Privacy Please

How to create privacy with screening plants.

- Adam Woodhams

There’s a saying that’s likely as old as suburbia: “Good fences make for good neighbours.” Personally, I think it’s time to reboot that expression to “Good hedges grow great neighbours!” If you need privacy at your place, it’s worth looking first at hedging and screening plants as they can do many things that fences and built screens never can.

Probably the first thing to get your head around is the difference between plants grown as a screen and those put in as a hedge. There’s no hard and fast rule to determine the difference beyond this:

Hedges provide total block-out while screens break a view.

A hedge will be dense, generally from top to bottom, and will block out light and views. A hedge can also be a very effective windbreak.

A planted screen will break a view and still allow dappled light through. A screen will soften wind but won’t work as a windbreak in the traditional sense.