Disguising a 70ft fence - help!

Our neighbours have just erected a hideous 70 ft long & 7 ft max height fence. It is east facing in our garden & I would welcome suggestions as to what to plant to disguise it. The sun leaves the space around 2pm after which it casts long shadow. The ground is heavy clay/chalk so realise it will need alot of topsoil, humus etc.

Have gathered from the net various climbing/rambler roses, climbing hydrangea, clematis etc. but need to know how may plants to space out etc. & also what other things would take.

All suggestions very much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Granny Rose
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What a shame Granny Rose. As for plants it all depends how much you want to spend and how quicly you want that fence covered.
Ivy is cheap and easy and some of the variegated ones are very nice. Paddy's Pride could be a good choice for part of the fence and birds like to nest in ivy.
The climbing rose Zepherin Drouhin does very well in shade , is thornless, has lovely pink flowers and is beautifully scented.
Clematis will do well. Clematis montana is very fast growing and would cover a good chunk of fence quickly. Clematis tangutica would give you nice yellow flowers later in the year. Lots of varieties to choose from.
Honeysuckle and ornamental vines would also do well.
Lots of lovely things to grow. Maybe that fence will turn out to be a good thing.

 

A climbing wild rose is much faster than ivy, although I would usually recommend ivy, The rose will give you something pretty to look at whilst you are waiting for the others to catch up.

And that fence-unless they housed the image of Chelsea flower show, good riddance eh?

 

You may want to attach the climbers to your own training wires, in front of the fence, and I'm not sure you are allowed to attach things to a fence that isn't yours. Could be wrong though ...

For East facing you may want to avoid things that flower early in the year - the last frosts on buds that then catch the morning sun, whilst buds still frozen, may cause them to be a bit manky - depends on the plant of course.

 

Hi Granny Rose I wouldn't suggest an ivy as much as they appear 'nice' all year round they can be a right pain to keep in check and I'm not too sure that your neighbour would be pleased to see one propped up against their fence.

I would go for a lovely Clematis Montana nothing compares to it's masses of flowers in May it looks just like one huge garland. It will grow quite quickly too, in our old gardens I planted one against a 10ft wide fence in next to no time it creeped along that then along our garage in fact over the top of it and hubby even then had to make a trellis walk-way all along the side of the garage....our neighbours were really quite jealous of it's stunning show and all it needs is some wire to grow along.Hel.xxx.

 

lavaterra is great for coverage it grows massive with lovely pink flowers, i used to have one at my last home and it grows pretty quick

 

Thank you so much for your replies. Not sure if this is going to everyone who replied - still trying to navigate this site. You have confirmed my research/thoughts/personal opinion. Providing the plants are right for the position its all so subjective isn't it? Am inclined to go for clematis, especially the good old montana in the hope of cover asap. & roses as well as 'other stuff'

 

grannyrose montana and other climbers will take a good 3 years to establish themselves so your not going to get instant growth in 1 year, thought i would tell you so your not dissapointed, mind once they grow it will look fantastic.

 

As rosa says Granny Rose...A while to wait,then results like this..

 

Clematis Montana - absolutely stunning when it is established.
We have a lovely plant at the bottom of the garden. It was a weedy
little bit and was almost thrown on the compost heap about three
years ago but we gave it a chance and it has certainly made a lovely show -
though not as magnificent as your pic Pal!
How long has that plant been growing?

Another of our neighbours put 6ft boards all round her garden with
massive concrete posts - looks like a prison wall
We put some trellis along on our side of the boards and planted
honeysuckle to hide it and in just over 3 years it has grown right
along the side of her fence. Looks lovely when flowering .

Not a quick fix but worth waiting for results Granny Rose.

 

It's been growing for about 15 years jjordie...perhaps the best value for money I've got in my plot.....and it's still growing!

 

wow pal your montana is just stunning, love it hope mine flowers like that.

 

now that's what I call showing off... wow indeed Nick. Trouble is, I have a penchant for moving, every 5 years on average, although maybe not in the present housing climate....
Question still is, how many climbers (clematis, roses, honeysuckle, hydrangea) per length of the blasted fence(70ft)? And what about underplanting to hide double gravel boards?

G R

 

GR, I'd start off spacing them out well. Some climbers need more pruning than others and if you have them all tangled up together, pruning could become a right royal pain in the a***!

Start off small - you can always fill the gaps with annual climbers, such as sweet peas, until the permanent climbers gain in size.