Advice on New Plants!

 
Hello everyone,

I am new here, and also rather new to gardening.  I am moving next month
to a house that is south-facing and contains a tiny front garden.  (At
the moment the only thing in it is weeds...)


I could post a pic of the front of the house though I noticed on the
forum rules it advises us not to post pictures right away.


I would like to do something right away to improve the appearance.  I
plan to find some flowers to put in individual pots, but I'd also like
to plant a couple climbers of some sort to climb up the front of the
brick house.  Looking for something not too fussy, and that will grow
quickly.


Secondly, in the back garden (which would be north-facing) there is a
lovely wooden arbour that is quite tall.  Currently it is completely
without any plants at all and is crying out for something.  I am also
looking for something very vigorous and fast growing that will also look
lovely as well.


I don't have a huge budget so any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Regards,
Sandra T




--
Sandra Tingle

 
Sandra Tingle;937308 Wrote:

Be very wary of stuff that grows quickly, it can become a problem later.
Better to be a bit patient.


The kind of climber that you have to secure on wires or a trellis is a
bit more effort, but less of a problem than kind that will stick to your
bricks and pull the pointing out.


Given you have a south-facing wall, why not grow a grape vine?  There
are a couple of amazing mildew-resistant cool-climate-ripening varieties
now available, called Phoenix (white) and Regent (Black).  I'm just
tucking into sweet, delicious home-grown out-door grapes, from my
Phoenix vine, even after this damp squib of a summer.  I only planted
the thing 18 months ago, and I've got about 12 bunches this year, and it
has covered the garage wall.  Of course, being deciduous, and requiring
pruning, it isn't much to look at in the winter.  I'm so delighted with
it I've just put a Regent in too, on another wall.


But having a sunny wall, there are probably an amazing variety of
climbers you can grow, but remember the great majority of hardy climbers
are deciduous.  Though a friend of mine got an abutilon to survive the
winter on a south-facing house wall through last winter in Glos.  Mine,
supposely a hardier one, but against a fence, was frozen to the ground
and has only recently resprouted a bit.




--
echinosum

 
echinosum;937309 Wrote:

Thanks for the tips.  Do you really think grapes would look ok on the
front of a house?? I'll have to see how shady the arbour is in the back
of the house, grapes might be a good idea there if it gets enough sun.  


For the front I'd love something that could climb AND not hurt the
brickwork that I could plant this autumn yet, hopefully.




--
Sandra Tingle

 On Sep 22, 6:48 pm, Sandra Tingle <Sandra.Tingle.
8f15...@gardenbanter.co.uk> wrote:

I'd still be inclined to go for a good climbing rose.

 
We have a climbing rose (and jasmine and honeysuckle) on the front of our
house, and the next door neighbour is constantly bitching about it cos he
thinks it'll get into his gutters.  :-(