neighbours extention!

We have a new view - Outside our patio doors we are now hit with our neighbours 4.5m high extention to the left - the garden at this point is narrow at only 4/5m deep and very wide at about 25-30 mtr - we currently have a narrow border all the way along with a slight curve at either end a a fence I painted white - as their house is white - I don;t know if I should disguise their building with something to grow up or a summer house of our own.  or try to create a feature at the other side of the garden? Any ideas for my very short wide no view garden.  I'm worried if I plant trees etc I will have no light left in the house at all as that is the southly direction so will shade us not them!

As with all questions like this-a picture paints a thousand words

Any chance?

I have the same problem from my kitchen window I have now the equivalent of a toilet block where once a garden stood.I like you want to cover this from sight.I am planning on a trellis along the fence with my favorite Montana clematis to climb ,if possible over the block as well!!!

You could erect 2 or 3 metre high posts at 2 or 3 metre intervals and in concrete for stability then string tensioned wires between them then train a climber over them.  A strong rambling rose such as Kiftsgate which will get to 10 metres so can be trained along the wires.  It will give masses of frothy, white scented blooms in June and then produce hips in autumn.  You could extend the season of interest by growing a summer flowering clematis from the viticella group or maybe a honeysuckle for more scent.    Paul's Himalayan Musk is another rambler to consider as it will grow to about 9 metres.

Such a project would shield the view from your patio doors without cutting all the light and would need little maintenance except for regular tying in of stems and pruuning of dead wood in spring.  

I'm just wondering how lng the extension has been there. Have you had a whole summer with it there, so you can observe how it has affected the light?

That much fencing is begging out to be coloured and then planted up giving you a wall of great opportunities to plant from early spring to late winter. Colouring the wood pushes the plants forward so that you notice them. Black is good but in a dark garden cream or white or another pale colour is fabulous. I don't have fencing but a low wall which I am currently putting trellis on to give me height. Jasmine - clotted cream, the roses mentioned previously, clematis armanii, winter honeysuckle, summer honeysuckle, summer clematis, there are some great climbers that are annuals and allow you to change up every year.  I actually envy your garden. 

You are a woman after my own heart, Muvs. The issue of light and shade is important though, as I found when I planted up a border next to our summerhouse. Our garden gets lots of sunlight (well, it would if the sun came out) so I was taken by surprise when lots of things in that area did not thrive because of the amount of shade. I'm going to have to replant it this year. That;s why I asked about how long the extension has been there.

Lucy, did you say that anything between you and the new extension would cast shade? Would any border in front of the fence be in the shade? If so, for how much of the day, please?

Another solution would, as mentione above, be to paint the fence either black, dark green or cream so it becomes a feature that attracts the eye and shows off the plants better.

You could construct a pergola outside your patio windows and train a grapevine along it.  South facing is an ideal spot.   This would give you something else to block the view upwards to your neighbour's extension, somewhere to sit and enjoy a bit of shade at th eheight of summer and something to eat too.  

I'd probably erect a pergola, grow some nice climbers up and over it, have a bench or seat under it, that way your eye is drawn to the forefront rather than the extension. You could trellis the top 2 or 3 foot of the fence and train climbers up, it's all about tricking the eye, if there is lots of movement/colour/texture in front of the extension, you really won't even notice it.