Climbers to go on shed/fencing - suggestions, please.
Pat Winstanley
I have a shed about 8ft tall as well as (rather old and fragile) cheap
fairly loosely woven sort of fencing about 6 ft - 10 ft tall. The yard
is about 20-30ft long and about 15-20 ft wide and the fencing goes along
both long and one short side.
I'd like to plant something that will climb up the shed and the fencing
to about those heights, and manage more or less on its own in a shady,
or half day sun and half day shady area.
The soil is basically clay (waterlogged in places for a while after
heavy rain) and not wonderful quality (though I'm gradually adding and
digging in multi-purpose compost). The spot is at the edge of an outlet
from a wind-tunnel phenomen - alleyway between two houses in line with
prevailing winds!
I'd like something(s) evergreen (or pref orange or copper or whatever
colour leaf) that also (if possible) flowers at some stage during the
year and doesn't go rampant and need trimming every week! Don't mind if
it spreads out sideways along the fences/shed gradually (and over the
shed roof). Would also be nice if a selection of different climbers were
to flower/colour-change at different times for a relatively 'dynamic'
display.
Rather not roses if possible. No particular reason except that there are
roses everywhere on the estate and I'd like something a bit different.
Also, the shed and fencing could do with a coat of creosote or similar
beforehand - how long between painting and planting? And anything to
watch out for in the 'paint' used?
And will I need to offer extra support/'handholds' for the plants as
I've needed to do for the peas planted close to the fence (yum!!! ;-))?
What sort of size plants should I be looking to buy? Tiddlers or ones a
few feet tall already?
Any suggestions for a novice, folks?
All suggestions much appreciated!
--
Pat Winstanley
MuckEpup
<pee...@NOSPAMpierless.demon.co.uk> writes:
>[snip]
>
>I'd like to plant something that will climb up the shed and the fencing
>to about those heights, and manage more or less on its own in a shady,
>or half day sun and half day shady area.
>
>The soil is basically clay (waterlogged in places for a while after
>heavy rain) and not wonderful quality (though I'm gradually adding and
>digging in multi-purpose compost). The spot is at the edge of an outlet
>from a wind-tunnel phenomen - alleyway between two houses in line with
>prevailing winds!
>
>I'd like something(s) evergreen (or pref orange or copper or whatever
>colour leaf) that also (if possible) flowers at some stage during the
>year and doesn't go rampant and need trimming every week! Don't mind if
>it spreads out sideways along the fences/shed gradually (and over the
>shed roof). Would also be nice if a selection of different climbers were
>to flower/colour-change at different times for a relatively 'dynamic'
>display.
>
[snip]
First thing that springs to mind is ivy<G> Its evergreen, spreads at at
reasonable rate (one of mine went from less than a foot wide and 2 feet tall to
4 feet tall and 6 feet wide in 3 years - with some training and annual
trimming) and comes in various leaf shapes, plain colours, variagated or with
reddish-brown veins on the leaves. It needs a bit of help to cling to fences in
the first year or so - I loosely tied mine to a trellis fence.
Honeysuckle doesn't mind some shade and produces wonderfully fragrant flowers
in summer.
Virginia Creeper will grow in shade, spreads quite rapidly and goes beautiful
shades of red in early autumn. It is deciduous though and may swamp other
plants with its large leaves if you want several creepers growing together.
I have all three in partially-shaded areas on clay soil, and all are thriving.
>Also, the shed and fencing could do with a coat of creosote or similar
>beforehand - how long between painting and planting? And anything to
>watch out for in the 'paint' used?
You can get 'plant-friendly' paint in creosote-type colours in big buckets for
about 6 quid or so from DIY stores. I have had no problems treining plants on
this as soon as it is dry. I'd avoid normal creosote - it leaves an oily
residue on the wood for ages.
[snip]
>
>What sort of size plants should I be looking to buy? Tiddlers or ones a
>few feet tall already?
Depends on your personal preference<G> tiddlers will, of course, take longer
to reach a decent size but are much cheaper!
A lot of garden centres sell the most common creepers about 2 to 3 feet tall
for about 8 quid each (would probably reach the required height in about 3
years). If you are feeling flush, some places have more mature specimens - I've
seen an 8 ft ivy for 45 quid!
Alan Deverill
Winstanley <pee...@NOSPAMpierless.demon.co.uk> writes
>
>I have a shed about 8ft tall as well as (rather old and fragile) cheap
>fairly loosely woven sort of fencing about 6 ft - 10 ft tall. The yard
>is about 20-30ft long and about 15-20 ft wide and the fencing goes along
>both long and one short side.
a waterfall of pink/white springish, dependent on the sun ;-) It is
deciduous so you could use an Ivy.
>
>I'd like to plant something that will climb up the shed and the fencing
>to about those heights, and manage more or less on its own in a shady,
>or half day sun and half day shady area.
in late summer.
>The soil is basically clay (waterlogged in places for a while after
>heavy rain) and not wonderful quality (though I'm gradually adding and
>digging in multi-purpose compost).
>The spot is at the edge of an outlet
>from a wind-tunnel phenomen - alleyway between two houses in line with
>prevailing winds!
>
>I'd like something(s) evergreen (or pref orange or copper or whatever
>colour leaf) that also (if possible) flowers at some stage during the
>year and doesn't go rampant and need trimming every week! Don't mind if
>it spreads out sideways along the fences/shed gradually (and over the
>shed roof). Would also be nice if a selection of different climbers were
>to flower/colour-change at different times for a relatively 'dynamic'
>display.
>
>Rather not roses if possible. No particular reason except that there are
>roses everywhere on the estate and I'd like something a bit different.
>
>Also, the shed and fencing could do with a coat of creosote or similar
>beforehand - how long between painting and planting?
There is a plant friendly paint you can get from B & Q I think, comes in
a large container, I forget what its called.
>And anything to
>watch out for in the 'paint' used?
Avoid creosote plants dislike it, and it smells some thing rotten;-)
>
>And will I need to offer extra support/'handholds' for the plants as
>I've needed to do for the peas planted close to the fence (yum!!! ;-))?
Stretch wires along the length of the fence, about 18" to two foot apart,
use staples to hold in place.
>
>What sort of size plants should I be looking to buy? Tiddlers or ones a
>few feet tall already?
Do you want a near instant impact of colour?
The trend seems to be going towards "young" people wanting instant
gardens without the graft and attention involved in raising young plants
to mature specimens.
--
Alan
I could dance with you until the cows come home.
On second thoughts I'd rather dance with the cows 'til you come home.
Groucho Marx
Janet Tweedy
<muck...@aol.com> writes
>If you are feeling flush, some places have more mature specimens - I've
>seen an 8 ft ivy for 45 quid!
>
hate the stuff, I have so much growing through my hawthorn hedges that
it takes agaes to yank a fair bit out to tidy things up. It also grows
up trees at the bttom of the garden and the woman opposite couldn't
figure out for some eyars why her variagated ivy was so luxuriant and
had to be pruned every year. Then just beofre she moved (probably
coincidentally) they found it had decided to grow its way into the
sewage pipes!!!
Lovely...............
Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Norm
real problem with common Ivy growing over my fence. The roots seem to be on
the side of the public footpath at the side our house. We have had a real
problem with Slugs and Snails all summer. That;s were the buggers were
hiding. Coming out at night and chomping away at my stock! Anyways, we
hacked as much of it down as we could and found that some of it was growing
in our neighbours garden. He is a miserable old wotsit who never does any
gardening. His garden is just full of weeds and ivy. Rather than confronting
him with our complaint, I painted some Gel on a few leaves. It was rather
satisfying to watch it die over the space of two weeks! 8-). First the
leaves went limp, then they went brown then the whole plant died.
Marvellous! We had to repeat the application after a week though... The ivy
was becoming a real menace. It had started to grown into the soil around our
heathers and choisya taking vital nutrients out of the soil. It was layering
itself into our beds!
Death to ivy! I am with Janet on this one. It's the bane of my life! That
and snails and slugs!!
Norm
Janet Tweedy wrote in message ...
Alan Gould
<pee...@NOSPAMpierless.demon.co.uk> writes
>Hope you knowledgable folk can help with this...
Don't restrict your selection by imposing too many conditions. There are
plants to meet any of your requirements, but none can meet all of them.
Honeysuckle, clematis, jasmine, wisteria, ivies, vines including grape
vines, virginia creeper, loganberries and cultivated brambles to mention
a few. You could even chance a kiwi fruit if you are feeling daring.
Proprietary wood preservatives will not affect plants if used according
to the manufacturers instructions. Creosote should be avoided near to
the house, it is more suited to fencing posts etc. and needs time to
mellow.
If you are buying plants, go for second or third year pot grown ones.
They are a little dearer than raising your own cuttings but it is a
worthwhile investment which will last for several years.
--
Alan and Joan Gould
Pat Winstanley
<no...@bigfoot.com> writes
>Death to ivy! I am with Janet on this one. It's the bane of my life! That
>and snails and slugs!!
Perhaps I should avoid ivy, then? ;-)
Talking of slugs I have found where one of the lairs is, and the
entrance to the lair is from flagstones and a manhole cover... a semi-
circle of salt (where it can't easily wash into the cultivation areas)
produced quite a satisfying haul overnight.
--
Pat Winstanley
Pat Winstanley
<al...@agolincs.demon.co.uk> writes
>In article <9PBx$kBPnf...@pierless.demon.co.uk>, Pat Winstanley
><pee...@NOSPAMpierless.demon.co.uk> writes
>>Hope you knowledgable folk can help with this...
>snip....
>
>Don't restrict your selection by imposing too many conditions. There are
>plants to meet any of your requirements, but none can meet all of them.
>
I wasn't intending the conditions to be mutually exclusive! (Except that
I'm fed up with roses) ;-))
What I'm mainly after is winter (colour rather than bare branches) cover
because there are plenty of nice tall plants I can grow from seed to
provide green and colour cover during the milder parts of the year.
>Honeysuckle, clematis, jasmine, wisteria, ivies, vines including grape
>vines, virginia creeper, loganberries and cultivated brambles to mention
>a few. You could even chance a kiwi fruit if you are feeling daring.
>
Would grapes grow in the Lancashire climate? Or are the vines nice
anyway? I have no greenhouse or room for one (except the living room
windowledge where the tomato plant are currently acting as green
curtains).
>Proprietary wood preservatives will not affect plants if used according
>to the manufacturers instructions. Creosote should be avoided near to
>the house, it is more suited to fencing posts etc. and needs time to
>mellow.
>
>If you are buying plants, go for second or third year pot grown ones.
>They are a little dearer
Price isn't that much of a problem if we are looking at up to (say) £50
ish in total to get started.
> than raising your own cuttings but it is a
>worthwhile investment which will last for several years.
I was planning a mixture of some assorted but relatively mature to give
cover more or less at once to some extent, and some to be nurtured from
seeds/cuttings over time. Similarly some each of summer, autumn, winter
and spring plants so that there's always something happening.
--
Pat Winstanley
Chris French
<al...@deverill.demon.co.uk> writes
>>And anything to
>>watch out for in the 'paint' used?
>Avoid creosote plants dislike it, and it smells some thing rotten;-)
>>
Yes, it's not good for plants, but I *love* the smell of creosote :-)
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson
Leeds
Email address valid for at least two weeks from posting
Alan Gould
<pee...@NOSPAMpierless.demon.co.uk> writes
snip...
>What I'm mainly after is winter (colour rather than bare branches) cover
>because there are plenty of nice tall plants I can grow from seed to
>provide green and colour cover during the milder parts of the year.
>
>>Honeysuckle, clematis, jasmine, wisteria, ivies, vines including grape
>>vines, virginia creeper, loganberries and cultivated brambles to mention
>>a few. You could even chance a kiwi fruit if you are feeling daring.
>>
>
>Would grapes grow in the Lancashire climate? Or are the vines nice
>anyway? I have no greenhouse or room for one (except the living room
>windowledge where the tomato plant are currently acting as green
>curtains).
guaranteed fruit every year from them if there is late frost. They
wouldn't provide much winter cover either. Some of the non-evergreen
climbers keep a lot of foliage on during the winter, browse around in
plant catalogues to see what would be best suited to your needs.
Remember that plant sellers tend to hype them up a bit though.
snip....
>Price isn't that much of a problem if we are looking at up to (say) £50
>ish in total to get started.
>I was planning a mixture of some assorted but relatively mature to give
>cover more or less at once to some extent, and some to be nurtured from
>seeds/cuttings over time. Similarly some each of summer, autumn, winter
>and spring plants so that there's always something happening.
>
£50 should be adequate to give you a good start. If you have to budget
at all, go for a smaller number of mature plants rather than a big lot
of very small ones. You can always add to them later.
The plants will have a better start if you have them in position by end
of October. That still gives you enough time to sort out what you are
going to have and where to buy them. You could check back in this group
before making a final decision if you wish. Best of luck with it.
Susan Carlson Dunn
8< snip >8
> I'd like something(s) evergreen (or pref orange or copper or whatever
> colour leaf) that also (if possible) flowers at some stage during the
> year and doesn't go rampant and need trimming every week! Don't mind if
> it spreads out sideways along the fences/shed gradually (and over the
> shed roof). Would also be nice if a selection of different climbers were
> to flower/colour-change at different times for a relatively 'dynamic'
> display.
Clematis armandii is evergreen, with bronzish young foliage, and has
masses of creamy slightly scented flowers in late winter to early spring.
It is pretty tough and can be a bit rampant, but you can hack overgrown
bits off at any time of year. Mine covers a ten foot stretch of six foot
high fence and has produced three flushes of flowers since last November:
it is in flower at the moment - most unusually - which I attribute to the
unseasonably cool weather over the past few months.
> Also, the shed and fencing could do with a coat of creosote or similar
> beforehand - how long between painting and planting? And anything to
> watch out for in the 'paint' used?
Have a look at Cuprinol Garden Shades wood preservative: there are some
very attractive colours. That way you can have something other than
brown or green to look at while the plants are growing.
--
Cheers new...@nexus.demon.co.uk
Sue. Remove "spam" for valid email.
Paul Mc Cann
says...
> I bought some of that Tumbleweed Gel that you paint on the leaves, We had a
> real problem with common Ivy growing over my fence. The roots seem to be on
> the side of the public footpath at the side our house. We have had a real
> problem with Slugs and Snails all summer. That;s were the buggers were
> hiding. Coming out at night and chomping away at my stock! Anyways, we
> hacked as much of it down as we could and found that some of it was growing
> in our neighbours garden. He is a miserable old wotsit who never does any
> gardening. His garden is just full of weeds and ivy. Rather than confronting
> him with our complaint, I painted some Gel on a few leaves. It was rather
> satisfying to watch it die over the space of two weeks! 8-). First the
> leaves went limp, then they went brown then the whole plant died.
> Marvellous! We had to repeat the application after a week though... The ivy
> was becoming a real menace. It had started to grown into the soil around our
> heathers and choisya taking vital nutrients out of the soil. It was layering
> itself into our beds!
>
> and snails and slugs!!
snip
It will come back unfortunately. I spray some growing out of a ditch
every year and while it knocks it back it always recovers.
Actually as ground cover it looks decidedly better than ground that has
been repeatedly sprayed with "Roundup" to keep weeds at bay.
Paul Mc Cann
Paul Mc Cann
news...@spennithorne.demon.co.uk says...
> >>watch out for in the 'paint' used?
> >>
>
> Yes, it's not good for plants, but I *love* the smell of creosote :-)
> --
> Chris French and Helen Johnson
> Leeds
>
> Email address valid for at least two weeks from posting
>
plants as my runner beans trained against a creosoted timber clad wall
are going mad (and looking very colouful against the darkness of the
wood.)
Anything has to be better than that awful unnatural orange colour so
prevalent .
--
Paul Mc Cann
Chris French
<tp...@iol.ie> writes
>In article <3$JmjJARh...@spennithorne.demon.co.uk>,
>news...@spennithorne.demon.co.uk says...
>> In article <y4cw2AAO...@deverill.demon.co.uk>, Alan Deverill
>> <al...@deverill.demon.co.uk> writes
>> >>And anything to
>> >>watch out for in the 'paint' used?
>> >Avoid creosote plants dislike it, and it smells some thing rotten;-)
>> >>
>>
>> Yes, it's not good for plants, but I *love* the smell of creosote :-)
>>
>plants as my runner beans trained against a creosoted timber clad wall
>are going mad (and looking very colouful against the darkness of the
>wood.)
>
damaging to plants.
Norm
Pat Winstanley wrote in message ...
>Perhaps I should avoid ivy, then? ;-)
Like the Plague!
>Talking of slugs I have found where one of the lairs is, and the
>entrance to the lair is from flagstones and a manhole cover... a semi-
>circle of salt (where it can't easily wash into the cultivation areas)
>produced quite a satisfying haul overnight.
If it does get into the cultivation areas, you can aways grow some beetroot!
8).
Norm
Norm
Chris French wrote in message <3$JmjJARh...@spennithorne.demon.co.uk>...
>Yes, it's not good for plants, but I *love* the smell of creosote :-)
Yes it does have a strange but alluring smell. Better than cut geraniums!
Norm
Pat Winstanley
<no...@bigfoot.com> writes
???????
Beetroot?
Pre-pickled?? ;-))
--
Pat Winstanley