What's best to hide a fence?

[carolyorkie2010]

I have a 6 foot wooden fence (not larch lap type) and would like to know what to plant in front of it to hide it. Would like something that grows quickly and is evergreen. Thought English Ivy might be ok. Any advise please?

[captainbovine]

ivy is a slow starter, they say the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps!!

can't think of many climbing plants that are evergreen, oh winter jasmine would be good, lovely yellow flowers in the winter, but not a fast grower. The really fast ones, like boston ivy loose their leaves...

try a google for evergreen climbers and see what pops up.

[mr-expresso]

Ivy.... mixed with honey suckle....

Best of both worlds...

[captainbovine]

clever;-)

[duck_a_lorange]

Thought English Ivy might be ok. 

Ivy will destroy your fence - pdq.   How do I know ? :_| 

How about making the fence earn its keep and growing some cordon or espallier fruit on it?

Or a nice selection of (not necessarily evergreen) flowering shrubs in front of it?

[karl*katz]

A 7 ft brick wall would hide it B-)

[guardpig]

20 odd years ago our side fence was covered in ivy.  About 5 years later and loads of pulling off, digging up and weedkilling most of it had gone.  Every year some of it comes back.  We are not sure if it is ours or next doors but we have both been trying to get rid of.  Plant ivy.

Quick fix Clematis Montana then, if room, plant a shrub bed and wait for it to  grow, then dig up and remove the Clematis before it is too much work to keep under control.

[bidder.17]

Firstly i'm not sure how wide this fence is, if it's just a panel or two or if it stretches the length of the garden. I don't know the aspect or adjacent to the fence, but will assume it's lawn or soil

Others have sort of covered pros and cons of ivy, it's not the fastest grower initially, can be difficult to remove, and may not really be that suitable imo, though it is evergreen.

There are some climbers which may be suitable, but my advice is get one which will be suitable for the size of area you wish to cover. Clematis, certain rambling roses, solanum, winter jasmine etc just google a few. It's easier to say what not to grow, eg russian vine which would grow quickly but you would be forever cutting back.

Some which flower will need reasonable sunlight, so have a look see which way your fence faces....South will get full sun, North by contrast will not

Good luck

[carolyorkie2010]

The fence stretches the full length of the garden, think its about 19 feet up to the shed; in front is a strip of soil about 6 in wide, all the way across, in front of that it is paved.

[bidder.17]

It's a reasonable sized area to cover, and not a lot of room for a planting hole or to dig.

Winter jasmine on it's own wont cover that area, you would need several, same with clematis ( there are some evergreen varieties )so it would if you chose them, need to be several along the length of the fence.

I would agree with captbovine on ivy in that it can take years before it gets going, and then just becomes a thug.

Most climbers have a tendency to grow towards a light source which usually means upwards

You can train them horizontally but it requires application.

There are some ramblers ( roses ) which may fit, but they aren't evergreen, and whilst in some cases, one might do, the process of covering will take years. If it's more instant you are looking for, the bigger specimens you buy, the quicker usually. the coverage is done, but they cost more.

6 inches is not a lot of room to dig in, or plant, so when buying I would bear that in mind.

I would do a bit of research into what you like, and what would be suitable for those conditions

Numerous smaller plants, not necessarily in the ground but perhaps in containers, may give you quicker coverage ( containers will need watering though )

[fishpieface]

You could paint it a nice colour, then you wouldn't need to hide it.

[mozart5255]

dont plant ivy against a wall or a fence.     its roots will get into the cenent on wall and into the fence.    fences need maintance on a fairly regular basis.

What i would suggest is getting some trellis and thern scewing in hooks on the fence.    rest the trellis on the hooks.  this way when you need to paint /treat fence , all you do is lift the trellis off and lie it flat on the ground.   no damage to fence and no damage to ground.  qwuick and simple.

For planting .  summer jasmaine grows like the clappers.   winter jasmaine will frow a lot slower and wont spead like the summer.

climbing roses and celmatis are good.     depending on the facing wall so`s to speak  you could grow kiwi fruit,  grapes.  

[mr-expresso]

Please note...

The OP asked for evergreen....

No good it being covered only part of the year....

[mozart5255]

haa ok    winter jasmine ,  also depending on where the op is   a passion flower goes like the clappers and stays green in most winters.  bamboo ( not the invasive kind ) gives good coverage and movement.

there are evbergreen clematis such as the armandii which is winter flowring and scented.

also  cirrhosa which flowers from nov onwards.

then theres the semi green,   it loses some leaves but not all . chocolate Vine akebia

[mozart5255]

last one i can think of at the moment is   chilean potato vine,  solanum crispum which has lovely bright blue flowers in the summer to late autumn.   this will need hard pruning though in the spring but soons regrows again like the clappers

[**towery**]

why do you want to hide it?

there are paints , have a mural, 

make some game  squares,  hang other stuff off it - fairylights

they make garlands that go down staircases why not put them along a fence

one of the other posters is right that  you will need to do maintenance

there are not many plants that will appreciate the leg room  you have  atm,   so unless you can lose some of the paved area - not all say 1 foot every 5 ft  along to put in a decent plants or to stand planters

depending on the  aspect and what sun  you get theree are many ways of having applles, peaches  etc

do you want to spend any time gardening or is it purely to mark a boundary?

[chips-and-brown-gravy]

19' is a bit of an ask for one plant.

No way would I plant ivy, nasty stuff that will destroy the fence and please don't even think of Russian Vine, a hideous weed that should be banned.

You need to put a trellis up or at least some support wires as climbers won't grow up a fence unless given some help and support.

I think I'd plant a mixture of honeysuckle and clematis.  A very good, vigorous evergreen honeysuckle is  Lonicera x americana , but for the best one (in my opinion) look for Lonicera similis delavayi which is an absolute stunner.

For clematis I would probably add both early and late flowering ones maybe Clematis 'Betty Corning' , and any of the viticella group.

[bankhaunter]

I think I'd plant a mixture of honeysuckle and clematis.

The scent of honeysuckle on a calm summer evening.

Wonderful.

[guardpig]

Alternative.  Extend slabs up to fence.  Stick a few pots out, something ornamental and paint the fence.  Make it a feature.

[carolyorkie2010]

Thank you very much to everyone who has replied to this question, I appreciate your comments and suggestions. Think I will go for a mixture of Honeysuckle and Clematis seeing as I haven't a lot of digging room. Thanks again, everyone. 🙂