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Climbers for extension
Hi all
thinking about getting a climber(s) to grow up our extension as my mrs finds it ugly and I am not in a position to get it rendered at the moment, I’m looking for climbers that are evergreen and that could be trained to cover the walls but not the windows. Have come across a couple already that may do the job one is creeping Virginia red ivy and the other is star jasmine. Read different info on star jasmine some say it grows 8mts tall and others say 3mtr tall. The area is quite shaded and sheltered by trees and is north west facing. I’ve got a scaffold tower so getting to the top to fix garden wire all around the wall is not a problem and the same goes for pruning then. I’ve seen there are only a couple of Clementis that are evergreen but they do not grow tall enough, from reading this forum I can see that I would need to grow a few in a long container about 500mm deep x 500mm wide, would remove the concrete step for the old door so I can have one long container probably 500mm in from the ends. Any thoughts on what could work, or what you would grow up the wall? I have no experience with climbing plants, even thought about buying the red ivy on first then overlap this when fully covered with a climber which then wouldn’t need to be evergreen or go all the way to the top. But worried any ivy type would grow out of control due to being invasive and damage the wall due to the roots and damp issues etc. Pic of extension below
thinking about getting a climber(s) to grow up our extension as my mrs finds it ugly and I am not in a position to get it rendered at the moment, I’m looking for climbers that are evergreen and that could be trained to cover the walls but not the windows. Have come across a couple already that may do the job one is creeping Virginia red ivy and the other is star jasmine. Read different info on star jasmine some say it grows 8mts tall and others say 3mtr tall. The area is quite shaded and sheltered by trees and is north west facing. I’ve got a scaffold tower so getting to the top to fix garden wire all around the wall is not a problem and the same goes for pruning then. I’ve seen there are only a couple of Clementis that are evergreen but they do not grow tall enough, from reading this forum I can see that I would need to grow a few in a long container about 500mm deep x 500mm wide, would remove the concrete step for the old door so I can have one long container probably 500mm in from the ends. Any thoughts on what could work, or what you would grow up the wall? I have no experience with climbing plants, even thought about buying the red ivy on first then overlap this when fully covered with a climber which then wouldn’t need to be evergreen or go all the way to the top. But worried any ivy type would grow out of control due to being invasive and damage the wall due to the roots and damp issues etc. Pic of extension below
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I presume you mean Virginia creeper- Parthenocissus? It isn't evergreen either, but is mainly grown for it's foliage in autumn.
Any climber you plant will need a huge container if you can't put it in the ground. I doubt 50 x 50 is really big enough. Ivy would be fine, and there are some nice varieties, but the issue is the design of the building.
The windows will also cause an issue. There isn't much 'wall' room at the ends of them, and you'll have to spend quite a bit of time tying them in to go round those.
Some clematis would be ok, but you'd need to choose carefully, and be prepared to give them a lot of attention when establishing. You could certainly have a couple of different ones, and they will also need supports to grow on.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...