Since it's already shady, how about planting a tree or two? If you chose a row of evergreens (cedars), that would hide the fence, but take away from the width of the garden.

I would love to plant a tree since we only have one in our yard. Do you think they can handle the snow fall or do you have a recommendation?

Can't recommend anything without knowing your zone and nearest big city.

Regarding trees, consider the amount of space itts crown, roots, and seeds will impose on the neighbor. The person who cut the grass here before we bought this house mowed over and sliced the surface roots essentially killing a beautiful shade tree.

We need a lot mor einfo. I need to see your house for sure. Is the fence yours or the neighbors ? IMO either way it needs a redo or at best a stain job before planting anything in front of it. I have no idea how big the area is so a plot plan would be great . Add pics here and answers to questions too Add them all to comments on this post do not start another . I live where there is tons of snow and lots of rain and have never had any of my landscaping affected by either . I see people here who wrap certain trees in the winter I stay away from that issue by choosing plants that do not require it. My advice is go to a good garden shop in your area and get some real advice as to what does and does not do well in your situation.

It looks like there is at least a walkway space between the house and the fence rather than the fence being right up against the house. How much is the snowfall and rain there impacting the soil on this side of the fence? If the area stays wet, then you will want more water loving plants. If it gets normal or dry when it's not storming then you likely can plant a wider variety of plants. If you get lots of snow, pick plants that are fine with the cold weather.

Do windows of your house face this fence? If so, plan to make this a pleasant place to look at from the house.

How wide is this space? Do you have other outdoor areas that you use for leisure sitting or might you use this area if it had a bench flanked by Japanese maples?

You don't need to cover the adjacent house, just plant interesting things that somewhat taller than what you have now. These will distract the attention from the blue house.

Thank you all for your help! The space is 30 x 12 (narrowing to 10) and in 5b zone - southern VT. Im unfamiliar with planting trees and wondering if I could plant something like in this photo - mixed evergreens and shrubs...

You could certainly get a similar effect but the picture shows a much bigger area than yours with much larger growing trees and shrubs.

Thank you for the location information. It matters.

When you talk about heavy snow, does it blow into drifts in that spot?

Is the paving we see at the bottom of the photo a driveway or something else that has to be cleared?

If it is, how is the paving cleared - plow, snowblower, shovel?

Do you know how much sun the area gets?

I'm thinking you may be best off with an unstory tree like a dogwood or two. Evergreens may be difficult because most conifers like a fair amount of sun, and you may or may not have the acidic soil that most broadleaf evergreens want. Then there is the question of snow load. I have an area outside my dining room, where the garage roof acts as a snow fence. If we get 1 ft of snow, that area ends up with a 3 ft high drift.