What can I plant that will screen a fence but very thinly to not lose space

Honestly I think a vine/climber is your best bet if you want to keep it narrow. I'd suggest star jasmine

 

As long as they get plenty of light (not a south facing wall), could keep straight and narrow to 60cm trimmed edge of fence easily. I think you could get away with 70-80cm no problem if you keep tops trimmed and regularly prune resilience. If allowed to grow tall the trunks will eventually get 15-20cm wide. I’m using them for narrow hedges at the front and side of house and tall screen at back.

 

I like this idea better
Far less ongoing/regular maintenance
Won't block out too much sun
You could buy better looking rectangular pots, or build a small border wall to hide the pots
Would probably paint the fence a dark charcoal first

 

Agree with this suggestion 100%.

 

So even with 20cm trunks you reckon can make as skinny as 600mm?

 

Yeah they won’t get near that wide if you keep them at 2m high. They can get up to that thickness if let grow to their max height of 5m in good conditions. You see lots of ppl growing them as narrow hedges at front and down sides of houses

 

Do wires along the fence?

 

Yes. You could literally just put up some chicken wire on the fence for it to grow around or go with some wires to start off it's growing journey



You can make fancy patterns but if it's going to be looked after by a tenant they won't be pruning it and you probably want it to screen the whole fence anyway Climbers to dress up Colorbond fence | Bunnings Workshop community

 

Yes I just want green coverage of the whole fence. In this photo above will it jump across the cables and cover all the black without any training?

 

Yes after about 18mths it should cover the whole fence

 

Does it need to be pruned? How thick will it get? When you prune it will it kill bits if you chop through a vine given that it will be tangled? I pruned one of these once and killed large parts of it. Ended up with dead tangled vines hanging on the fence amongst some still alive stuff. Maybe I was too aggressive?

 

What about a screening like this Lattice Makers 1 x 3m Willow Screening - Bunnings Australia with some pots in front. or artificial hedge UN-REAL 180 x 300cm Artificial Hedge Printed Screen - Bunnings Australia. Or maybe someone could paint you a garden mural.

 

I want real plants. And that are in the ground. More resilient. Set and forget

 

Perhaps too agressive. I wouldn't expect that you would need to prune it for years but if you do then you prune the front face of it with your shears parallel to the fence to reduce the risk of cutting any of the growing stems that are part of the plant growing vertically

 

Bamboos on a pot is ok. It is so hard to remove it's roots.

 

Plants in the ground have the potential to grow to FULL SIZE, and will require more ongoing regular maintenance .....

Also, should you move, easier for the new owner to remove pots if their taste differs