To ivy or not to ivy.

[league67]

IainT said:

Is that wall part of you neighbours property? If so, and sorry if it's been mentioned, you might want to ensure that whatever you do have climbing it doesn't do damage to the mortar/bricks that you could be liable for.

No.

[Shaolin]

Pyracantha would be good. It's not a climber but a floppy (ish) evergreen shrub that can be treated as almost a climber fix it to a screw eye every 6 feet or so when it starts to get big. It can be trimmed to shape keeping it flat to the wall too. Downside (maybe) big scary thorns, though we have two large ones and other than my having to take care when pruning them, no-one has ever come to and harm. Flowers in spring, berries (loads) in the autumn, red, orange or yellow and the blackbirds love them so they get taken away when ripe rather than fall off and make a mess.

[league67]

Shaolin said:

Pyracantha would be good. It's not a climber but a floppy (ish) evergreen shrub that can be treated as almost a climber fix it to a screw eye every 6 feet or so when it starts to get big. It can be trimmed to shape keeping it flat to the wall too. Downside (maybe) big scary thorns, though we have two large ones and other than my having to take care when pruning them, no-one has ever come to and harm. Flowers in spring, berries (loads) in the autumn, red, orange or yellow and the blackbirds love them so they get taken away when ripe rather than fall off and make a mess.

Little one will be playing in that garden so maybe not the best way to go about it. But very beautiful plant nevertheless.

[Shaolin]

My two boys when they were little played in our garden which has lots of spiky and poisonous plants that they were told to avoid. No problems at all. They did however come home nettled and scratched and otherwise injured when playing elsewhere not in a garden.

[Hoofy]

Why not build something for your child against the wall? Obviously not a swing.

Child 1: Daddy is mean and makes me play on the swing.
Child 2: How's that mean?
Child 1: It rests against a wall.

[league67]

Hoofy said:

Why not build something for your child against the wall? Obviously not a swing.

Child 1: Daddy is mean and makes me play on the swing.
Child 2: How's that mean?
Child 1: It rests against a wall.

Stop that now or I'll send you to build fence next to the 'shared' driveway

[SPR2]

Clematis would be another nice climber.

[Hoofy]

league67 said:

Stop that now or I'll send you to build fence next to the 'shared' driveway

I'd build it on the right side of the photo just to annoy that OPer.

[league67]

SPR2 said:

Clematis would be another nice climber.

Pretty, doesn't look like it's evergreen.

[enioldjoe]

Chinese Ivy would work ( Trachelospermum jasminoides ) A flowering evergreen which is hardy if sheltered from the wind.

You can get evergreen Clematis but they aren't as green as they above. Plant both maybe? ( After it's been cladded )

[richtea78]

What about evergreen Jasmine? I'm growing some against a wall of my neighbours conservatory using a trellis. It smells nice, bees love it and its not un attractive

[RichB]

Bear in mind a lot of the suggestions are not self clinging so will require wires stretching across the wall on a matrix of screw-eyes. Nothing wrong with that but just saying...

Evergreen clematis is clematis armandii http://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/clematis-arma... vigorous growing, clings by tendrils that twine and has beautiful and fragrant white flowers in spring. Eventually does drop older leaves but can be pruned to induce fresh growth. Would do well on a west facing wall.

[Zyp]

I've got tons and tons of ivy growing over my side of a fence from my neighbours.
It's completely swamped a very tall yew tree on our border (tree is just on his land) and he'll do nothing about it because he can't see it from his massive garden.

It's so bad it has even started to grow over my house roof.

[league67]

RichB said:

Bear in mind a lot of the suggestions are not self clinging so will require wires stretching across the wall on a matrix of screw-eyes. Nothing wrong with that but just saying...

Evergreen clematis is clematis armandii http://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/clematis-arma... vigorous growing, clings by tendrils that twine and has beautiful and fragrant white flowers in spring. Eventually does drop older leaves but can be pruned to induce fresh growth. Would do well on a west facing wall.

Think I'm going to enjoy messing with that wall.

[Johnnytheboy]

Turns out my colleague's on hols this week so we'll know next week.

[league67]

Johnnytheboy said:

Turns out my colleague's on hols this week so we'll know next week.

Thanks very much, there is no rush. We are still waiting on exchange .

But i'm now looking for things like this.
http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-C23456FC-0B9170E...

seems like fun

Edit for; Need to learn English one of these days.

[Evoluzione]

Hoofy said:

Week 1:

Looks great.

Week 5:

That post still makes me chuckle, I was reminded of it today reading this:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/redefining--greenhouse---...

[DBSV8]

iamrcb said:

use fake ivy?

http://www.tenax.net/gardening/synthetic-hedges.ht...

great thanks , anyone have any photos of how real this looks to cover a shed ?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

What about Virginia creeper?

I know it's not evergreen, but it sticks itself to the surface rather than burrowing into the mortar like ivy. It also has a gorgeous cherry red colour in autumn. I like the fact that it changes through the seasons.

It's very easy to get established, fast growing but easy to control.

I wonder what the OP decided to do?

[Johnnytheboy]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

What about Virginia creeper?

Love the stuff.