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Recommendations for climbers for shady fence
stephroberts_morgan
Posts: 16
in Plants
Afternoon all,
Bit of a dilemma.. I've carried out some research but cannot make up my mind so have come to you lovely folks to help me
So the right hand border which we're currently digging out and preparing.. the fence needs some climbers. It's a dark, cool, moisty shady spot - does get early morning sun however, but so far all the climbers I've thought of have deemed to be unsuitable, i.e. climbing hydrangea for too many reasons, ivy etc.
Fence is 14m long and 1.5m high. Apart from Clematis Alpina, I can't find any others that would fit this area. We've got training wire so any 'tall' climbers would be trained horizontally. What about Chinese Virginia Creeper, or Star Jasmine? Don't mind using 2 or 3 different ones or do you think fence would look best with just one type?
Any suggestions please? Need to get this organised in my head and plants positioned before we continue with the border. Thanks everso!!
Ri
Bit of a dilemma.. I've carried out some research but cannot make up my mind so have come to you lovely folks to help me
So the right hand border which we're currently digging out and preparing.. the fence needs some climbers. It's a dark, cool, moisty shady spot - does get early morning sun however, but so far all the climbers I've thought of have deemed to be unsuitable, i.e. climbing hydrangea for too many reasons, ivy etc.
Fence is 14m long and 1.5m high. Apart from Clematis Alpina, I can't find any others that would fit this area. We've got training wire so any 'tall' climbers would be trained horizontally. What about Chinese Virginia Creeper, or Star Jasmine? Don't mind using 2 or 3 different ones or do you think fence would look best with just one type?
Any suggestions please? Need to get this organised in my head and plants positioned before we continue with the border. Thanks everso!!
Ri0
Posts
However, most Montanas would be fine, but you would certainly need to be vigilant with tying in as most of them want to be large, and to go 'up'.
However, the best options would be the many Group 2 or 3 clematis - several, as the fence is a good length. Plenty of those are fine with shade. If you choose well, you'd get coverage for a good long period of time, depending on your location and general climate.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
You could also consider pyracantha - evergreen, spring flowers for nectar and pollen, autumn fruits, thorns so safe shelter for small birds and mammals. Excellent allrounder for wildlife and can be trained along fences and pruned so it doesn' attack you but makes a good backdrop for other plants.
C. alpina is a great suggestion. Type 3s will also work, I have C. "Alba Luxurians" which is nice against a shady fence. I think it really wants to be in the sun though, it will race to the top and needs regular tying in.
I have planted Parthenocissus henryana, which has supposed to be more manageable than regular Parthenocissus... But I am nervous.
Golden hops might be nice to provide a splash of chartreuse.
Looking at your photo, I can see you don't have many plants there yet, so it might be worth planting something/s more hardy/robust first.
Clay based or medium loam, chalk or sand?
There are a quite a few clematis that will grow in shadier spots.
This is a good site for finding size and height/spread. And positions.
https://clematisontheweb.org/clematis-a-z/
This is a lovely and yes less vigorous one, much nicer colouring on the leaves.
We had ours growing up a somewhat redundant cherry and partially on a large old leylandii.
It was vigorous enough , but not as mental as a nearby neighbours who got rid of their green regular one in the end. Whether ours was more manageable because of the shade, not sure but very manageable in shade.
And the leaf colour with silvery veining that the plainer original type does not have is very appealing.
Autumn colour was also good. Pretty much growing through a north facing high hedge with a hint of early morning sun here.
Several roses will grow there, You might want to choose a not too heavy one, there are a couple of repeat flowering modern ramblers that are not too big or heavy.
One we had, again, in the north facing high hedge was Malvern hills a nice yellow with little clusters of yellow flowers, along with a purple group three old clematis called Etoile Violette, others are available.
Akebia Quinata is really nice for novelty flowers and they do smell nice, but it does get a bit rampant if it likes you. Sorry ours was on an east facing wall on clay soil. Might not be so bad on different. It
But it looks lovely with a winter clematis we have with it cirrhosa balearica. When they flower together sometimes or partially they look very good. (The clematis is other side of the fence/wall, where the ground is rocky lumpy wall foundations, hence the disparity between the soil types!
And the star Jasmine aka Trachelospermum jasminoides is great for evergreen cover. But on a fence after a few years needs a lot of pruning as it gets quite heavy if it grows well for you.
But can also be mixed with a clematis or two .
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Have considered Parthenocissus henryana though not sure it's suitable for this wooden fence as being a sucker, if fence needs repairing, plant will have to be removed from fence.. so I was advised on another site. But.. I'm still keen on it!
Clematis - preferring those that don't need any, or just light, pruning. Still, it's definitely up for consideration, and thank you for the recommendations.
Star Jasmine - I have one climbing up my kitchen wall on a trellis - not sure if it will tolerate heavy shade though.
Roses - probably not.. the left hand border is my rose border with 4 climbers training along a brick wall and 5 roses in front however not sure the fence will be strong enough, despite wires. I'll contact DA though and see what they suggest.
I do like Pyracantha but wouldn't this be 'heavy' for the fence?
Site is heavy shade for most of the day.. basically from mid morning til sunset so even those plants that are noted as being suitable for 'partial shade' may not do so great in my deeply shaded border. Whatever climbers I choose, they do need to be light as it's a new fence put up by neighbour and I don't want to cause any damage by heavy climbers.
As for fixings.. would 3-4 horizontal wires be suitable for clematis or perhaps chicken wire? I don't really want to have to buy 8 large trellis panels.
All responses have been very much appreciated and I still seek your wisdom with reference to my responses above. (I've been a veggie gardener for most of my gardening years, finally decided with this garden to come back to plants/flowers and it's been a long time since I've had to choose/deal with them.)