Miscellaneous
DESIGN ELEMENTS How to Create a Sense of Enclosure. In the middle of winter, the only sun you can see may be outside. So it would be nice to venture outdoors into the winter sun but what if you're overlooked? May not feel so welcoming. So what can you do? Magnolia grandiflora 'Teddy Bear.' 4-5m height (pictured) I talk with garden designer Peter Nixon of Paradisus Garden Design. What you want is some sort of screening hedge or planting that not only hides that fence, but hides it well enough so you don't see any fence. That would mean you need that the 'bole length' or the gap between ground level and the first branch, is at a minimum. So what can you choose? Here are Peter's best tips:Choose things that stay dense and non transparent from the ground. Choose useful heights, especially if it's the northern boundary because you don't want to cut the winter sun. Recommended plants . Magnolia hybrid "Fairy." ht 3m Heliconia 'Hot Rio Nights.' for northern sub-tropical zones.(norther rivers and up). height 3m, lush paddle leaf. Hibiscus boryanus- plant in areas where temperatures are above 5 Deg C Drepanostachyus falcatum -Blue Bamboo is a clumping bamboo height 4m You can underplant with smaller shrubs but you need to do this at the same time as you plant the larger shrubs otherwise the soil underneath will be compacted with the roots.