Overlooked garden / retaining wall ideas

[bigee]

Dont know your plans (other than covering the wall obviously ) but how about Ceanothus ? Evergreen,more of a wall shrub,masses of blue in Spring etc.Or Clematis armandii,rampant,quick,evergreen,flowers, can 'hack' (prune if you'd rather ! ) away if going a bit too well ? would just need a few wires for it to grip/twine onto and away it goes. Really lots of options out there,personally i would be planting a combination of plants to ensure both coverage and interest.

[bill swizz]

It looks to be a roughly south facing wall so should be warm enough for a range of climbers. Evergreens can be a problem as lots of them are poisonous so if you have small kids they may not be a good idea. A wire framework attached to the wall and then trellis on the fence should work well, and then could also allow the plants to extend above the fence to increase your privacy.

I would look at getting a couple of large rambling roses (these can go up to 30 metres in spread https://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/Advanced.... as well as Wisteria and several different Clematis which would give a good coverage. Choose a wide variety of species to get a good range of times of year they are in flower, for example winter flowering Jasmine will give small yellow flowers over Jan and Feb. Passion fruit give flowers and fruit for months if the location is warm enough, but can struggle if the winters are too cold so a god choice in the south, but probably not in Scotland.

As others have said don't put Ivy in. It is nightmare to get rid of and damages everything it is on. Also be careful about putting a russian vine in as these grow really fast and take over and again are difficult to get rid of.

[Surfr]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm beginning to formulate a plan for the rear wall.

Build a small retaining wall in front of the main wall in order to create a raised bed in which to plant a variety of evergreen shrubs and climbers like clematis. A few trellis boards at evenly spaced points along the wall rather than covering it entirely will hopefully encourage the climbers upwards. Perhaps wire in between the trellis boards if more encouragement required.

In order to provide some privacy from above, would a pergola against the french doors be overkill on a garden of this size?
Rear of the house:
Untitled by Surfrdan, on Flickr

Patio in foreground leads out from french doors:
by Surfrdan, on Flickr

Something along these lines with a retractible shade/rain protection
Pergola with Shade Cover by Trendsetters Inc, on Flickr

pergolas-echarri-1092 by Jardines Echarri, on Flickr

Edited by Surfr on Tuesday 21st April 16:35

[aberdeeneuan]

Personally, before you go spending money on something of that stature I'd be inclined to get a large cantilever umbrella and then once the houses are occupied you can get a feel for how big an issue the privacy really is.

I like the solution you have for the back wall, but just make sure it's properly drained and I'd be thinking about putting waterproof membrane against that wall in the planters.

[GreenDog]

I think a pergola might swamp a garden of that size, however there are canopies that can be retracted back to the wall when not in use, or how about one of those lightweight cantilevered roofs often used as carports ?