On Mar 26, 10:20*pm, Eddy
wrote:
Rod wrote:
Just be thankfull you're warm in winter.
We had the selfsame situation and decided that anything big enough and
dense enough to completely hide the tank would in itself be a great
big dark blot so I put up a low trellis just on the side facing the
house - the tank is more or less hidden from the road by the fence and
the roses growing on it. There will be a clematis on the trellis and
medium/tall herbaceous at the back of the border nearest the tank with
smaller stuff in front - it will be quite a richly planted border. We
will still see the tank but it's outline will be broken in the summer
by the planting and in the winter by the dead growth of the plants.
You can add a few 'architectural' *plants if you like them to give
some winter structure to the border.

Thanks, Rod. *Yes, a really dense mass of anything over in that corner
would raise an eyebrow, particularly in winter when the rest of the
garden is largely leafless and dead. *

Have just wondered if maybe there are more suitable clematises than the
ones we've put in and the findmeplants website has suggested:

http://www.findmeplants.co.uk/plant-...ides-1089.aspx

and

http://www.findmeplants.co.uk/plant-...ndii-1666.aspx

Both are probably worth a shot, as neither would produce that
distracting dense blot you warn of, but I notice that while both are
described as "Frost Hardy" they also come with the warning that they
will not tolerate exposed and cold locations!

But there's no harm in giving them a try, I suppose. *Anything to mask
Calor's great big light-green metal torpedo of a gas-tank! *Actually at
the moment it's got quite a lot of green algae growing on it and I'm
leaving it there despite it looking untended because it helps to lessen
the glossiness of Calor's pale green paintwork!

Eddy.

C.armandii would certainly do the job for you if your tank and trellis
are big enough. It's a lovely thing in flower and scented but it can
look a bit rough after a bad winter.
If rhodies do well for you and you like them - is your budget big
enough to buy well grown specimen sized plants? but of the fairly
compact slowish growing varieties like the R. yakusimanum hybrids,
loads to choose from, all lovely. Mix with the odd nice azalea at the
front something like 'Irene Koster', again like the rhodies these
transplant quite well as big plants and are available in 'specimen'
sizes, would break up the dense evergreen and don't get too huge.
I still think you'll get a more pleasing effect by breaking up the
outline of the tank rather than attempting total concealment. While
I'm talking of camouflage - if you want to make garden woodwork
inconspicuous don't paint it green, use one of the lighter brown wood
preservatives (just look around at the proportion of brown to green in
a garden - I'm prepared to bet you'll see more browns than greens)

Rod