In the Garden | Screening plants

Landscape design and construction firm Secret Gardens director Matt Cantwell believes using plants to build privacy is key to creating a restful home environment.

“In most metropolitan areas we’re all living pretty close to each other so you want to create this oasis where your garden is a place to spend time in and escape to,” Cantwell says.

Screen planting is a popular green solution. “Rather than spending money on a three-metre-high engineered block wall in the backyard, it might cost almost as much to plant a super advanced hedge there, but it will grow taller. And it’s certainly a lot nicer to look at,” Cantwell says.

Australian native trees, particularly pendulous weeping lilly pillies (Waterhousea floribunda), are Cantwell’s go-to option for hedging. “Lilly pillies are good because they tend to want to grow upwards before they grow sideways.’’

For beach houses and properties in coastal areas with sandy soil, Cantwell favours native coastal trees such as coastal banksias and tuckeroo trees.

The rise of medium and high-density living means many people now reside in townhouses and apartments with limited garden space.

Upright column – or fastigiate – plants are an ideal solution to this, horticulturist and landscape designer Lisa Ellis says.

“Fastigiate plants actually give height and scale that is commensurate with a two-storey residence, they aren’t going to get too wide and need to be pruned and butchered as a result,” Ellis says.

Popular upright plants include ornamental pears, fastigiate oak and fastigiate tulip tree, which have been deliberately cultivated to grow in narrow areas.

When deciding between evergreen or deciduous trees, it’s important to consider the amount of natural light a house gets.

“We’ve had many clients over the years who’ve said they only want evergreen, with no leaf drop,” Ellis says. “But when you explain to them that it’s going to affect their light levels and temperature levels at different times of the year, then deciduous trees make a lot of sense.”