You might need to encourage hubby to build something either side if the screen ;))

Privacy is your issue so laser cut screens is one idea.

More vines could be grown on wires from the existing screen

Beach Contemporary · More Info

Abyssinian banana are fast growing and they have beautiful big leaves which should be better for maintenance.

Here is a photo of one from another dilemma by a houzzer norri [Abyssinian banana[(https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/red-abyssinian-banana-dsvw-vd~3386001) and on the Gardenweb forum there might be someone who can help you.

Personally, I'd go for a screen - if you go the custom route they'll sometimes install them for you too - hopefully this should avoid neighbours being upset by leaves dropping on their side of the fence. My advice is to make sure that the screens aren't attached to the fence (you don't need the pain of the neighbours claiming your screen is putting stress of the fence). Shade sails work but then you're potentially cutting off sunlight hitting your pool.

Try Glauca Pencil pines. No mess whatsoever and grow very narrow. I have these along my back fence too.

Sian makes a great point about shade sails. Plants are beautiful, but can be troublesome around the pool due to falling leaves and debris.

You could try a shade cloth wall as Sian suggests, otherwise we've listed a few different styles below for you to consider too. The poles mean you aren't restricted to pre-existing structures:

Coolaroo Home Shade Installation · More Info

Shade Sail Installation · More Info

Peter Hay Pool · More Info

Sorry but sails on a hot day are useless. There is no evapotranspiration enabled by these structures whereas with trees or vegetation you get natural cooling from plants.

I don't agree that sails are useless. It depends what the sails are being used for. They can certainly provide privacy. And in our case, we have a shade sail to keep the late afternoon sun out of eyes when we're having dinner. Our yard is too small to have plants growing high enough to achieve that particular objective.

Sails are good while trees are growing. Better than a kick in the head, as first hubby used to say.

hi there- i have the same problem too.......currently have a beautiful freestanding bamboo screen (2.3) standing directly in front of the timber boundary fence (1.8). The neighbours have complained and council is making me remove it as it is too high to be that close to the fence (apparently it needs to be .9 from the fence....... impossible as the long pool is only .6 from the fence.

On the narrow strip between the fence and the pool we have 5 tall/mature (10 metre high) palm trees. (each 2 metres apart). The bamboo screen sat perfectly behind these palms and looked fabulous......... now we need ideas of what to do......we were thinking planting in pots would be a way forward but don't want a lot of leaf dropping or maintenance......any beautiful ideas? Something 3-4 metres would probably be enough to block out the lights etc from the neighbouring property.............

Beautiful plant but will get far too big for the position. Labels often don't give a true indication of height. This can get big.

People are either not getting the correct advice or not listening to good advice when using consultants. And pool consultants should be included here.

The garden beds that are being left between pools, decking etc are far too narrow. Home owners are then looking for the magical plant that only grows .5 metre wide. This is impossible! To get the appropriate height with the required width of .5 metre is just not going to work. Ongoing pruning will be required and people can't be bothered.And please understand, bamboo is NOT the panacea for width problems as so many think.

If you want healthy plants, then you need to allow for garden beds to be a MINIMUM of 1.5 metres wide to allow for a plant to grow 3 or more metres tall. 2 metres wide is better, but most won't allow this.

If the yard is too small to accommodate a pool or large expanses of decking then my suggestion is to rethink how you manage the site.

I second the Chinese Star Jasmine idea, it is evergreen so it will not drop leaves in the pool, and the scent is beautiful on the breeze.

So , what did you end up doing?

We had an accommodation business. For screening in the rear courtyards we put in an 1800 wire frame and trained existing wisteria and grapevine climbers over them. One cottage had nothing to train so we put in the non deciduous climbing rose Banksia Rose alba. Small double flowers 6 months of the year. They don't look like roses but are very attractive. On the first cottage we then intertwined these with the wisteria and grapevine so that there would be cover all year. Unfortunately before we sold we forgot to take a photo of the courtyard with only the climbing rose. This is a very fast climber once it starts but can take a year or two to take off. I have attached a photo of it I found online. The yellow one is not as good.

Uploaded houzz photos · More Info

Uploaded houzz photos · More Info

Lovely..........

At Designer Plants we often help customers with privacy needs.

We products such as our Photinia and Laurel Trellis' that I think might interest you.

They are Artificial so they require absolutely no maintenance and they are build to last in the sun - In fact, they come with a 5-year guarantee against cracking and fading.

Each screen is 1 meter by 2 meters however they contract and retract from 1 meter all the way out to approximately 4 meters.

If you're Interested check out our website - www.designerplants.com.au

Alternatively you can contact me directly with any questions - aaron.quarrell@designerplants.com.au - and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Good Luck with the project!