Suggestions for a South-facing fence

[SkyChild]

In our back garden we have a massive Leylandii hedge which we are in the process of chopping down and replacing with a plain old wooden fence. My husband has promised I can coat it with my beloved climbers, but I seem to be a little lacking inspiration and am thinking I can't cover the whole fence with clematis!

One idea was possibly wisteria (which I love the look of) or a kiwi fruit vine (but I've been put off a bit by the thug thread) so... would you go for either of these two? Would you be able to grow anything else on that stretch of fence without it being swallowed up by one of these? Maybe I should put one in one corner and one in the other corner and let them battle it out?

I'm in the East of Scotland so it would need to be reasonably hardy, which pretty much knocks out passionflower and bouganvilla, much to my dismay.

If you have another suggestion of a favourite climber please let me know.

[WendyC]

Roses or jasmine? If you grow viticella type clematis they can be pruned at the same time as the roses. If you add your location to your profile then you won't have to tell us in every post where you are.
What length of fence have you got yo cover? Some shrubs like Euonymus Silver Queen will grow flat against a fence and provide some welcome winter colour.

[SkyChild]

It's about 15ft guesstimate.
I tried adding my location but apparently I'm not allowed in to change my settings yet ?!
Is jasmine hardy enough for Scotland? I just assume most pretty things aren't. I'll look into different roses as well

[bend1pa]

Hm!

You need to decide a number of things. (1) Whether you want something woody and deciduous like a climbing rose or wisteria to partially cover the fence (bare stems in winter). (2) Whether you want something evergreen so the fence is covered with foliage in winter. (3) Whether you want a plant that blooms regularly through the growing season, or you are happy with just a one-off blooming period. (4) Whether you want to grow something that requires a fair bit of maintenance, ie training, pruning, set up of wires or trellis against fence for plant support etc. (5) Whether you want a plant(s) that will cover the fence quickly, or are more slow growing but will give you what your eventual requirements are, but may take 2-3 years, depending on options 1-4.

Some of these options are not compatible so you need to decide what you want the end result to be in say 3 years from now and whether flowers and/or scent are a priority to say full covering of fence.

[SkyChild]

Flowering and scent are definitely high on my list of priorities! But then I'll have roses and star jasmine elsewhere in the garden (didn't think real jasmine would be hardy enough) so it doesn't matter really as long as it's interesting. What I really want is a native hedge like hawthorn or something for the birds but hubby isn't keen on this idea.

I don't mind waiting a few years for it to establish and it doesn't matter if the fence isn't fully covered. I plan on growing things like sweetpeas and morning glory meanwhile to help out while it gets sorted.

I love the idea of kiwi or wisteria but am terrified that they'll be too heavy and vigorous for the fence and start trying to pull the garage down!

[Kristen]

Not sure if it is a perimeter border that needs a physical barrier? One option would be to retain the Leylandii, suitably murdered, and use that as a climbing frame for the new plants.

If you cut Leylandii back, past any obviously green "leaves", it won't regrow. So cut the top off, and all side branches back past the last green bit, and you will be left with a dead framework to support your plants. You could, I reckon, even leave it green on "the back side" if that would be handy, when viewed from the opposite side.

A new replacement fence has a cost, of course, plus needs construction and training wires attaching to be sufficiently sturdy to support a decent amount of climbers in a strong wind.

No scent (as far as I know) but there is a climbing Hydrangea (petiolaris) which might be a bit different.

Some wacky annuals too, which might be handy in the early years when other things are still maturing.

Cobaea scandens - cup and saucer vine
Eccremocarpus scaber - Chilean glory flower
Ipomoea various - Morning Glory
Ipomoea lobata ‘Jungle Queen’ - Spanish flag - very flashy!
Rhodochiton atrosanguineus - purple bell vine - lovely dangling bells, can be a bit tricky to get going.
Thunbergia alata - Black-eyed Susan
Sweet peas of course and Nasturtiums

[bend1pa]

I would consider a honeysuckle (Lonicera) for your fence. There are 2 basic types of climbers. Lonicera Periclymenum (Dutch honeysuckle) which flower at different times during the summer depending on variety. Then there's Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) which is the most vigorous and can be a real thug. It's the 'bindweed' of the honeysuckles and can pop up at various places by sending out underground runners with the stems twining around anything they come into contact with. Its flowers are less showy, but they have the best scent and they bloom more or less continually from May throughout the summer months. It's also an evergreen whereas L. Periclymenum are deciduous. I grow Japonica 'Halliana' myself and you can control it by pulling up the stray runners where they produce new. unwanted stems. but you do have to keep an eye on it. Both Lonicera types produce red or black glossy berries after flowering.

For Peryclymenum I'd look at 'Belgica', flowering May and June, 'Serotina', blooming late July - Oct, and 'Graham Thomas', flowering early July - Sept.

[SkyChild]

Not sure if it is a perimeter border that needs a physical barrier? One option would be to retain the Leylandii, suitably murdered, and use that as a climbing frame for the new plants.

I'd love to but some idiot plonked a Summerhouse in front of it in previous years so the Leylandii is actually brown, pretty much all the way up. It has also burst through the fence behind it so we actually need to replace that

I like your wacky annual suggestions while things get going though.

After having a horrible bland kiwi fruit from Tesco for the last time (!) I'm almost certain I'll give a kiwi fruit vine a bash, and if it's not happy or it gets too huge we can rethink. I'm sure I can fit a honeysuckle in somewhere else in the garden (who says you can't have it all?)

[Greentea]

There are evergreen , scented varieties of clematis you can try if you want cover full year round like armandii . And you can add sweet peas in the summer or a mix of other clematis and honeysuckle. I would go for more than one type of plant just so you have interest all year round.

[Scarlet]

Grape vine?..

[SkyChild]

Are grapes hardy in Scotland? I'd love one if they are!

Result - my cousin is rebuilding his house and has offered me a wall-full of red bricks so I may be getting a nice sunny South-facing wall instead on which I can almost certainly try things that are not-quite hardy!

[ioan]

Are grapes hardy in Scotland? I'd love one if they are!

Result - my cousin is rebuilding his house and has offered me a wall-full of red bricks so I may be getting a nice sunny South-facing wall instead on which I can almost certainly try things that are not-quite hardy!

The brick wall is the way to go, nice little two seater seat, wisteria sinensis either side, train em to the top
of the wall then lean em accross to the middle, and create an arbor.
I would choose wisteria sinensis because the flowers come before the leaves, to me this aesthetically more pleasing,
and the scented flowers are something else.

kind regards
ioan

[SkyChild]

Yup, definitely having a little bench of some kind to sit and admire "The Dreamery" as I've taken to calling my back garden. Not appropriate now, but it will be