North facing trellis, what flower?

[Caldan]

Hi,

Sorry but yet another question! I have a south facing garden but this means at the bottom I have a north facing fence. It is even more shady due to overhead trees. There is a small fence here, say four feet. Neighbour has a hedge there that grows to about 8-10 feet.

Sorry will get to question

The immediate area below is bare, slight heavy clay soil but I imagine quit rich.

I am thinking about putting 6 ft trellis along whole length to act as a better backdrop to garden and would love to grow an aggressive climbing flower on it. Think could look great but worried about lack of sun. Ideally it would also be great if kept leaves most if not all of the year so as not sad and bare in winter.

As is a decent length of fence, say 30ish feet I don't want to spend too much on plants, the reason I say aggressive! Also if there was a plant that would aggressively climb up fence and bush all the better! Ideally would want flowers and leaves from ground to say 6 ft

I expect there is not a plant that fulfils all the above but would love to hear any thoughts from those, unlike me, who have years of gardening experience rather than months! I am in no rush to do so happy to plan and plant at anytime over next several months depending on best time I.e. if better to sow from seed next year. Last point looking for a perennial as don't want to redo every year.

Cheers.

[VirginVegGrower]

Climbing hydrangea. Lovely spray flower heads.

[WendyC]

That's what I planted on my fence last year. Honeysuckle also does quite well.

[gingerbilly]

Hi Caldan......although it loses most but not all of it's leaves in winter, I've had some success (Essex salt marsh and estuary conditions) with 5 strong plants of vinca major (variegata) planted in heavy salt clay together with loads of mpc....... and trained up a "due" north facing 6X6 fence panel trellis..... but it wasn't it's normal agressive self as much as it is as a ground cover plant ......but worth a try though.....the first year it grew up to 4+ feet high and flowered well.....second year made 5ft with lovely blue flowers throughout the growing season.....not sure it would ever reach 6 feet though.

[Caldan]

Thanks for this, now tempted to maybe try four or five types and either have a nice mix or at least see what thrives. It is wide enough!

Will do some googling on suggestions so far, thanks

[mothhawk]

Don't get anything that really likes the sun, or you'll find it will aggressively climb the trellis for you, and then flower on the other side where only the neighbours can see it

Honeysuckle would be great though, thick cover, lots of scented flowers, and as it's a woodland edge plant, won't immediately head for the sunny side!

[Caldan]

Good tip,think will focus on honeysuckle as main (my other halve just told me she loves them) and try a couple of others interspersed to see how goes. Think too large a space for only one type?

[mothhawk]

If I had 30ft of space I would definitely plant more than one species, because I like variety, and different things flower at different times.

Do you mean your neighbour's hedge backs onto your fence? If so its roots will probably be your side of the fence too, and be taking the goodness and the moisture from your ground. That will influence what you can grow, as only strong growers will survive the competition. Honeysuckle is a slow starter but after a couple of years it will really take off, and may smother other things after a few years if not kept in check.

[Caldan]

Good point, if plant with loads of compost that should help? Do you know best time to plant it

[mothhawk]

If it's container grown you can plant anytime. Give it some organic slow release fertiliser like blood/fish/bonemeal or well rotted compost or FYM, and keep it well watered for the first few weeks till it gets its feet down.

Bare root plants are best planted when dormant in winter or early spring. Cuttings I would normally just shove into the ground where I wanted them, but as there is already a hedge nearby, I would start them in pots until they have decent roots. I've grown honeysuckle from wild hedgerow honeysuckle cuttings, and from ripe berries just shoved into the ground.

[Two_Sheds]

would love to grow an aggressive climbing flower on it.

I've got a common passiflora on my north fence. It's 8ft high (that's when I start cutting it back) and 12ft wide after 4 years. Bought from the pound shop

[Caldan]

Love the fact it has edible fruit but all the sites say it needs sun, might try one and see if it takes. There's a small section (couple of feet) which is less shaded so may try there. Gorgeous plant

[chris]

I've a few things on a north facing wall that work well.. probably the best bang for the buck (IMO) is a climbing rose - Mme Alfred Carriere. I love it, such a delicate rose, with a delicate perfume. It's white/cream that blushes pink. Mine is pretty much in total shade and it is thriving.

[Two_Sheds]

Love the fact it [passiflora] has edible fruit but all the sites say it needs sun

Well, the monster one in my back garden is planted in the shade. The flowers & fruit ~ loads of fruit ~ are in the sun, where it's climbed up over the 6ft fence
I also have clematis on that fence: 5ft of it is in shade all day, and the top foot is in the sun. I've got a pyracantha too which thrives in that spot.

So, I have a backbone of pyracantha to cover the fence, and allowed to scramble up & through it, to provide flowers, are a passion flower & a clematis. At the foot are shade loving ground cover plants: Jap Anemones, primroses, daffs (I have the white Thalia narcissus), geranium phaeum Alba.

[Caldan]

Oh that's good, feel a lot more positive about what I can do with that space. Thanks for that, was worried that nothing would thrive. Mmmmm, some experimenting in store I think