I'd really like to find a climber for this situation. Its a double-glazed
plate glass window about 2m high and one meter wide, its in what is best
described as a small porch, unheated but it never gets _really_ cold.
(Pelargoniums survive all winter).

This window faces west but is partially shaded- it gets a few hours of sun in
summer but at this time of year, no direct sunlight.

I've got some very stiff plastic 2" square netting and could put that over
the window, and then grow something up starting from a large-ish pot on the
floor. I'd really like to find a climber that can live happily in such
conditions and that grows roughly 2m tall. A non-flowering climber would be
ok, inconspicuous flowers would be ok. White flowers would be preferable if
there were any (everything else in this space has either white flowers or no
flowers). Scented leaves or scented white flowers would be ideal. Anything
that would grow there would be worth considering.

Any ideas for what to try would be most welcome. I really can't think of
anything, but there must be *something*, surely!

--
VX (remove alcohol for email)

In message m, VX
writes
I'd really like to find a climber for this situation. Its a double-glazed
plate glass window about 2m high and one meter wide, its in what is best
described as a small porch, unheated but it never gets _really_ cold.
(Pelargoniums survive all winter).

This window faces west but is partially shaded- it gets a few hours of sun in
summer but at this time of year, no direct sunlight.

I've got some very stiff plastic 2" square netting and could put that over
the window, and then grow something up starting from a large-ish pot on the
floor. I'd really like to find a climber that can live happily in such
conditions and that grows roughly 2m tall. A non-flowering climber would be
ok, inconspicuous flowers would be ok. White flowers would be preferable if
there were any (everything else in this space has either white flowers or no
flowers). Scented leaves or scented white flowers would be ideal. Anything
that would grow there would be worth considering.

Any ideas for what to try would be most welcome. I really can't think of
anything, but there must be *something*, surely!


Jasminum polyanthum has white flowers and might, I think, work in such a
situation, but you may have to prune it in time.


--
Klara, Gatwick basin

The message m
from VX contains these words:

I'd really like to find a climber for this situation. Its a double-glazed
plate glass window about 2m high and one meter wide, its in what is best
described as a small porch, unheated but it never gets _really_ cold.
(Pelargoniums survive all winter).

This window faces west but is partially shaded- it gets a few hours of
sun in
summer but at this time of year, no direct sunlight.

I've got some very stiff plastic 2" square netting and could put that over
the window, and then grow something up starting from a large-ish pot on the
floor. I'd really like to find a climber that can live happily in such
conditions and that grows roughly 2m tall. A non-flowering climber would be
ok, inconspicuous flowers would be ok. White flowers would be
preferable if
there were any (everything else in this space has either white flowers
or no
flowers). Scented leaves or scented white flowers would be ideal. Anything
that would grow there would be worth considering.

Any ideas for what to try would be most welcome. I really can't think of
anything, but there must be *something*, surely!

I have two granadillos growing in far darker conditions. You can get the
fruit in supermarkets sometimes, and the seeds germinate readily.

The fruit is round with a slightly conical top, and the slightly
ochreaceous apricot coloured case is hard, like an eggshell. The pulp
inside looks like frogspawn with beetle-shaped embryos in. IMO the pulp
is only useful if juiced, and added to something like fruit salad, where
it imparts a nice rounded flavour and fragrance.

Mid green heart-shaped leaves about the size and shape of black bryony,
and clings tenaciously with tendrils.

Haven't had any flowers yet, but I expect they will resemble passion
flowers of some sort, being in the same family.

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Kay wrote:
In article m, VX
writes
I'd really like to find a climber for this situation. Its a
double-glazed plate glass window about 2m high and one meter wide,
its in what is best described as a small porch, unheated but it
never gets _really_ cold. (Pelargoniums survive all winter).

If pelargoniums survive all winter, you could try training upwards
a
trailing white pelargonium.
[...]

Scented-leaved pelargoniums will grow happily, but in my experience
will tend to be leggy when lit for only half the day. The ones grown
for flowers won't flower very well in lower light, but they'll still
grow, and there'll always be some flowers. Best to make replacements
from cuttings every three years or so -- incredibly easy: an ideal
beginner's plant.

--
Mike.

Kay wrote:
Is C cirrhosa scented?

I have C. cirrhosa balearica. Pretty sure it's not scented or not
significantly so. I've never noticed a whiff.

It has the first of its flowers now. I'll go out tomorrow if I remember
and see if I can smell anything in this cold.

But I expect to be disappointed. All in all it's not a great plant, at
least not for the location it's in (of course that isn't its own fault).
It's just too vigorous and untidy for the spot it's in. I'm thinking of
replacing it with something else - perhaps a climbing rose (Lady
Hillingdon???) which I'm hoping will be better behaved.

In article , Dave Poole
writes
Kay wrote:

Jasmine, the scented white flowered one, would probably find it a bit
too cold - mine in the greenhouse flowers in early spring (it has buds
now), but really likes the winter temperature to have stayed above 40
deg F - if it dips to near 32 deg, then it doesn't flower.

Sorry Kay, I'll have to disagree with you slightly on this. I grow it
as an all-year-round flowering climber outside on an east facing fence
and it does flower at temperatures approaching 0C.

Is this the one that is sold so widely in GCs as a pot plant? Maybe
there's other things that come into play, like overall warmth. All I can
say is that I've grown it for about 8 years in the greenhouse, and it's
flowered a bit in the summer, but the main flush of buds has appeared in
winter and not opened. Then last year we rearranged the heating and kept
the greenhouse slightly warmer (mostly above 40F rather than above 32F)
and it was smothered with flowers all through spring. I've read
somewhere that it needs to be above a particular temperature for the
flowers to open, which seemed to match my experience perfectly.

Still, if we're talking about the same one, and your experience is
different from mine, than that's good for the OP.

It is generally
hardy to between minus 3 and minus 5C, but hates searing winds which
will damage flower buds. Mine is in flower at the moment. However,
it is such a vigorous plant that it can become a problem in a limited
space and needs frequent repotting if containerised. Mine started off
as a rooted layer a few years ago and is now about 30 or so feet long.

Mine is in a dustbin sized pot fighting it out with a Sollya (they were
both very small when planted). Hard to tell how long as it's wound round
and round! Probably not 30ft though.


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes

I find the same as David. A couple of days back, while giving the
white jasmine a haircut before winter gales(still a few flowers left) I
found that wherever the long whippy this-years-growth stems had touched
down to soil, they had rooted. With lots of new plants to play with, I'm
going to experiment with letting some ramp up into trees and over hedges
next year. It can tangle with next-door's feral ivy :-)

Are we talking about the same one? I'm talking about the one that is
sold in GCs as a pot plant - I wasn't aware that it could be grown
outside, I thought the white outdoors one was a different species?
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In article ,
Kay wrote:
In article , Janet Baraclough
writes

I find the same as David. A couple of days back, while giving the
white jasmine a haircut before winter gales(still a few flowers left) I
found that wherever the long whippy this-years-growth stems had touched
down to soil, they had rooted. With lots of new plants to play with, I'm
going to experiment with letting some ramp up into trees and over hedges
next year. It can tangle with next-door's feral ivy :-)

Are we talking about the same one? I'm talking about the one that is
sold in GCs as a pot plant - I wasn't aware that it could be grown
outside, I thought the white outdoors one was a different species?

There are a good dozen plants called jasmine, of which many/most
belong to genus Jasminum. Almost all have yellow, unscented flowers
or white to pink, often scented ones. At least half a dozen species
with white flowers are widely sold as jasmine.

The only hardy one is J. officinale, but the ones sold as pot plants
are J. polyanthum, Trachelospermum etc. A good many of them are
borderline hardy in the milder parts (e.g. two Trachelospermum are,
and so are several of the less common Jasminum).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Dave Poole
writes

Yes Kay - Jasminum polyanthum, which is more tender than the 'summer
jasmine' - J. officinale, but has greater quantities of larger
flowers in more conspicuous clusters. Usually it flowers in early
spring, but I find that it will flower almost throughout the year if
allowed total freedom. Mine has 4 well defined flushes - Christmas,
March, June and September with sporadic flowering in between.

Mine is just deciding to give up on the Christmas flowering, and I don't
get anything after about July. That's one reason it works quite well
with the Sollya, which flowers through the second half of the year.

You've hit it on the head about growing it in a dustbin sized
container, the roots are extremely vigorous and it really needs plenty
of room.

Looks like I'd better start again with a smaller one. I must admit that
the scent of a 'dustbin full' of flowering jasmine is a bit overwhelming
in the confined space of a greenhouse

As, come to that, is the scent of 16 Brugmansia flowers (well, not
really, but I'm so pleased that it's still in full flower that I had to
find some way of bringing it into the conversation!)

I would expect this inland and further north. Its not a plant for
open gardens away from the south. The failure of buds to open is more
likely due to sustained low temperatures rather than a night-time
drop.

That would make sense - in January/February we can have long periods
when the greenhouse doesn't get above 50F, and the night time lows will
be over a long period.

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In message , Kay
writes
I would expect this inland and further north. Its not a plant for
open gardens away from the south. The failure of buds to open is more
likely due to sustained low temperatures rather than a night-time
drop.

That would make sense - in January/February we can have long periods
when the greenhouse doesn't get above 50F, and the night time lows
will be over a long period

We have a J. polyanthum on a west-facing wall just outside the kitchen,
and though it looks happy and is growing well, it doesn't flower - at
least, not yet. I have now put a plastic greenhouse in front of it
(where I keep the herb pots), to keep the frost off and the ground a bit
warmer. On really cold nights I drape some fleece over it as well, to
see if I can nurse it through the winter - but from what you both say,
flowers may be that one step too far....
--
Klara, Gatwick basin

VX wrote in message
s.com...
I'd really like to find a climber for this situation. Its a double-glazed
plate glass window about 2m high and one meter wide, its in what is best
described as a small porch, unheated but it never gets _really_ cold.
(Pelargoniums survive all winter).

This window faces west but is partially shaded- it gets a few hours of sun
in
summer but at this time of year, no direct sunlight.

I've got some very stiff plastic 2" square netting and could put that over
the window, and then grow something up starting from a large-ish pot on
the
floor. I'd really like to find a climber that can live happily in such
conditions and that grows roughly 2m tall. A non-flowering climber would
be
ok, inconspicuous flowers would be ok. White flowers would be preferable
if
there were any (everything else in this space has either white flowers or
no
flowers). Scented leaves or scented white flowers would be ideal. Anything
that would grow there would be worth considering.

Any ideas for what to try would be most welcome. I really can't think of
anything, but there must be *something*, surely!

--
VX (remove alcohol for email)


Hi,

How about Scindapsis (Devil's Ivy, I think) or Philodendron sp? Neither
have flowers, AFAIK, but they will tolerate your conditions. You will need
to tie them in to your framework, as they don't actually climb. (I have
seen both grown as trailing plants).

Spider

"Janet Baraclough" wrote
The message
from "Spider" contains these words:
VX wrote in
I'd really like to find a climber for this situation. Its a double-glazed
plate glass window about 2m high and one meter wide, its in what is best
described as a small porch, unheated but it never gets _really_ cold.

How about Scindapsis (Devil's Ivy, I think) or Philodendron sp? Neither
have flowers, AFAIK, but they will tolerate your conditions. You will need
to tie them in to your framework, as they don't actually climb. (I have
seen both grown as trailing plants).

I once had to screen a large groundfloor window (from passers by on
the street) with plants. After some experiment I found the most
effective combination was well-fed trailing spider plants (grown in
hanging pots at slightly varied heights), with a contrasting row of
tall upright spikes of mother inlaws tongues, coming up to meet the
trailers from below. No intrusive supports required, but good visual
coverage of all areas. It was still easy to water everything and clean
the glass as required. Both plants are almost indestructible so can
stand the adverse heat, chill or neglect of windowsill life, and when
they get dusty they can easily be moved to rinse them clean under a
tap. Both could be easily rotated towards light..something you can't
easily do on a fixed support, so it was easy to maintain a lush effect
both internally and externally.

The only minor disadvantage was that the plant-curtain looked so
striking, passers would stop specially to enjoy it :-)
Janet.

Brilliant Janet!!
I shall remember that - the house in France has a similar window in the
bathroom......... :~~)
Jenny

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 23:52:18 +0000, Mike Lyle wrote
(in message ):

If pelargoniums survive all winter, you could try training upwards
a
trailing white pelargonium.
[...]

Scented-leaved pelargoniums will grow happily, but in my experience
will tend to be leggy when lit for only half the day. The ones grown
for flowers won't flower very well in lower light, but they'll still
grow, and there'll always be some flowers. Best to make replacements
from cuttings every three years or so -- incredibly easy: an ideal
beginner's plant.

Thanks for all the responses- very interesting and helped me make a decision.

Re pelargoniums- the ones that live in this porch area are on the one sunny
wall getting light through a different piece of glass, and even there they
put up with less light than they want and don't flower much. The place I want
to put a climber is considerably worse- gets no direct sun in winter and
going on past experience isn't a good place to put a pelargonium unless I
want it to look a bit stretched and unhappy. Which is a pity because I have
two (Clorinda and Sweet Mimosa/aka S. Miriam) that are said to make good
climbers. As a pelagonium lover that was a hard decision but I'm passing on
pelargonums as climbers for this spot due to very low light in winter.

I've decided on Jasminum Polyanthum for now and just ordered one. It could
grow up 2m and then if need be along the ceiling too if it wants to- I'll put
up some wires if that looks imminent. There are bathroom windows opening onto
this "porch" and a door into my hallway so the prospect of my home being
suffused with the scent of jasmine is too much to pass by without trying it.
If this one doesn't work I'll try Lapageria.

One of my books says that Jasminium Polyanthum grows relative to pot size and
the example given is it will grow up to six feet if grown in an 8" pot. That
sounds like one of those guidelines that applies some of the time but not
all. Maybe this will all fall into place if I put it in a 10" pot, and then
prune as needed and replace the plant from a cutting every few years when it
gets too unmanageable. Just wondering- I have successfully "downsized" huge
scented pelargoniums by pruning back the top and the roots also and putting
into a smaller pot. I wonder if this could work with Jasminium Polyanthum.



--
VX (remove alcohol for email)

The message m
from VX contains these words:

Re pelargoniums- the ones that live in this porch area are on the one sunny
wall getting light through a different piece of glass, and even there they
put up with less light than they want and don't flower much. The place
I want
to put a climber is considerably worse- gets no direct sun in winter and
going on past experience isn't a good place to put a pelargonium unless I
want it to look a bit stretched and unhappy. Which is a pity because I have
two (Clorinda and Sweet Mimosa/aka S. Miriam) that are said to make good
climbers. As a pelagonium lover that was a hard decision but I'm passing on
pelargonums as climbers for this spot due to very low light in winter.

I've decided on Jasminum Polyanthum for now and just ordered one. It could
grow up 2m and then if need be along the ceiling too if it wants to-
I'll put
up some wires if that looks imminent. There are bathroom windows
opening onto
this "porch" and a door into my hallway so the prospect of my home being
suffused with the scent of jasmine is too much to pass by without
trying it.
If this one doesn't work I'll try Lapageria.

before you rush out and buy things, have you considered a rubber tree? I
know it's not a climber, but it will put up with very poor light.

I found one on the farm's bonfire heap and rescued it, and two years
later, it fills the corner of a room. It gets easterly light through the
glass panel of the front door, filtered through a cheesecloth curtain,
and it seems quite happy, though it is reaching for the door...

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 20:57:41 +0000, Jaques d'Alltrades wrote
(in message ):

before you rush out and buy things, have you considered a rubber tree? I
know it's not a climber, but it will put up with very poor light.

I found one on the farm's bonfire heap and rescued it, and two years
later, it fills the corner of a room. It gets easterly light through the
glass panel of the front door, filtered through a cheesecloth curtain,
and it seems quite happy, though it is reaching for the door...

Is this the same thing as a rubber plant, or is a rubber tree somethng
different? I didn't explain the space limitations too well- although the
window I want a climber for is two meters high by one metre wide, I can only
afford the growing part of the plant (as opposed to the pot) to project about
six inches into the available space- its actually a very small space
altogether and with a climber fitting the above space limitations there will
just be room for me to sit down on a chair. So when you say "fills the corner
of the room" I sense that this may be something that likes a
three-dimensional space! Then again it may just be growing towards the light
source. I'm hoping that whatever I grow here will conveniently just glue
itself to the glass and not try to grow out away from it.

I'm collecting all the suggestions so I have multiple fallback options if one
thing (or more) fails to work out, so thanks for that one!



--
VX (remove alcohol for email)