Using planters to create a screen

Need a little more privacy from neighbours or looking to hide an unsightly wall or fence? Planters with tall screening plants can help

Quite often we could do with a bit more privacy from neighbours on terraces or roof gardens, and using  planters for privacy can be a good option, either instead of a fence or trellis, or indeed to hide an ugly fence or other partition.  Often in the areas that need to be screened there is no suitable planting bed, so a planter is the only way to introduce greenery. 

Hedging plants in containers

If you need dense evergreen screening, you can plant many common hedge plants in large rectangular planters.  Examples would include laurel, privet and pittosporum. We would recommend a width and height of at least 50cm (at whatever length is required) to give enough root room for the plants to grow well.  Be prepared to water regularly and feed during the growing season. 

Tall and narrow planters

The taller the planter the higher the screen, but there are a couple of things to bear in mind.  Tall and narrow planters will be inherently less stable than a low, wide trough, especially if planted with something tall growing. This can be an issue in exposed areas, although it can be mitigated to an extent by weighting the base with chunky gravel or larger stones.  Also, while the volume of soil in a taller planter may be the same as a wider lower one, it is not as readily available to root systems, which (in most cases) tend to want to spread laterally rather than down. Generally therefore you would want to plant smaller plants (= less screening value) in a tall slim planter.

We have only a small selection of slim rectangular planters in our range, but can make custom sizes to suit in powder coated steel or Corten steel.

Climbing plants

The best way to soften or disguise a hard boundary is to cover it with a climber, and most climbing plants do well in a container. Choose the largest planter you can for the space, to allow for plenty of root growth.  

Planters with trellis attached

We can supply custom steel planters with an integral wire trellis for climbers, although this is only feasible for larger orders.  The uprights that support the trellis can be wood or steel, and they drop into welded support brackets inside the planter.

Movable planters

For added flexibility in screening, we can add castors to steel planters, both powder coated and Corten.  They can be added to our standard sizes and to any custom size at a cost of £100 - £150.