Hello, Can anyone recommend a vine or shrub/evergreen (zone 5) that would hide a couple of railway tie retaining walls. (They are so ugly and would be very expensive to replace.) One retaining wall gets full sun and the other gets afternoon sun. Are there any vines or shrubs that remain green year round? To have year round coverage would be great. Both walls are about 3 1/2 ft tall. What kind of evergreen would you recommend? Thanks a lot, Leona
If sunny and well-drained maybe you can get some prostrate junipers to drape over them attractively. Tamarix juniper can be very nice planted at the tops of walls. Depends on how they might be affected by the creosote, often plants grow near treated railroad ties as though they aren't there. You could install a barrier such as roofing paper (stapled snugly to the surface), it should also make the wall more suitable for people to be around. Creosote is noxious and is used to preserve railroad ties in the first place for this reason, it prevents decay organisms from attacking the wood for some years (eventually reduced enough by weathering for the ties to become rotten and crumbling).
