Screening plants for narrow strips

Viburnum Dense Fence. Picture: Ozbreed

With green spaces becoming smaller and smaller for urban dwellers, the search is on for more compact and hardier plant choices.

Some people are opting out all together for a garden and putting in paving and fake grass, but they will be increasing the temperature around their house by at least six degrees and creating a desolate, dead environment.

One of the toughest spots for new homeowners is what to use as a screening plant for the narrow strip between houses. The good news is as long as you can make a garden bed 20-30cm wide, you can grow a green screen.

Below are three great plants to use:

Viburnum Dense Fence is a new compact form of Vibernum odoratissimum with lush green foliage and fragrant flowers in spring. The new growth is bronze/red. It can grow to 3.5m but can be pruned to 1.8m. Dense Fence will grow in full sun or part shade.

Banksia Sentinel is a beautiful narrow-growing banksia with large lemon-coloured flowers that the birds will come to enjoy for months. It's perfect for a narrow driveway or down the side of the house. It will grow in light shade, growing to 2m tall and less than a metre wide.

Leptospermum Starry Night has shiny black-purple foliage and gets covered in starry white flowers its a knockout. The little insectivore birds love it because of the insects it attracts with the pollen. It will grow in full sun or part shade and grows to around 2m high and 1.5m wide.

Reader tip

I have found the perfect mulch. Champagne corks. They shade the soil and reduce wind speed across the surface. Can be applied to various depth which can easily be adjusted. Reduce evaporation. Are light and non water absorbent. Can be easily moved then replaced for new plantings. Last for at least 20 years. At an average of $15 per bottle (i.e. per cork) with 120 corks per pot, thats $1800 a pot or $7200 per sq metre they are not cheap. But fun to "collect". Hic.

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Screening plants for narrow strips