North facing fence - What to plant to cover it?

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm onto the next phase of planting design now after having come up with something workable for the patio area. I'm now turning my attention to what we call the woodland border - see pic. We have a Sango Kaku, a crab apple and Cornus Florida Rainbow planted at the moment. They are still pretty small but will hopefully grow in time. Although at the moment this border is sunny when the trees have grown it will be partial shade I suppose. The fence at the back is north facing and we are looking for an evergreen to cover it. this will provide a nice green backdrop and soften the look hopefully. I'd like something that doesn't grow too deep so it doesn't encroach too much in to the border, reducing the space.

Any ideas?

Soil type is slightly acidic, loam on top of well rotted manure improved clay.

Many thanks,

E

 

I'd go for Hedera algeriensis 'Gloire de Marengo' or Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart'. The first has beautiful creamy-variegated leaves that flush pink in winter, the second has lime-green variegation. Both very easy to train quite flat against a fence or wall. A friend in UK used standard wooden trellis in front of the fence and just tucked strands round the laths but wires would do equally well. This is just to get it going initially and to prevent it growing away from the fence into the light. If you want flowers too, what about Rosa Mme Alfred Carrière trained with it's long stems arched over and tied in, to give maximum flower power? She grows well in shade.

 

In a similar situation my mum has variegated ivy as suggested above. She also has Chaenomeles (Japanese Quince) which is neat against the fence and has lovely flowers.

 

@noisette47 I found Gloire de Marengo a bit enthusiastic in a suburban garden! Good looking, but rampant. So it depends on the trade off between quick results and later hacking back. I'd suspect "sulphur heart" might be better behaved. Also, Marengo has huge leaves - maybe a neater one might suit the scale more? Are Gold child or Gold heart any smaller?

 

Hi @CarolineL, Happy New Year! GdM was slightly less vigorous than SH in my UK garden I've not tried growing a smaller-leaved ivy vertically, just H. Glacier as ground cover. But we've given the OP plenty of food for thought

 

I find G. de Marengo a bit iffy here. It takes a bit of a beating with the weather, and get a lot of damage through winter. I spend a lot of time removing dead foliage because of that. It would depend on the climate @machtucker has. I had S. Heart in a previous garden and it was much nicer. The biggest problem will be keeping any of the more vigorous ivies in check. The smaller leaved ones are better behaved, but they don't cover such large areas IME.


You can use any of the Pyracanthas in that aspect, but it may not suit due to it's prickly nature!
Many of the Euonymus fortuneis will cover a fence as they'll grow upwards when they have a support. You could always have a mix of clematis by using an early flowering type along with a later one. Not an evergreen solution, but will cover the fence well. The evergreen types probably wouldn't like the aspect, but I don't grow any of those, so can't comment.
Those will all grow well enough in the soil conditions.

 

I grow two large leaved ivies here, including Gloire de Marengo which is fine in a north facing border, not too vigorous and it retains its leaves and colour over winter. I have it growing on a half obelisk to keep it off the fence as it does cling and can cause damage as it matures. I trim it about once a year to keep it in a neat columnar form. If you don't mind it clinging, it will cover that area easily.

Another option is Solanum laxum album, the white potato vine, much more delicate than its blue relative and evergreen with delicate foliage. The white flowers will light up a shady fence. I have it growing in quite deep shade and it flowered for the first time in December! It can be tender but is fine in my location.

 

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Funny I was looking at Ivy as I do love the look of it. I will have a look at some of the suggestions. I'm guessing that if I went down the smaller leaf route I could plant a few along the length of the fence?

@Plantminded I do love the Solanum laxum album too but I wrote that off as I went onto the RHS website which suggests it likes Alkaline/neutral soil and full sun?

 

Mine is growing in shade on neutral sandy soil. I would think that as long as your soil is only mildly acidic and well draining it will be fine. It was recommended to me at my local garden centre where it was growing vigorously on an arch in shade.

 

Clematis armandii

 

This is why it's important to know your location @machtucker - neither of those two climbers just mentioned thrive well here, or in other consistently colder, wetter areas. They'd need a very well sheltered spot to be happy.

 

From previous posts I checked the location, Hampshire, which should have relatively mild conditions. The choice of other plants also suggests a mild location.

 

Garrya elliptica. A lovely sub shrub/tree. Can be grown horizontally on a fence or wall. Stunning long tassels of catkins, silvery grey green leathery leaves, evergreen. Not fast growing or invasive. You would need to remove forward and backward growing shoots and train side growth along training wires.

 

I'm in Hampshire. Climate is generally pretty mild with the odd really cold spell but rarely below -5degC