Recommendations - North Facing Fence Evergreen/Winter Interest

[Valleyman]

I've had a quick look in all the books, but just can't seem to find anything that takes my fancy and thought I'd put this out there to see if any of you have some recommendations.

My North facing fence is about 45m long and suffers eternally from moss. It's a neutral clay soil that is gradually being improved. I've had a fair amount of success with small deciduous plants in a thin border, about 1-2ft wide. Mainly ferns, hostas and lots of other partial shade loving plants. The problem is that in winter this side of the garden looks bare and somewhat depressing. The winter interest is very poor. What makes it doubly depressing is that the neighbours fence is patchy and in shabby state.

So I'm after something that is either evergreen or has winter interest and will survive happily in clay soil on a north facing fence. And what I really want is something with a bit of height that won't immediately overflow a narrow border to hide the shabby fence, so nothing too vigorous!

Over to you guys! :-)

[Kristen]

Climbers? Hydranges (H. petiolaris) is happy on North facing wall / fence. Not too vigorous. Deciduous, so nothing much to look at in winter, although it will hang on to its flower heads I think (i.e. look like dried flowers!)

Clematis (e.g. C. armandii) is winter flowering, North facing. Bit more vigorous though. Its evergreen too.

[Martin H]

Like Kristen I'm a big fan of Hydrangia petiolaris, although it isn't really ideal for your situation because it's bare in the winter. It would like it there with no sun and will grow as big as you want.

How about a nice ivy? A brightly coloured one like Hedera helix "Goldheart" or Hedera colchica "Sulphur Heart"? They are happy being chopped back to any particular space and do look good in the winter. I had both of these on the north side of my garage in my last garden, fronted by a bed of ferns and hellebores. They romped away, I just went over them once a year to cut out any plain green stems and generally keep them back to their allotted space.

[veggiechicken]

Winter jasmine?
Camellias? I grow some on the north side of the house. No direct sun from autumn to late spring. I have 2 sorts and they flower consecutively. Flowering starts in Nov/Dec and is still ongoing - and that's just the first of them. The second hasn't started yet.

Found some photos from December

[Kristen]

Just in case this is new to the O/P :

Camellias need acid soil (but can be grown in a large container, if your soil is alkaline / lime - in which case the container needs to be filled with ericaceous potting compost)

[Ja9]

The RHS website has a useful list of suitable plants for North facing walls,you might find something there u like.good luck!

[Valleyman]

Thanks for the advice guys... I followed it!

Today I purchased a Hydrangea Petiolaris, and a Clematis Rahvarinne. The clematis was a bonus buy as I saw it for £3 in Asda when i went to pick up milk on my way back from buying the Hydrangea. Still, I have 45m of North facing fence and the more plants the merrier.

Still after some evergreen for winter, but may have to stick in some Berberis or some shade tolerant conifers and be done with it. I'd love some variegated ivy to mix in amongst things, but i just spent 12 months ripping ivy down all over the garden and up the front of the house. Every time we see ivy in the garden centre my wife says "Why the hell would anyone voluntarily buy it". I can just imagine her face if i tried to reintroduce the terror!

[Scarlet]

Winter jasmine?
Camellias? I grow some on the north side of the house. No direct sun from autumn to late spring. I have 2 sorts and they flower consecutively. Flowering starts in Nov/Dec and is still ongoing - and that's just the first of them

That's just stunning VC

[Jungle Jane]

I have a north facing fence & was also looking for winter colour,I chose viburnum 'Charles lamont', viburnum x bodnantense 'dawn' both have pink flowers in winter,would be nice with an evergreen background,ivy would be good but it does turn up everywhere doesnt it,I avoided it too. Winter Jasmine can be fanned so the branches take root to the ground for extra coverage. I also got a small choisya ternata 'brica' - evergreen leaves for a dull corner. 45m is a lot of fence. Garrya Elliptica is huge & has winter flowering

[bend1pa]

Viburnum Tinus would be one way to go. It's just finishing its flowering now. It produces umbels of pink and white flowers during the winter months and stands as a tall (7' in 5 years) evergreen shrub with emerald green medium sized leaves. It's very popular and is used extensively in hedging and requires only a small amount of pruning each Spring to keep it in shape.

[Jay22]

Would any of these grow when there are trees in front of the fence! We have cherry trees about 4/5 feet from a north facing fence but the fence looks awful bare.