"andyal" wrote in message
...

I want a climber, preferably evergreen, reasonably quick growing, for
the side of the house (including the not-so-aesthetically pleasing
extension). I have got cold feet over ivy - had thought about
Hedera...Gloire de marengo, and boston ivy (too rampant?), but the
current favourite is Clematis armandii. Anyone have experience with
this, what is the best way to support the clematis?

Evergreen clematis tends to grow to the top of a house and NOT cover a
wall. It's really a "roof cover" vine more than a wall cover. The grey
peely sustaining branches can be quite homely, though shorter vines can be
planted nearby to use the leafless lower clematis branches to climb.

Boston ivy is a great choice especially if your autumn temperatures drop
enough to give you the seasonal red leaves that are just so thrilling. But
it's not evergreen. It does fill a wall completely from top to bottom with
very little training.

Ivy is slow to establish from scratch; in ten years you might begin to see
an entire wall covered. With patience, though, it might be worth selecting
some cultivars with unusual leaves and give the wall the look of five or
eight different varieties covering it, and then if you're lucky bats will
nest in it.

While waiting for ivy to become mature, in the meantime for "quick"
coverage you could rely on Akebia quinata, a semi-decidous vine that grows
with great rapidity and covers large areas, has small lovely scented
flowers, & in full sun with at least two cultivars edible fruits develope
about the size of a child's shoe. (Akebia also thrives in shadier spots
but will be less likely to fruit though it'll still flower well in shade.
Because ivy also does well with shade the akebia shouldn't retard the
ivy's development). The akebia can be removed when the ivy finally starts
getting significant in its fully evergreen coverage.

If deciduous would do, Schizophragma "Moonlight" vine related to
hydrangeas is stunning for leaves and for flowers, adheres directly to
walls by fine threads that pose no threat of injury to a wall (beyond
discoloration; if you tear the vines out someday the wall will look all
veiny).

Hydrangea seemani is one of the best evergreen complete-wall-coverage
vines for temperate regions. It has lovely big clusters of white flowers
which eventual dry to brown but still look decorative dried out.

I have a fully evergreen vine "China Blue" (Holboellia coriacea, sometimes
afflicted with the horrible common name "sausage vine") which even
neglected has covered most of one side of my garage in three years, and
would probably take off like mad with regular watering. It supposedly
needs consistently moist soil, but mine thrives without ever being
watered, which is why I'm pretty sure it'd be a quicker wall-cover if it
got the water it'd prefer. It can be a hard vine to locate from the trade,
but you might want to research it to see if it's not just the thing. It
has fragrant dangly clusters of flowers either white to cream-colored
(female) or faded-purple (male) deeper purple in the throat, then edible
bright purple fruits, but probably won't bloom or fruit for several years
until long established. The main thing is it does very full wall coverage
or fence coverage. It may need a bit of wire structure to train it
(whereas Hydrangea seemani adheres right to the wall on its own). This
would be my hands-down favorite of the choices discussed, if your zone,
like mine (USDA zone 8 around Puget Sound), favors them.

-paghat the ratgirl
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