Climbing Plants

Can anyone suggest what is best to show and grow on my garden trellis which is 10 metres in length.It is placed directly onto my garden wall.My intentions is to build window boxes along the inner wall,then plant my plants into them with a view of them climbing onto the trellis.I would be grateful of any help in depth and width recommended for the boxes also.I know its a bit much to ask but hopefully someone can help.

 

Hi Tattie, I wonder if you could begin by telling us why you need to plant climbers in window boxes? Why not directly in the ground and save yourself a tidy sum that these WBs will cost you?

 

Hello,
The reason that I cannot plant into ground is solely because of having a cocker spaniel that will dig to australia if he had to.Cheers.

 

Presumably you're going to raise the planters off the ground, out of his way,otherwise he'll dig in them as well?

If you're making planters, make them as big as possible. Or buy as big as you can afford.

What direction will the trellis be facing and how much sun does it get? That also affects what will grow better.

 

Just a little warning from someone who has been there, done that .....

I built a very high planter this year to keep our spaniel out of the plants ...... she just learnt to jump higher and regulary sits in the planter squashing all the plants!!

They would probably have done better in the ground with the odd moment of being walked on by her or dug up lol

I replaced the plants in the big planter 3 times with annuals this summer :(

Nothing is completely dog-proof

 

I once read of (or saw on TV - I can't remember) a little trick to help solve this problem. The idea was to secure some strong mesh, like the sort that tennis courts are surrounded by, over the top of the compost, and plant through the holes. Then mulch over the top with bark chippings to make it look nicer. The idea being that a dog's digging technique is usually to sort of scratch at the surface in a swiping motion, so the mesh stops them from digging past the mulch. Of course that doesn't help with some dogs, the ones that have learned how to actually pull the plant out rather than digging it, but even then once the roots have established, the root ball will be too bulky to fit through the holes in the mesh.

Like I say I read of this or saw it on TV, I don't know anyone personally that's actually tried it.

 

Thanks for the valued information the boxes intend to make will be roughly 1 mtr from ground level facing in a north west direction which will give a fair amount of sun in my area.Thanks again folks.Cheers.

 

Planters apart, any thoughts on what you want to grow in them? Flowers, blooming time, evergreen, foliage?

There's a wealth of choice out there. Give us a clue so we can help!

 

May be Jasmine:wink: Mine's in a N-west corner. The cold winter killed the top parts but it grew again from the roots and has put on 8' of growth this year.