We had a question about what plants to use as a privacy screen in a narrow space, as well as what some good evergreen climbers are. We thought some of you might also want to know! If you want a narrow evergreen hedge that stays green to the bottom, Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' is a good choice. But in order for this to be happy and healthy it needs sun and lots of water. So unless your soil is naturally moist, irrigation is a must. Another idea is to use a trellis as a visual barrier. The closer the trellis is to you, the less your neighbor can see and the better YOU can see through it. Think about deciduous or even herbaceous climbers, such as sweet peas, as evergreens will reduce light in the winter. But if your heart is set on an evergreen, there are a quite a few choices that do well in Vancouver (and other similarly mild areas). Lonicera henryi is a beautiful evergreen honeysuckle, although it can be a bit hard to find. A more common honeysuckle is L. japonica 'Halliana' (Hall's honeysuckle), which is semi-evergreen (if the winter is particularly cold, the leaves can look pretty bad). Some other great climbers include Akebia quinnata (another semi-evergreen), and a number of roses, such as the occasionally available Rosa x cooperi (Cooper's Burma rose) (look for it at the Shop in the Garden) and the always popular R. 'Mme. Alfred Carriere'. There are a ton of websites with information on many more (mostly deciduous) climbing roses. The following website is a good introduction to climbing roses: http://www.rirs.org/Introduction to Climbing Roses.htm Clematis are always popular for screens, and like roses, need maximum light for best flowering. Some good choices include Clematis chiisanensis "Lemon Bells', the dainty C. viticella, the pearly, C. 'Huldine' and the coarser, but beautiful evergreen, C. armandii. Again, like roses, many clematis (including a number of popular hybrids and species) are extremely robust and will tend to occupy only the upper reaches of a trellis. There are hundreds of commercial clematis websites, but the following is a non-commercial site from Finland: http://personal.inet.fi/koti/lofgren/Clemnet/Link_Introduction.htm Hope this helps you in your endeavours towards privacy!
HI where are these people?.And what do they mean by narrow? And what kind of sun exposure? Also a trellis is good idea but for cassual view the farther and taller it is going to give the most privy ( IE if the trellis is set up on 4 inch squares it will alow more visual than 2 inch at any distance. RE Thuga I agree but must add in that they like to have air flow. Depending where the person and there where about is how about (so called evevergreen climatis/ ivy (uhg)/ climbing Hydranga (spelling) / leguhumes may work for the growing season in thier area (Ie blue or red runner beans.) No disrespect meant to anyone ( As Grandma put it at the age of 102 if you can"t learn or listen to it pack it in ) Regards Doug
