Climbing plants

I have moved into a new house and would like to cover the vast expanse of south facing brick wall at the front with some sort of climbing plant.

I haven't got a clue where to start other than all year round green foliage would be nice if feasible, maybe a few flowers of some description with minimal maintenance as I expect it would grow quite high. Also I don't suppose, if something is attaching itself to a wall, it won't be invasive in some way (damage brickwork long term) but would prefer to steer clear of ivy if possible.

Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated. If I'm in cloud cuckoo land regarding my requirements, please feel free to say!

 

Hi @sharon j , welcome to the forum!

Evergreen Honeysuckle might fit the bill, Lonicera Henryi is my personal favourite. It doesn't need any maintenance at all and grows happily through gales, droughts and heavy frosts. You could also add interest by planting two climbers that flower at different times, an evergreen and perhaps a climbing rose? Many climbers tend to grow top heavy so some underplanting would look good.

Honeysuckles are twiners so if you fix a trellis on the wall it will find it's own way up. Roses will need to be tied to the frame.

South facing wall is warm and can dry the soil quickly so it's important to prepare the soil well. Dig deep and wide, add compost and manure depending on the soil you have.

Very importantly, remember to take before and after pictures and show us the progress

 

Even an evergreen clematis i like freckles

 

Thank you both for your quick replies! Much appreciated. I will definitely look at what you've suggested and take photos of course

 

+1 for Trachelospermum. Truly evergreen and some of the leaves turn bright red in winter. Asiaticum has creamy yellow flowers, jasminoides has white flowers and there's even a variegated-leaf variety if you want something jazzy They are reasonably self-clinging so need less support than Clematis or Lonicera.

 

Thank you for all the ideas (so far). This has been very, very helpful to a complete novice!

 

to the forum @sharon j

 

It's not exactly a climber, but some larger varieties of ceanothus can be trained up a wall. Lovely blue flowers around this time of year - bees love them. The rest of year, they're evergreen but they're not necessarily much to look at, but that's true of most evergreens anyway. A variegated one will be prettier out of flower.

 

How about Solanum , especially " Glasnevin ".

It's a fairly quick growing climber which is semi-evergreen and has lovely bluish/purple flowers for almost 6 months of the year.

 

As for other things which can be trained up trellises, common ones off the top of my head would be

Berberis
Pyracantha
Cotoneaster
Jasmine
Winter jasmine

All evergreen or semi-evergreen (or ever-purple in the case of some berberis).

And for something completely different, how about pleached, fan or espalier fruit trees? Not much to look at in winter, sure, but in summer you'll have flowers and then fruit. Apples, pears, plums, cherries and peaches will all do well like that. (Yes, you can grow peaches in Britain!)

 

There is a lovely Apple on the end wall at Anglesey Abbey

 

And a Wisteria too ... which might be an option?

 

I haven't been there for a few years, Kristen. When I used to live on the east side of Cambridge, I used to drive the back road to Quy and walk to Anglesey Abbey along the river. I'm 25 miles the other side of Cambridge now, so it's not such a quick trip.

I did think about suggesting a wisteria too, but I thought since it wasn't evergreen and it doesn't have an obvious appeal for the rest of the year, that might be pushing it a bit too far. I do love a good wisteria though! Fruit trees didn't really fit the brief either, but they're such a good use of a south facing wall that I thought it was still worth trying.

 

I agree, although once established there is a "lot going on" with a significant amount of stems in Winter - might it be enough to soften / disguise the brickwork?

Reminds me of an Estate agent that I did some work for. His software let him carefully match property to punter, but every week he mailed them a list of every property he had.
"Why do you do that?"
"'Coz most of them are not going to buy what they told me they wanted" !!