Blank canvas for climbers - ideas / confidence boost needed!

fizzwhizz · March 2019

After 13+ years of renting, last autumn I finally bought my own garden (and house) to do exactly what I like but... all of my gardening experience has been small scale and not all a success so I am doubting all decisions due to financial cost / heartache if it goes wrong!

I am trying to decide what to grow up and along the 11 metres of trellis panels each 1.8m wide (not all in shot). How would you approach this - plan and buy a bit at a time and possibly end up with a mish-mash or make clear choices in advance and buy when possible?

I know I want pink climbing roses - James Galway (allow 2 trellis panels) and Gertrude Jekyll (1 trellis panel) and evergreen clematis Early Sensation (1 trellis panel) and Fragrant Oberon (1 trellis panel). Photo doesn't show but I have now put an existing trachelospermum jasminoides at the very furthest end of the garden behind the tree because we have an old sewer pipe under the house and I have heard their roots can mess with drains / foundations - is this true as I'd love more if not (ok near roses?) I am reckoning TJ will cover maybe 1 trellis panel. So should i leave these plants room to breathe or should i squeeze more in. Also will the early flowering clematis look boring when not in flower?

Does anyone have any favourite climbers that I haven't thought of that might tie in with a white-rich pink-purple-blue cottage garden style and fit in with above plants or be a better option for a relative beginner - the soil is clay and quite poorly drained as we are on the water table (but installing a drain system & pond for this at end of garden and raising the beds about 20cm higher with sleepers) and the whole trellis faces south (which maybe rules out honeysuckle for health due to mildew - is this true?). Disease resistant options especially appealing as I know I am going to be very busy doing all this gardening!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/xa/44mf7mac6vlz.jpg

Marlorena · March 2019

That's a nice looking fence with trellis... your roses are going to look great...
For a novice gardener, you have enough going on right now, you can always add more later.. you have plenty of room for more plants and you should not worry about mildew on honeysuckles... try Lonicera 'Red Gables', it's trouble free.. and consider later on adding a purple rambler rose like 'Purple Skyliner' or a white climber like 'Climbing Iceberg' into your mix..

best of luck..

Borderline · March 2019

Congratulations on your new home and garden! If you are going to section your garden up, then I would say the 'mish mash' of different climbers/roses can be contained within each section. But if it's left to be quite open like in the photo, I would stick with getting the climbers you must have first, and hold back on having too many varieties.

Solanum Crispum 'Glasnevin' make a nice lax wall shrub. Easily trained up onto the top of fences and left to flop loosely.

debs64 · March 2019

Maybe look at some annual climbers? Morning glory or black eyed Susan? Fill any gaps while your others establish and both can be grown from seed fairly cheaply and easily

Fairygirl · March 2019

What else are you planning as well as the climbers for the fence? It might be worth having a general idea about that too, as it could have a bearing on your choices. If you wnated some shrubs for example, they could hinder access to climbers for pruning, so you might want to pick Group 2 clematis which would mostly avoid that

I'd put the honeysuckle down the end to clamber over the tree, rather than the T. jamsine. South facing won't be the best location for honeysuckle, and they aren't so good on fences - better for scrambling over strcutures like sheds, arbours etc. They aren't 'neat and tidy' in the same way as clematis or roses.
Each panel will support a climber [more or less] but make sure to train them horizontally as well as vertically to get the best effect, and make sure the supports for them are sturdy and secure.
Take time to pick the plants you like best, but bear in mind pruning times if you want a couple of them growing together.
South facing for many summer flowering clematis can also mean flowers fading quicker, so check all the info first too. The early ones are good for near the house, so that you get the benefit from them on dull or wet days.
You can plant annuals in front of the early clems, as already suggested by Debs, but leave plenty of room for access and feeding etc.

Lizzie27 · March 2019

If the TJ gets going, it will need more than one trellis panel wide - I think mine's getting near the third and is also 9-10 feet high in the corner. Otherwise you have some lovely choices there. Buy what you really, really want first, spacing your first choices out along the length you've got. Infill as suggested with annual climbers and/or other plants as and when. Roses tend to establish and grow sooner so I might start with those.

fizzwhizz · March 2019

Thanks everyone :-) lots more to think about and plants to look up and annuals are a great idea to give the plants (and me) a bit of room to breathe and establish and see how everything looks before i buy anything else and whilst i get used to all the maintenance. Also thank you about the tip re TJ, i really wasn't sure about that as it has never got very big but have had it in a pot the last couple of years - still in its pot but squished into the corner so can be moved, and like the honeysuckle in the corner idea as that will be the "wild" bit of the garden with pond etc. Just need some nice weather now to get going with it all!

Lizzie27 · March 2019

Hope you have fun @fizzwhizz. Do post some pictures later of progress!

fizzwhizz · March 2019

Well I was reading the climbing rose forum last night and delighted to see @Marlorena singing such high praises of royal jubilee rose which is my absolute favourite / top of my wish list and also noting it can be trained up a wall? Would much prefer this to Gertrude Jekyll which I picked due to not knowing what else to choose @Marlorena could you tell me whether you think this would work on the trellis, how much room on the trellis to allot it and how far away from the trellis the bare root should be planted?

Marlorena · March 2019

@fizzwhizz

I'm delighted you are considering 'Royal Jubilee'... this is a wonderful rose, and perfect for your fence/trellis...
Plant it just 1 foot out and when it reaches the trellis, allow some canes to go straight up, and others train gradually left and right, fan shaped over your trellis... allow 3 seasons for complete coverage... like a lot of Austin roses, they are not at their best in the first season, so you must be patient, because those roots need to go down deep to feed the large blooms and foliage... during the 2nd year you start to see a much different rose take shape and you will be thrilled by it..

I could go on, so I will.... because of its Alba old rose heritage, it has beautiful foliage, very healthy and large... not too many thorns but they are there, but canes have long smooth sections... easy to train, flexible.. the scent is very sweet...the blooms become large and face upwards and outwards, rather than downwards which they will do in the first year...
....and once it takes off in the 2nd year, it eventually becomes a non stop blooming machine... and you will then see why so many of us here and abroad love Austin roses...

Enjoy your garden this summer... do show photos as you progress...

fizzwhizz · March 2019

thank you @Marlorena for the advice - honestly my whole garden colour scheme and style has been planned round this rose! Will definitely add photos 😊

Blank canvas for climbers - ideas / confidence boost needed!

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