We need a thick rapid-growing alpine evergreen climber which is not
thorny. Are we just fantasizing? Does such a plant exist?

We are stuck with a Calor LPG tank, painted a very light green, in a
corner of the front garden and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Firstly, we put a wooden trellis around it, painted it dark green, and
then put in two clematis plants, one of which has taken quite well but
of course for most of the year they're both leafless and provide next to
no camouflage, so they weren't such a good idea.

Next we put in three or four ivy plants, hoping they would take off, but
they just haven't. Maybe it's too cold where we are.

So then we put three rhododendrons in front of the trellis, and they are
coming along nicely, but it's going to be at least 10 years before they
grow so tall and dense that they hide the tank from view.

So, is there such a thing as a thick rapidly-growing alpine evergreen
climber? We're 150 metres above sea-level here and so it can be awfully
cold in winter, plus we're in something of a wind-tunnel. (It looks
like last winter's cold and winds may have killed off a well-established
young viburnum and a young laurel!). The ideal plant has also to be
non-thorny - or the LPG supplier could complain about getting scratched
when they deliver.

Thanks,
Eddy.

P.S. Have been driven to consider just wrapping the tank in a black
tarpaulin but have learnt that that would contravene the safety
regulations. And of course we're not permitted to paint the tank, and
even if you could it would have to be in a light colour so as not to
cause the tank to absorb heat!

On Mar 26, 5:42*pm, Eddy
wrote:
We need a thick rapid-growing alpine evergreen climber which is not
thorny. *Are we just fantasizing? *Does such a plant exist?

We are stuck with a Calor LPG tank, painted a very light green, in a
corner of the front garden and it sticks out like a sore thumb. *

Firstly, we put a wooden trellis around it, painted it dark green, and
then put in two clematis plants, one of which has taken quite well but
of course for most of the year they're both leafless and provide next to
no camouflage, so they weren't such a good idea.

Next we put in three or four ivy plants, hoping they would take off, but
they just haven't. *Maybe it's too cold where we are.

So then we put three rhododendrons in front of the trellis, and they are
coming along nicely, but it's going to be at least 10 years before they
grow so tall and dense that they hide the tank from view.

So, is there such a thing as a thick rapidly-growing alpine evergreen
climber? *We're 150 metres above sea-level here and so it can be awfully
cold in winter, plus we're in something of a wind-tunnel. *(It looks
like last winter's cold and winds may have killed off a well-established
young viburnum and a young laurel!). *The ideal plant has also to be
non-thorny - or the LPG supplier could complain about getting scratched
when they deliver.

Thanks,
Eddy.

P.S. *Have been driven to consider just wrapping the tank in a black
tarpaulin but have learnt that that would contravene the safety
regulations. *And of course we're not permitted to paint the tank, and
even if you could it would have to be in a light colour so as not to
cause the tank to absorb heat!

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.

Rod

On Mar 26, 5:42*pm, Eddy
wrote:
We need a thick rapid-growing alpine evergreen climber which is not
thorny. *Are we just fantasizing? *Does such a plant exist?

We are stuck with a Calor LPG tank, painted a very light green, in a
corner of the front garden and it sticks out like a sore thumb. *

Firstly, we put a wooden trellis around it, painted it dark green, and
then put in two clematis plants, one of which has taken quite well but
of course for most of the year they're both leafless and provide next to
no camouflage, so they weren't such a good idea.

Next we put in three or four ivy plants, hoping they would take off, but
they just haven't. *Maybe it's too cold where we are.

So then we put three rhododendrons in front of the trellis, and they are
coming along nicely, but it's going to be at least 10 years before they
grow so tall and dense that they hide the tank from view.

So, is there such a thing as a thick rapidly-growing alpine evergreen
climber? *We're 150 metres above sea-level here and so it can be awfully
cold in winter, plus we're in something of a wind-tunnel. *(It looks
like last winter's cold and winds may have killed off a well-established
young viburnum and a young laurel!). *The ideal plant has also to be
non-thorny - or the LPG supplier could complain about getting scratched
when they deliver.

Thanks,
Eddy.

P.S. *Have been driven to consider just wrapping the tank in a black
tarpaulin but have learnt that that would contravene the safety
regulations. *And of course we're not permitted to paint the tank, and
even if you could it would have to be in a light colour so as not to
cause the tank to absorb heat!

Why not try Viburnum Tinus, Evergreen, flowers and berries, not an
alpine climber but grows quite rapidly once established, esp if you
prune it back.

On 26/03/2011 17:42, Eddy wrote:

We need a thick rapid-growing alpine evergreen climber which is not
thorny. Are we just fantasizing? Does such a plant exist?

We are stuck with a Calor LPG tank, painted a very light green, in a
corner of the front garden and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Firstly, we put a wooden trellis around it, painted it dark green, and
then put in two clematis plants, one of which has taken quite well but
of course for most of the year they're both leafless and provide next to
no camouflage, so they weren't such a good idea.

Next we put in three or four ivy plants, hoping they would take off, but
they just haven't. Maybe it's too cold where we are.

So then we put three rhododendrons in front of the trellis, and they are
coming along nicely, but it's going to be at least 10 years before they
grow so tall and dense that they hide the tank from view.

So, is there such a thing as a thick rapidly-growing alpine evergreen
climber? We're 150 metres above sea-level here and so it can be awfully
cold in winter, plus we're in something of a wind-tunnel. (It looks
like last winter's cold and winds may have killed off a well-established
young viburnum and a young laurel!). The ideal plant has also to be
non-thorny - or the LPG supplier could complain about getting scratched
when they deliver.

Thanks,
Eddy.

P.S. Have been driven to consider just wrapping the tank in a black
tarpaulin but have learnt that that would contravene the safety
regulations. And of course we're not permitted to paint the tank, and
even if you could it would have to be in a light colour so as not to
cause the tank to absorb heat!

I doubt that there is an evergreen climber that hardy, from what you
have said.

But why not use that curse - leylandii - to make a hedge which you would
just have to trim back every year or so. You could buy it as a
well-grown plant (not sure how many you would need. How long is the
tank?), and within a few months you would have your screen.

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:

I doubt that there is an evergreen climber that hardy, from what you
have said.

But why not use that curse - leylandii - to make a hedge which you would
just have to trim back every year or so. You could buy it as a
well-grown plant (not sure how many you would need. How long is the
tank?), and within a few months you would have your screen.

Well, Jeff, that's certainly an idea, though a curse, indeed! Our
previous property came with said curse and I'm glad to have escaped it.

Leylandii would certainly do the job though, and with regular attention
it could be kept thin but dense.

Do you know how the roots might behave if the leylandii was kept as a
thin six-foot high hedge? I need to consider this because the exit pipe
from our septic tank empties into the ground about 15 feet away from the
gas tank. So we can't risk planting anything around the gas tank which
has roots that will go charging off into the soakaway and possibly
reaching the exit-pipe of the septic tank. Certainly planting even just
one leylandii and letting it rise unchecked would be out of the
question.

Would a number of leylandii forming a low L-shaped screen, about 8'
along one side and 6' along the other, bother sending roots out widely?

Eddy.

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.

Dave Hill wrote:
Why not try Viburnum Tinus, Evergreen, flowers and berries, not an
alpine climber but grows quite rapidly once established, esp if you
prune it back.

I would certainly try a couple of Viburnums, Dave, if the one we have
hadn't suffered so badly this last winter. It's been left BROWN. It'll
be interesting to see if it tries to recover in the coming months. It's
not the only species in our garden here that appears to have been
finished off. Three other well-established evergreen bushes were
completely browned. And the flaxes were so badly damaged I've had to
cut them right away, right down at ground-level. (No sign of any new
growth yet.)

Eddy.

On Mar 26, 10:25*pm, Eddy
wrote:
Dave Hill wrote:
Why not try Viburnum Tinus, *Evergreen, flowers and berries, not an
alpine climber but grows quite rapidly once established, esp if you
prune it back.

I would certainly try a couple of Viburnums, Dave, if the one we have
hadn't suffered so badly this last winter. *It's been left BROWN. *It'll
be interesting to see if it tries to recover in the coming months. *It's
not the only species in our garden here that appears to have been
finished off. *Three other well-established evergreen bushes were
completely browned. *And the flaxes were so badly damaged I've had to
cut them right away, right down at ground-level. *(No sign of any new
growth yet.)

Eddy.
Thinking about it, if you want a climber then
Lonicera henryi is an evergreen honeysuckle with glossy foliage and
golden-orange flowers
I've got it growing up into an oak tree, I've had up to 16 ft of
growth in a season,
David Hill

On 26/03/2011 21:20, 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.

There is not the slightest chance that either plant would survive under
the conditions you have. Both need the comfort of a wall to grow happily.

You might want to consider Lonicera japonica "halliana", although under
your conditions it would only be semi-evergreen.

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:
There is not the slightest chance that either plant would survive under
the conditions you have. Both need the comfort of a wall to grow happily.

Thanks, Jeff, for saving me shelling out money on something that will
only disappoint.

You might want to consider Lonicera japonica "halliana", although under
your conditions it would only be semi-evergreen.

Well, semi-green would be better than nothing. I see that the Halliana
is hardy to H4, so will just have to hope we don't have worse winters
than this last one.

Many thanks.

Eddy.

Dave Hill wrote:
Thinking about it, if you want a climber then
Lonicera henryi is an evergreen honeysuckle with glossy foliage and
golden-orange flowers
I've got it growing up into an oak tree, I've had up to 16 ft of
growth in a season,

Thanks, Dave, for that suggestion. Have looked it up at:

http://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plan...h_submit_y%3D0

The site says Henryi is "Tender in frost (H3), Hardy (H4)", so it's
hardiness is as good as the Halliana but the "Tender in frost is
worrying", given that we get a lot of frosts here.

Hmmm. If only there was a swiftly climbing rhododendron. There isn't
such a thing is there? When the dozen or so young rhodies were covered
in snow and ice here for almost the two months of November and December
(last) I really didn't think they would survive . . . but there was no
damage to their leaves whatsoever. Everything other evergreen in the
garden suffered except the rhodies and the saxafrage, saponia, certain
conifers, ova ursii, a number of cactus-like alpines.

Eddy.

On 26/03/2011 21:09, Eddy wrote:
Jeff Layman wrote:

I doubt that there is an evergreen climber that hardy, from what you
have said.

But why not use that curse - leylandii - to make a hedge which you would
just have to trim back every year or so. You could buy it as a
well-grown plant (not sure how many you would need. How long is the
tank?), and within a few months you would have your screen.

Well, Jeff, that's certainly an idea, though a curse, indeed! Our
previous property came with said curse and I'm glad to have escaped it.

Leylandii would certainly do the job though, and with regular attention
it could be kept thin but dense.

Do you know how the roots might behave if the leylandii was kept as a
thin six-foot high hedge? I need to consider this because the exit pipe
from our septic tank empties into the ground about 15 feet away from the
gas tank. So we can't risk planting anything around the gas tank which
has roots that will go charging off into the soakaway and possibly
reaching the exit-pipe of the septic tank. Certainly planting even just
one leylandii and letting it rise unchecked would be out of the
question.

Would a number of leylandii forming a low L-shaped screen, about 8'
along one side and 6' along the other, bother sending roots out widely?


I think you will find most sources state that leylandii roots are pretty
thin and remain close to the surface. I can't see a 6' high leylandii
having roots anywhere near 15' long.

--

Jeff

On Mar 27, 5:48*pm, Eddy
wrote:
Dave Hill wrote:
Thinking about it, if you want a climber then
Lonicera henryi is an evergreen honeysuckle with glossy foliage and
golden-orange flowers
I've got it growing up into an oak tree, I've had up to 16 ft of
growth in a season,

Thanks, Dave, for that suggestion. *Have looked it up at:

http://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plan...eferrer=%2Fpla....

The site says Henryi is "Tender in frost (H3), Hardy (H4)", so it's
hardiness is as good as the Halliana but the "Tender in frost is
worrying", given that we get a lot of frosts here.

Hmmm. *If only there was a swiftly climbing rhododendron. *There isn't
such a thing is there? * When the dozen or so young rhodies were covered
in snow and ice here for almost the two months of November and December
(last) I really didn't think they would survive . . . but there was no
damage to their leaves whatsoever. *Everything other evergreen in the
garden suffered except the rhodies and the saxafrage, saponia, certain
conifers, ova ursii, a number of cactus-like alpines.

Eddy.

Henrii frost tender?
Balderdash! We havn't even had a leaf marked and we went down to 18f
and had frost for 6 days+ without it geting above 30f.

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

Jeff Layman wrote:
Would a number of leylandii forming a low L-shaped screen, about 8'
along one side and 6' along the other, bother sending roots out widely?


I think you will find most sources state that leylandii roots are pretty
thin and remain close to the surface. I can't see a 6' high leylandii
having roots anywhere near 15' long.

Thanks, Jeff.