North Facing Fence

Hi

I recently moved home and have just had a new fence put in. The garden itself is west facing but the new fence faces north - I want to get something living on it as soon as possible and initally I was just going to use a mixture of Boston Ivy and fuchsias, but I've been reading recently some roses are OK on north facing walls.

The trouble is I don't know if the sun gets to the fence at all, currently we get sunlight half way across the garden from around mid-morning to mid-afternoon so obviously it'll come across more as the year goes on. The garden is quite light at the moment, but we do have a maple tree at the bottom of the garden which will cast quite a shadow. Just taken a quick photo which might be of help (there's a lot of work to be done, I know ).

I really like the look of Madame Alfred Carriere, but will it cope if it doesn't get sunlight at all? I've been reading conflicting things and getting a bit confused. I don't want to buy one if the poor thing's just going to sit and be miserable. Also have I left it too late to put one in this year now? There are a couple of online sites that have them available but the ones I'd consider more knowledgeable are saying they won't be available until November.

Thanks for any advice.

Chi

 

That's great, wiseoldowl, thank you.

Thanks for explaning about the bare root/container roses. I understand now why some sites are saying "available in two to three weeks" and others "sold out" - depends on what they sell. :DOH:

Many thanks for your advice - I'll give the Madame a try as soon as possible!