Covering a fence

[mummyh]

Has anyone got any ideas for a plant to cover a south-facing fence? I'd rather not use a clematis, or a honeysuckle, but I would like something (ideally with flowers) that stays fairly compact against the fence rather than growing out from the fence. Any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.

[NazNomad]

Passion flower ... although don't grow a plant up the fence. Put a trellis in front of the fence and grow the plant up that instead.

[thugulike]

pyracanthus can be clipped to make a compact evergreen cover for a fence and has flowers then berries in the autumn

[237SJ]

Winter flowering jasmine. It`s evergreen too.

[murraymints]

jasmine...roses..there is also a climbing fuschia..eccremocarpus scaber....

[rowanwitch]

if you go for passion flower be prepared to spend some time feeding the new growth back into the trellis...Id go for a few jasmines.. or actinidia kolomikta

http://www.bbc.co.uk/.../plant_pages/16.shtml

[Clanad]

Although you have a bias against Clematis, you might want to take a second look at some newly developed compact clematis. Although I'm in the U.S., I note that Raymond Evison, a British flower breeder (Channel Islands, I think) has just developed these:

-- 'Bourbon' is deep red with intense purple down the center of the petal. The colors are set off by vivid yellow sepals in the center.

-- 'Angelique' with pale lilac-blue flowers.

-- 'Parisienne,' dark lavender with crimson sepals in the center.

Last year, Evison introduced:

-- 'Cezanne,' with 6- to 7-inch violet blooms that begin early in the summer.

-- 'Picardy,' with 6-inch flowers that are magenta with a red center stripe.

-- 'Versailles' is mostly purple with a crimson stripe down the middle of the petal. The center sepals are pink, white and crimson. It produces stunningly beautiful flowers from May to September. The plants have been bred to be long-blooming, disease resistant and low maintenance.

His reputation is such that I'd take a second look (waiting for their inroduction here!)...

[rowanwitch]

Also the highly scented clematis armandii super plant

[237SJ]

Yes, I`ve got a clematis armandii. It`s just about to come out into flower. It`s extremely vigorous though. It`s got nowhere else to go now and I`m having to cut the new shoots off and leave the woody ones.

[mummyh]

Clanad - I am not biased against clematis - in fact I love them! However, I have tried to grow several in the past without any success. I'm just not cut out to nurture them, obviously!

Thanks all for the other suggestions - I did think about the actinidia, rowanwitch - it's really pretty. Will also check out the climbing fuschia...

[LoftyLottie]

mummyh The smaller flowered clematis are often much easier to grown than the large flowered variety. Armandi is easy. I have quite a few of different varieties. The evergreen ones would also be OK on a south facing wall (they don't appreciate the cold). Paler colours would be best, sun takes the colour from the darker ones.

[AlBags]

White Macropetala

[LoftyLottie]

Absolutely Albags!! Ideal.

[Chaffinch]

Or you could go for something completely different, like Jeruselem Artichoke, they grow tall and flat against a fence, have a lovely yellow flower, a bit like a smaller sunflower, when they die off in late autum, just cut down to about 6-8inches to mark where they are, and you can then dig up the tubers from November until March, for a lovely nutty flavoured veg, that can be used in soups, stews or simply roasted and eaten. You will never find all the tubers, so they just grow again the next year, and the next,and the next. lovely

[malagabob]

If you dont want something like clematis what about an annual climber. i have been growing morning glory or convulvus for years. You can get it in loads of colours the flowers only last a day but keep producing new ones every day untill the first frosts