Understanding plant growth, shape, colour, texture and form is essential for good garden designs. You want a garden that will live a long life, provide beauty and inspiration. This is the case for large expansive big budget gardens to simple plantings.

Today I was pruning a mixed Australian native screen that is planted along a narrow strip (approx 300mm) of garden bed that runs along a driveway. This is just not enough room for such large shrubs, there is no point to this planting, it doesn’t look uniform because of the mixed species and it requires regular pruning so the growth doesn’t impact on the cars.

Try using climbers to green a fenceline. Durable and effective climbers you can use include:
• Ficus pumila, an evergreen self supporting climber that grows sucker pads to cling onto a wall or the like surface;
• Trachelospermum jasminoides or Aphanopetalum resinosum, both are evergreen twining climbers that do require support to climb but will provide you with a rich green wall dense in habit from the base to the height required.

Climbers do require regular pruning, but they will give you better uniformity along a difficult narrow site. Again, it’s about choosing the right plant for the site.