas with this too.

 

Try putting those conifers down the side, see how it changes the focus.

 

Yeah I tried to put the intended flower beds down the sides as well for a more "complete" picture as I felt the whole view is still leading to the end, but the perspective is difficult. I'll give it a few more attempts. 3d modelling it might be easier but I'll see what I can do in either case.

 

I'd agree with @Clueless 1 v2 . I'd concentrate on the two sides with something like Drimys winterii and leave the blank wall at the end as a non-intrusive, nice feature in itself.

 

Trouble with conifers is that they take up a lot of space, I find.
Constant trimming and take all the moisture out of the ground.

One medium sized deciduous tree central at that end of the garden would break up the outline of the wall after a while.

 

I pass a couple of gardens that have tried to develop a row of conifers similar to the one in the mock up picture of what is planned for the garden on my way to work and they have not ended up as intended and I don't think are a good option. The chance of each conifer working out to grow in an even size with the rest is low from what I have seen and the examples I pass have developed to a have a couple of trees not going the way they were supposed to. On one site it is a completely dead tree in the row makes it look odd and in the other one it is simply one of them has not got as tall as the rest makes the row look strange and not something I would like to look at a lot anyhow. If they were all trimmed they could be more even but conifer hedges especially Leyland cypress end up being a lot of work to keep to a limited size which is something I would try to avoid.

A garden is a very personal thing as to how we like to use it and see it develop but looking at the blank canvas in the initial photo my thoughts would be for a row either side of the garden with fruit trees. These are often sold on root stock that will keep them to a size that would be appropriate for most gardens and they can be pruned regularly anyway if they are getting bigger than required. If the patio was to remain as is I'd have one row shorter than the other to compensate for the patio taking up more space on that side. Looks to me like you could get three trees on one side and maybe four on the other but it depends how big you would like to let them grow. I'd go for a mix of apples and pears but it depends on what fruit you like to eat. If you are determined to get something to block the view of the wall I think a single specimen of a large growing shrub like a bay laurel that would cover a lot of the brick from view might be worth considering but these may grow wide as well as up and take up too much space so a small/medium size tree like an Amelanchier(Juneberry) or Prunus cerasifera nigra might be better. Even a climber on a trellis will take time to grow so I don't think an immediate solution for covering it is achievable.

Happy gardening!

 

Another problem with them, as I discovered the first time I threw leylandii trimmings in my incinerator bin, is that even when still green, they are surprisingly flammable.

There have been cases in the news where some local toe rag has set fire to conifer hedges and it rapidly becomes a major incident.

 

I am useless at thinking everything through at the start, so other people here have better ideas. It is good that the solid wall doesn't have windows to overlook you, so it is positive for privacy. I don't know what the safety and security is like in your area, but I was once told by a rose expert that the climbing rose Mermaid is one of the thorniest invader deterrents available. It looks very pretty too. I remember thinking that if I ever lived anywhere with a big garden that needed protection, then I would plant Mermaid.

My instinct, probably wrong, would be to plant tall trees right at the back of your garden and get big climbing roses, monsters like Mermaid, to climb through them. Of course you have to consider which trees have roots that won't undermine the foundations of your house or your neighbour's house. I would look for trees that are both tall and with non-invasive roots.

I am envious, I would love the space and an excuse to plant tall trees. Not leylandii, something pretty, maybe Himalayan silver birch, though I don't know if their root systems are suitable close to a house.

I couldn't resist a quick look on the Woodland Trust's website. They have Rowan, Silver Birch, Hazel, etc. It says Hazel grows up to 30 feet (10 metres). Silver Birch taller. It says Rowan traditionally wards off evil spirits.
Hazel (Corylus avellana)
Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia)

 

Our local weatherspoons has Himalayan birch in their beer garden. Being right in the centre of town it's more of a large patio than a garden. They have Himalayan birch in large containers. I remember them planting up maybe 25 years ago, and they're still there now, albeit somewhat larger, but still very much under control. I guess they probably get a tree surgeon in from time to time to lop off the odd wayward branch to keep them tidy.

 

My first thoughts were the same as @Clueless 1 v2 .
No windows, a bonus these days with modern housing.

 

How about Euonymus Matthew? Evergreen with various colours and heights.

The RHS always supply good plants but come up a little dearer than nurseries. The link below is worth a look. If you find something you like you can always buy elsewhere.

Buy Euonymus: (rhsplants.co.uk)