Plant advice for shaded balcony privacy needed!

I have a ground floor shaded balcony which is walked by by everyone entering the building and I want to be able to sit outside in the evening and read without feeling peered in on by everyone who passes.

The balcony is shaded all day and may (I think) be quite breezy in the winter so I really need something thats going to be hardy but that I can buy big enough this year to give me some privacy in the summer months of this year.

I had thought of buying a big indoor fern to be outside this summer and then brought in in the winter months but if there are any ideas on what I could use to be kept out there all winter I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

 

I'd guess the best option would be to put up a trellis and grow a climber over it, perhaps ivy (Hedera), as that is reliably hardy outdoors all year, and tolerates a fair degree of neglect. As well as normal green wild-type ivy, there are numerous cultivars with variegated or yellow leaves, if you prefer that.

 

Thank you very much! I think cimbers would be a good idea. I thought possibly a bamboo plant too as they are quite bushy and tall. Do you think it would be ok outside in the winter?

 

Some of them should be hardy enough, yes. Not sure how well they'd do long term in a pot - if large enough a pot, it should be OK (maybe a large window box?).

 

What are you going to be planting in? A vine can be planted in one spot and be guided via trellis to be wherever you want. For bamboo, or conifers such as yew, or even broadleaf evergreens such as Ilex or Lonicera (or Osmanthus hardy for you?) you need planting space along the whole length of where you want the screening to be. In the case of bamboo, if you don't have it in a trough you need to make sure you buy a clumping, not running, kind.

Screening with plants may be unnecessarily complicated. Have you considered a blind (a bamboo one perhaps :-)) or a standing screen?