ivy on a breezy site

woody1

i have a quite breezy site, its not coastal but theres almost always some kind of breeze / wind blowing, and this im learning tends to dry out some plants and some plants cant take it,
maybe if i was inclined to water more but im definitely a low maintainance gardener , ie plant it and leave it to its own devices as much as possible
anyway id like to grow some ivy or similar climber round parts of the house and i was wondering before i invested whether it would be a success on a breezy site or if not are there any alternatives..
also wouldnt mind building a trelliss / pergola kind of thing at some stage over the summer and maybe getting a climbing rose for it..any suggestions as to suitable plants..

looksee

Constant breeze can dry plants out, you might consider putting mulch down over the roots of the plants. As to the ivy, you should check previous posts about ivy, the strong recommendation is that you do not plant ivy, I would say especially on a house.

woody1

thanks for the info about the mulch, i have some bark that im moving out of one area and i presume thatl do,
re the ivy.. i see a couple that want to get rid, from what i see its from a maintainence point of view, too much work to keep it cut back.. im willing to take that on board but i do want some kind of climber on the house so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know..

kylith

I had a quick google and came across this site: http://www.growsonyou.com/question/show/5574-please-find-me-a-climber-that-is-not-poisonous-and-will-grow-in-windy-place

I also recommend not getting ivy; the clinging roots will destroy walls.

woody1

think im going to have to call to garden centre and see what they think, was thinking virginia creeper but apparently it cant cope with smooth walls and from what ive read there it can loose leaves on a breezy site, had seen that evergreen clematis as well and was going to give it a shot ..might be worth trying one of those..

MarchDub

looksee wrote: »

Constant breeze can dry plants out, you might consider putting mulch down over the roots of the plants. As to the ivy, you should check previous posts about ivy, the strong recommendation is that you do not plant ivy, I would say especially on a house.

I agree with this. I've had bad experience with ivy. Mine got dug into the mortar and was about to seriously loosen bricks before I cut it down - and getting rid of it was not easy either. It's very invasive and becomes very strong, like thick rope.

Sonnenblumen

Much will also depend on how high you require the plant to cover any wall. For example, Euonymus, various varieties available, eg E. 'Emerald Gaiety (Green White variagation), Euonymus 'Emerald n Gold' (Green Yellow) etc, is a low and slow growing shrub. Very attractive foliage, very resilient and when planted against a wall, is well capable of reaching 2 m or more.

I'm surprised why this wonderful shrub is not used more as a very attractive, hardy and slow/low growing climber.