JennyC wrote:
"prologica" wrote in
message news

Hi All!
On my East facing wall is a very prominent and ugly exhaust vent
from
the CH boiler that i'd love to hide.

My thought was to build a trellis-based structure around it (the
timber would probably be 18-24" away from the vent) and grow a
climber/wall shrub up it.

But which plant could stand the extremes of normal daytime
temperatures, hot exhausts during colder evenings as the CH kicks
in,
followed by sudden drop in temperature as the heating goes off for
the night, before kicking in again around 6am? (Oh and it needs to
be
evergreen or dense enough to perform the disguising job!. . .)

Any thoughts (lateral or otherwise) much appreciated.

regards
David

I can't think of any plants that would like the conditions you
describe.
How about some 'dense' trellis made from steel, wicker, reed, woven
stuff....... Or A mural type thing painted onto a box around the
offending item?
Jenny

This is a balanced flue, I assume. Already shielded by a square wire
basket about 500mm across, and projecting some 150mm from the wall?

At all costs, as has already been pointed out, airflow in and
exhaust flow out mustn't be restricted. So we don't want anything
growing actually _on_ the protective grille, which rules out
climbers. But my experience is that plants will live quite happily
right in front of these things. One of mine had a very contented
forsythia slap bang in front, and the other had an equally relaxed
hebe. I don't think the very localized variation in temperature will
make any significant difference; and the exhaust gases will go
straight up, so we can forget about them -- they're mostly benign
anyhow, I imagine.

This brings us back to the design rule about distracting from
eyesores, not drawing attention to them. The less you do, the better
it will work Grow a tree in front of your telegraph pole: don't grow
a climber up it. There's nothing wrong with painting these outlets
and "baskets", by the way: same colour as the wall if the wall is
light, dull black if it isn't. I really wouldn't bother with a
trellis thing: if it isn't part of the overall design it may stick
out like a sore thumb, and you may end up having to build two or
three more to make it fit in. _And_ one of these fine days it'll have
to come down if the maintenance man wants to get at the outlet.

My experience, though, is with flues placed low down. If yours is at
head height, you'll need a taller tree: my forsythia would have been
fine, as I like to let them develop, but the hebe wouldn't have done.