Jeff Layman wrote:
Thanks, Jeff. Acid soil, west Shropshire on the Welsh border.
Well, at least with acid soil you've got a good choice. Maybe I'm wrong,
but doesn't Shropshire occasionally get some of the coldest temperatures in
the UK? Do you know what the lowest temps you've had over the past 3 or 4
years?

Been here 8 months only & we've had perhaps 6 or 7 nights, here and
there, of -5 or -6 in the last two months.

The suggestions so far (Clematis, Vinca, Holboellia) are climbers or
scramblers. Looking at your picture, I am not sure why we've all only
mentioned these. As you've got acid soil, what about various Rhodos? As
long as you have acid soil, and choose any of the evergreen ones, you could
go from dwarf to medium size, depending on how much cover you want.

Well, I'm certainly to consider rhodos on the other side of the fence,
but on the side in the photo there are only two planting strips. One is
the long channel about 4" wide between the fence and the weatherboard
barrier beneath it, dry, riddled with roots of the hedge on the other
side of the fence, so best used for tumbling things like aubreitia -
except that we've got enough of that elsewhere. The other strip, at the
base of the weatherboard barrier, is actually council property, i.e.
it's the verge between our land and the tarmac of the road, so something
natural would be best in there. (When we arrived it was all thistles
and nettles.)

If they'll stand the cold, what about Ceanothus (particularly impressus or
thyrsiflorus)? There are various Sarcococca that would also fit the bill.
An added bonus would be scented flowers in winter.

Ceanothus: a big big and bushy for the two strips above. Sarcococca
hookeriana looks like it could be a good natural-looking evergreen
groundcover for the roadside strip - except that likes shade.

If shrubs aren't what you want, and you are in a very cold winter area, then
I seem to remember a thread on hardy evergreen climbers a few months ago
(try Google groups for this newsgroup). I think the conclusion was that
only Hedera would stand most situations, and even that might suffer with a
severe frost.

Indeed! Hedera would be fine provided it didn't start clasping itself
to the weatherboard barrier and creeping upwards. . . is there a
sub-species that can resist the temptation? :-)

Eddy.