The garden is increasingly seen as somewhere to escape to, to reconnect with nature and forget about the pressures of life. We want it to be private and secluded, too; somewhere to read a book, do a spot of sunbathing or have a few friends over for a drink. But the fact is that most gardens, especially in towns and cities, are public spaces viewed by many more than just their owners.

It’s difficult to unwind fully when you feel as if you’re being spied upon, but more often than not the fear is a psychological one rather than a real one. Instead of going all out for the obvious, expensive, full-on barricade effect of building up your boundaries as high as possible with extra trellis on top for good measure, or buying in a ready-made hedge of the dreaded leylandii, stop for a minute and have a think. There are many ways of increasing the feeling of privacy while at the same time keeping it simple and economical.

First, work out where you want to increase your privacy. Often you’ll find it’s just a few key areas rather than the entire garden. If you want to create secluded seating areas there may be ready-made spots in your garden, say near a wall or a fence, or perhaps near to some mature planting. Look to work these areas into the garden layout rather than starting from scratch. If, however, the seating areas in your garden are already set in (real or imitation) stone, then sit down and look around to see where you can be viewed from. Just by sitting, rather than standing, you’ll see that any screening elements that are brought in may not need to be as high as you thought.

Get a tall stick and imagine it’s a plant or structure, and then ask a friend to walk around the garden holding it in various positions while you’re sitting. You’ll see that the closer it is to you the more it’ll block out any high-level views, say from overlooking windows or balconies. If you want privacy from next-door neighbours it won’t really matter where the screening is as long as it’s between you and them and is above their eye level. This exercise should give you a good idea of the height and width of the elements needed, so you can then consider what will work best within the style of your garden.

Screening plants such as hedges or individual specimen plants such as trees and shrubs will all have their own characteristics, and often a well-placed single plant will work and break up the view. I often use clump-forming bamboos such as the Phyllostachys and Fargesia varieties as a vertical living screen, but they do need plenty of water for the first few years while they establish themselves.

Evergreen shrubs such as photinia, Viburnum tinus, Laurus nobilis, Pittosporum tobira and Osmanthus fragrans will all do the job whether planted formally or informally, and can also be clipped to keep plenty of height while limiting their spread. Do you need the cover in the winter, or is letting light through a priority during these months? Deciduous shrubs such as cotinus, cornus, Sambucus nigra and Euonymus alatus are also wonderful screening plants which will flower and provide great autumn colour, too. You can buy large container-grown specimens at a premium which will give you instant cover; otherwise you’ll have to wait a few years for them to grow.

If money’s no object and you like a formal look, you can plant ready-pleached trees such as limes or hornbeams that look like a hedge on stick. If you get plenty of sun, then tall grasses like the 2m-high Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’ will work well, but as it dies back each year you’ll need to wait till spring for it to give you the cover.

If the problem is being overlooked directly from above, use trees with broad canopies that you can hide under. The hawthorn Crataegus prunifolia or the crab apple Malus floribunda are ideal and will also add plenty of seasonal interest with flowers, fruit and autumn leaf colour, as well as encouraging wildlife into a small garden. If you live in a sheltered part of the world then the exotic, evergreen loquat, Eriobotrya japonica, is a good choice.

Structures such as pergolas, gazebos or divisions such as fencing or trellis will do the trick from day one. They can be made bespoke or bought as a kit, and many provide planting opportunities for climbers. Make sure to incorporate these into the scale of the overall design and choose the materials carefully as they tend to be dominant in a small space. The problem with any permanent solution, especially near the house, is that you are likely to increase shade, too. Lighter materials such as bespoke metalwork or simple, tensioned yachting cables can give plants the support they need without looking too chunky. Ready-made parasols, colonial shades and sail shades can also work well and help style the garden. Be careful of the wind, though, especially on roof terraces, and take these down when not in use. Economic screening products such as off-the-peg trellising or willow, heather and bamboo screening are all available on rolls and can be erected on posts as an immediate vertical screening structure within a garden, but be careful as they can often feel plonked in as an afterthought and only have a short life expectancy.

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