On Tue, 25 Feb 2003 20:50:13 -0000, "Liz"
wrote:

One plant which I am desperate to get for my shady fence is a climber,
AKEBIA QUINATA.
I have seen it growing in a public garden and it's fantastic. Look it up!
Lovely limey green leaves,fragrant purplish-brown flowers Spring and early
summer followed by sausage-like purplish fruits.

In passing ...

I have one growing against a North facing wall. It is very rampant
but doesn't flower very voluptously or prolifically. It could probably
do with an hour or two of direct sunlight - even the wannest offered
by the early morn or evening.

It may well do better growing through a tree - getting a bit of
dappled light coming through.

An ash? The mountain ash, Sorbus, or the Fraxinus (sp?)?

A decidous tree which gets fully leaved relatively late in the
season would be perfect as the akebia gets it's act together quite
early. I don't know what you have growing around the tree but my
akebia has a habit of sending out runners which are quite cleverly
concealed and seemingly happy to progress forever horizontally before
popping up again at an unexpected distance.

If you want your akebia (when or if you get it), to produce those
sausage shaped brown fruits, then you will need two, preferably
unrelated (ie one not a propagated clone of the other - shame coz
those runners send out roots). Maybe your daughter has two?

I love it when plants get pernickity in their sexual habits.

Grow a little garden

Hussein