11 Ways To Screen Garden From Overlooking Neighbours
With the approach of summer comes the promise of more time spent outdoors, relaxing in your own garden or hosting al fresco dinner parties for loved ones. However, if your garden suffers from overlooking neighbours and you struggle to get privacy in the comfort of your own landscape, then these ideas may seem like mere pipe dreams.
After all, being able to spend time in your garden and unwind on summer days seems impossible when you feel as though you are constantly being watched by those around you. Overlooking neighbours can interrupt the peace and tranquillity you desire from your garden, causing you to spend less time outdoors than you would like.
Luckily, there are ways to screen garden from overlooking neighbours and create your own private sanctuary with careful garden design and meticulous landscape planning. At Heath Landscapes & Garden Design, we have over 20 years of experience in helping people bring their garden dreams to life and can offer expertise for all kinds of outdoor environments.
In this guide, we are going to share some of the most effective ways you can screen garden from overlooking neighbours to create a secluded area you love.
Natural Screening Solutions: Planting For Privacy
One of the best elements of garden design is the incorporation of natural elements, like plants, trees, and shrubs, throughout the landscape. A thriving garden is one that works with the local ecosystem and features various natural elements throughout for depth and engagement.
Natural elements not only offer an aesthetic appeal to your garden, but they can also be used to screen from overlooking neighbours. There are several ways that you can rely on natural elements to create privacy in your landscape, such as:
1) Plant Trees and Shrubs
One of the most natural and aesthetically pleasing ways to create privacy is by planting trees and shrubs around the perimeters of your garden. Using a mixture of trees and shrub species creates an engaging depth to the garden, as well as developing an effective screen from overlooking neighbours around your garden.
Plant trees and shrubs close to the barriers around your garden, taking time to ensure the tallest species will grow in the biggest gaps of your privacy. To ensure you are creating a lasting natural screen with trees, opt for evergreen varieties like conifers, laurels, or privets as these can provide year-round coverage with their lush, green foliage.
A great way to use trees for privacy is by creating a pleached tree screen, which we explore in our post Pleached Tree Screens: The Elegant Way to Add Privacy to Your Garden.
2) Install Bamboo
If you need to create a privacy barrier quickly, then bamboo is your best option. Bamboo is renowned for its rapid growth and density, making it the perfect solution for a natural screen in your garden. This can be a perfect solution to screen from overlooking neighbours in specific areas of the garden, such as around the patio or dining area, and the quick growth means you don’t have to delay your summer plans.
If you are interested in creating an attractive, engaging garden for entertaining, see our post Creating a Stylish & Functional Garden for Entertaining: A Design Guide.
Ensure you choose clumping bamboo varieties, rather than running types, for your natural screen, as these offer the maximum density and therefore the most privacy. Used alone or against fencing, this privacy solution offers visual screening and creates a sense of seclusion in key areas of the garden.
3) Create a Hedge
Hedges are a classic choice for natural screening and can offer a lot of privacy with their dense, green foliage. As these are a classic and common option for all kinds of landscapes, you can rest assured that a hedge will fit perfectly into your garden and provide another enchanting element of natural beauty for you to enjoy.
Plants like boxwood, yew, and holly make fantastic hedges in terms of their density and appearance. These species can also be trimmed to your desired height and shape, making them an ideal natural screen in any garden or in any part of the landscape.
To ensure you are making the best decision for your garden, consider working with a professional landscape gardener. See our post How to Choose a Landscape Gardener to learn more.
Structural Privacy: Professionally Installed Screening
Professional installations can also be a great option for creating more privacy in the garden and screening from overlooking neighbours.
At Heath Landscapes & Garden Design, we offer a range of hardscaping and installation services which can be used to shield your garden from prying eyes to create a safe and secluded environment that the whole family can enjoy.
4) Build a Fence
Installing a high fence is a straightforward and effective way to create privacy and screen your garden from overlooking neighbours.
This is one of the best solutions for any garden privacy concern, as we explore in our post How To Make An Overlooked Garden Private.
Planning permission is not required if your fence, including any trellises, is less than 6.5 feet above ground level, which is more than enough for most locations with overlooking neighbours.
Fences made from wood, vinyl or eco-friendly composite can provide both durability and aesthetic appeal in any landscape. With multiple shades and options available, you can find fencing that suits your needs and enhances the appeal of your garden perfectly.
For additional style and privacy, trellises can be added to the top of your fence, and plants can be trained to grow through them, which offers additional screening through the foliage and flora, as well as added interest to the garden.
5) Erect a Pergola
A pergola can serve as a beautiful and functional addition to your garden, creating a dedicated section for outdoor dining, entertaining or simply lounging on your outdoor seating.
Additional panels can be added to one or more sides of the pergola for screening, protecting you from overlooking neighbours when relaxing or entertaining outdoors, or you can also rely on climbing plants. Training plants like wisteria or grapevines to grow over the pergola, you can create a lush, shaded area that offers privacy from above.
If you are interested in using pergolas as shading or screening over entertainment features, see our post Create A Garden Worth Celebrating: Entertainment Features For Every Landscape.
6) Use Lattice Panels
Lattice panels are incredibly versatile and can be used to create shielded partitions in your garden, neatly separating the areas as well as offering more privacy from overlooking neighbours.
With their unique design and open features, lattice panels can create a sense of enclosure and screen garden from overlooking neighbours while still allowing light and air to flow freely. This allows you to experience the benefits and bliss that come from being in the fresh air, without being totally exposed.
Much like with fencing or pergolas, you can enhance the appeal of lattice panels and their protection using climbing plants, flowers, or even planting hedges to cover them for more effective way to screen garden from overlooking neighbours.
Screen Garden From Overlooking Neighbours On Demand
You may be looking for ways to screen garden from overlooking neighbours for a specific event or during specific times, and therefore do not need a permanent installation in your garden.
Whether you are hosting a garden party and want privacy, or your neighbours have guests over who keep looking over into your private space, there are temporary and highly customisable ways you can screen your landscape.
7) Outdoor Curtains
Outdoor curtains are a highly flexible option for garden screening. They can be used to create secluded and shielded areas on demand, as you simply have to draw the curtains closed to be out of your neighbour’s sight.
Outdoor curtains are ideal to use around pergolas or gazebos to create an intimate and closed-off area, whether you are alone or entertaining guests. There are many options for outdoor curtains, all of which are designed to be light enough to allow the gentle breeze and sunlight to filter through, so you continue to experience the benefits of the great outdoors while screened.
8) Portable Screens
Portable screens are a convenient option for temporary privacy as they are designed to be easily moved, allowing you to screen specific areas on demand.
There are various options for portable garden screens, such as wood, metal, and fabric, allowing you to incorporate this way to screen garden from overlooking neighbours into your overall garden design. Portable screens can be used to block specific views or create private seating areas, protecting your garden from prying eyes whenever you desire.
Decorative Screening Options To Enhance Garden Design
Screening your garden from overlooking neighbours doesn’t have to be boring, as it can be incredibly stylish with the right tools. There are some garden features and landscaping techniques that you can rely on to enhance the appeal of your garden while also ensuring seclusion where you need it most.
10) Use Decorative Panels
Decorative panels are incredibly popular these days and can be purchased from a range of stores, making them instantly accessible for most homeowners. They come in a range of materials, like metal, wood and even vinyl, as well as designs and colours so you can find the best fit for your personal landscape.
Not only are these a simple way to add more colour and interest to the garden, but they can also be a great tool to add more privacy. When installed along a fence, for example, decorative panels can block the view from in between panels while also creating an artistic focal point in the environment.
11) Add Water Features
Screening your garden is not just a visual thing, as sound can also impact your privacy. While you may not be able to see your neighbours, you can likely hear them and vice versa.
This is where water features that incorporate running water, like small waterfalls or fountains, can come in very useful. Not only does the sound of running water create a calming ambience to the space, but the constant noise can help mask conversations and other sounds both within your garden and outside.
This is a dual form of privacy, as it helps to screen your own environment from overlooking neighbours while also blocking out any interruptions they may cause, so you can relax in peace.
Top Tips To Screen Garden From Overlooking Neighbours
Being able to screen garden from overlooking neighbours does not have to hinder your garden design; it can actually enhance it. With some careful planning, you can screen garden from overlooking neighbours effectively and stylishly, so you will want to spend more time enjoying the outdoors.
Our best tips to effectively and stylishely screen garden from overlooking neighbours include:
Mix and Match
The best solutions are often born from collaboration, and the same can be said about screening your garden. Do not feel limited to choosing just one method to protect your environment from overlooking neighbours, and instead get creative with a combination.
Choosing a mix-and-match range of ways to screen garden from overlooking neighbours allows you to develop a dynamic and appealing space which also offers high levels of privacy. By relying on a varied combination, you can develop your own personal style and put a unique stamp on your environment, while also preventing your neighbours from looking in.
Use this as an opportunity to get creative and try a mixture of climbing plants, fences, and water features for all-around garden shielding.
Consider Heights and Angles
When planning your privacy solutions, think about the heights and angles of the surrounding properties and how this will impact any oversight in your garden.
Without this consideration, you may effectively block the view from one particular angle but still face overlooking neighbours everywhere else. This is why relying on a mixture of heights and angles in all garden features and plants is the best option to screen garden from overlooking neighbours at all angles.
Varied angles and heights create depth to your garden, while also providing greater shielding than a uniform design. With this consideration, you can ensure to maintain the peaceful, open appeal of your garden without the threat of prying eyes from outside your created barriers.
Personal Touches
Add personal touches to your privacy screens to make your garden truly your own and allow you to create an environment that reflects your family perfectly.
There are many ways you can add personal touches throughout the garden, whether this is with decorative features, outdoor lighting or even garden structures. For example, adding fairy lights along fences, hanging planters from lattices, or incorporating your favourite plants into living walls.
These small details can make a big difference in the overall vibe of your garden and ensure it is an environment that you truly love. To learn more about the art of garden design and how to ensure success, see our post The Ultimate Guide to Garden Design: Concepts, Costs, and Construction.
Heath Landscapes: Your Local Garden Design Specialists
At Heath Landscapes & Garden Design, we believe that your garden should be a private haven where you can relax in peace and enjoy the beauty of nature around you. With 20 years of experience in landscaping and garden design, our team of experts is dedicated to creating outdoor spaces that meet your needs and exceed your expectations.
We pride ourselves on our quality workmanship, attention to detail, and commitment to customer satisfaction in everything we do. Whether you’re looking to add privacy to your garden, install a new fence or create unique features like garden gyms, we are here to help.
Conclusion
There are various ways you can screen garden from overlooking neighbours, ensuring no matter your location you can enjoy a tranquil, private outdoor haven. As a leading garden designer, Heath Landscapes & Garden Design understands that every landscape is unique, which is why there is no one-size-fits-all solution to any issue.
To create a private, stylish garden, consider using a combination of natural elements, decorative features, and professionally installed structures.
Contact Us Today
If you want to transform your garden into your own private oasis, or simply want to learn more about our services, please contact the team today.
FAQs
What are the best ways to screen my garden from neighbours?
The most effective garden screening combines natural and built elements. Planting trees, shrubs, or hedges creates a lush, evergreen barrier, while fencing, trellis panels, pergolas, and decorative screens provide immediate and reliable privacy. Choosing a mix of methods can enhance both privacy and garden design.
How quickly can I create garden privacy?
Natural screens like trees and hedges take time to grow, but fast‑growing options like bamboo can offer coverage sooner. Structural solutions such as fences, lattice panels, pergolas, and outdoor curtains provide immediate privacy and can be customised to fit your garden style.
Do garden privacy screens affect planning permission?
In the UK, most garden fences do not require planning permission if they are under 2 metres high. Adding trellises or panels that push above this height may need approval in some cases, so it’s always wise to check local regulations before installing taller structures.
