Quote:
Originally Posted by Janet Tweedy[_2_]
What combination of plants could I suggest to someone who has a lovely
metal arch and would like fragrant flowers but more imprtantly as long a
period of interest as possible.
Quite sheltered garden facing south, neutral to alkeline soil
They aren't expert gardeners so good doers perhaps, but not rampant stuff.
Colour not important
I thought lonicera out because it so often gets infested, jasmine might
get unruly(though poss, stephanese) and doesn't take to pruning, maybe
clematis and roses or a trachleospermum, maybe even some annual climbers
like ipomea, eccromocarpus
Think whoever sold them their house took their plants with them as there
seems to be nothing in the ground apart from 3 very unpruned young
espaalier apple trees, a whole bed of chives, a pile of assorted stones,
three msierable roses planted about 5 feet aprt and a climber outisde
that looks very similar to clumbine but has reddish stems and slightly
more jagged leaves. Looks like it dies every eyar then grwos on top of
what died  |
Most of what you suggest is unscented. I'd go for honeysuckle (a late one and an early one) but, as you say, it does tend to get aphids - I suspect the one I have over an arch is OK because it's within 3ft of the bluetit nest in the traffic lights! So you're probably best to reject it.
If you go for roses, be very careful about vigour. Both in Kent and here, any roses I've grown have grown to about twice the advertised height. The trouble with an arch is the same as with a hedge - difficult to get something that will reach the top of the arch quickly and then stop growing ;-)
For annuals, you could try sweet peas for the fragrance. I don't know how you'd go about mixing a perennial with some annuals - might be difficult to get the annuals to establish if the perennial is already hogging the soil.
The climber that looks like a columbine - there is a climbing aconitum - could it be that? Both Aconitum (columbine) and Aconitum are in the buttercup family.
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