Looking to plant something on white wall outside home

celticbhoy27

Hey guys we've a white wall outside our home. a section of it gets filthy overtime (within a few weeks of painting) due to rain pooling on road in front of it. Sick of painting it at this stage so I'm looking at a climber to cover it. Obviously it needs to be evergreen. Veering towards ivy
Ivy hibernica to be precise. Just wondering what other options you might recommend or reason not to plant the ivy. Tia

Scribbler100

We have a climbing hydrangea on a north facing wall at the end of the garden and it looks beautiful when in blossom. Our variety is Petiolaris, which loses it's leaves in winter, but there is a variety called Seemannii which is evergreen. It would be helpful to know which direction your wall faces.

daheff

maybe a stupid question, but would you not paint it a different colour next time (Grey maybe)?

celticbhoy27

Scribbler100 wrote: »

We have a climbing hydrangea on a north facing wall at the end of the garden and it looks beautiful when in blossom. Our variety is Petiolaris, which loses it's leaves in winter, but there is a variety called Seemannii which is evergreen. It would be helpful to know which direction your wall faces.

Wall is facing south east. Hydrangeas are lovely but would have to be evergreen. Will look at the seemannii version thanks

celticbhoy27

daheff wrote: »

maybe a stupid question, but would you not paint it a different colour next time (Grey maybe)?

No, wish it was that simple. I know the white would show up the dirt more but the wall gets blasted with dirty water from passing traffic. No matter what colour it was painted it would show I'm afraid

Lumen

celticbhoy27 wrote: »

No, wish it was that simple. I know the white would show up the dirt more but the wall gets blasted with dirty water from passing traffic. No matter what colour it was painted it would show I'm afraid

How about this?

Hamburg walls use hydrophobic paint to pee back
https://newatlas.com/st-pauli-pee-back-super-hydrophobic-walls/36424/

Ultra-Ever Dry hydrophobic coating repels almost any liquid
https://newatlas.com/hydrophobic-coating-repels-liquids/26286/

edit: Ah, balls. FOR INDUSTRIAL USE ONLY. NOT AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS AT THIS TIME.

edit #2: oh, except it's on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/UltraTech-Ultra-Ever-Bottom-Quart-Translucent/dp/B01MQ4RH7E/

"When you check out, you will be asked to verify that you are a professional/commercial user. Please review the legal disclaimer for this product."

It'll probably burn your face off or something.

celticbhoy27

Lumen wrote: »

How about this?

Hamburg walls use hydrophobic paint to pee back
https://newatlas.com/st-pauli-pee-back-super-hydrophobic-walls/36424/

Ultra-Ever Dry hydrophobic coating repels almost any liquid
https://newatlas.com/hydrophobic-coating-repels-liquids/26286/

edit: Ah, balls. FOR INDUSTRIAL USE ONLY. NOT AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS AT THIS TIME.

edit #2: oh, except it's on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/UltraTech-Ultra-Ever-Bottom-Quart-Translucent/dp/B01MQ4RH7E/

"When you check out, you will be asked to verify that you are a professional/commercial user. Please review the legal disclaimer for this product."

It'll probably burn your face off or something.

Hahaha thankfully it doesn't ship to Ireland. I'll stick with the climbers

Supercell

Scribbler100 wrote: »

We have a climbing hydrangea on a north facing wall at the end of the garden and it looks beautiful when in blossom. Our variety is Petiolaris, which loses it's leaves in winter, but there is a variety called Seemannii which is evergreen. It would be helpful to know which direction your wall faces.

Thanks, was looking for something for my front wall too and wasn't aware of climbing versions of the plant. Now to find someone in Dublin that sells them, google here i come !

macraignil

celticbhoy27 wrote: »

Hey guys we've a white wall outside our home. a section of it gets filthy overtime (within a few weeks of painting) due to rain pooling on road in front of it. Sick of painting it at this stage so I'm looking at a climber to cover it. Obviously it needs to be evergreen. Veering towards ivy
Ivy hibernica to be precise. Just wondering what other options you might recommend or reason not to plant the ivy. Tia

What about pyracantha? I particularly like the red berry varieties and just planted one myself.

looksee

I'd go for pyracantha, year round interest. Not ivy, noooo.

celticbhoy27

looksee wrote: »

I'd go for pyracantha, year round interest. Not ivy, noooo.

Pyracantha could be the option so thanks guys. I've a leylandi hedge about 200 metres long so I know all about hardship and I know people would prob put the two (ivy and leylandi) in the same bracket.

Scribbler100

Pyracantha is a great idea, you can choose red, yellow or orange berries and as looksee says, you have the flowers in the spring, berries coming into autumn and leaves all year round. Just be aware that it has very long and sharp thorns, so you may need to consider whether small children or pets are likely to be running into it. It is lovely to look at though and an excellent choice to deter burglars!

looksee

Its not self supporting so you will need some eyes and wires to train it up. Don't bother with trellis, it will disintegrate when the plants are a couple of years old and then you will have a problem!

Scribbler100

I posted earlier on this thread about our lovely climbing hydrangea on the back wall. It is a wide wall and we also had virginia creeper there and some ivy. I sprained my ankle badly towards the end of May and am still on crutches, so the garden has been getting out of hand in the last few weeks.

Yesterday afternoon I went for physio, arrived back home to find that my husband and son had decided to "do some tidying up". The whole back wall has been cleared. It is now completely bare, just grey cement blocks. I can hardly bear to look at it. As soon as I'm back on my feet I'm getting Pyracantha as recommended by looksee and macraignil and training it up the wall. Hopefully the thorns will keep my menfolk at bay.

celticbhoy27

Scribbler100 wrote: »

I posted earlier on this thread about our lovely climbing hydrangea on the back wall. It is a wide wall and we also had virginia creeper there and some ivy. I sprained my ankle badly towards the end of May and am still on crutches, so the garden has been getting out of hand in the last few weeks.

Yesterday afternoon I went for physio, arrived back home to find that my husband and son had decided to "do some tidying up". The whole back wall has been cleared. It is now completely bare, just grey cement blocks. I can hardly bear to look at it. As soon as I'm back on my feet I'm getting Pyracantha as recommended by looksee and macraignil and training it up the wall. Hopefully the thorns will keep my menfolk at bay.

Oh noooooo. That's a disaster. Did they dig up roots of hydrangea or just cut it back?

Lumen

Scribbler100 wrote: »

I can hardly bear to look at it.

I had a similar experience with a fencing contractor cutting down a 20 year old Viburnum tree because it was "in the way". I literally went in for 10 mins to take a call!

Still not sure I've gotten over it, but I tell myself it's allowed me to plant some new things. :mad:

Scribbler100

I can't get down to the end of the garden on the crutches, celticbhoy27, but from what I can see, they have certainly cut it right to the ground. I planted it about 10 years ago, and it had made an ugly wall into a thing of beauty. It was not as long established as your Viburnum tree, Lumen, you have my sympathy over that incident. It's hard not to feel that sometimes people wait until your back is turned and then indulge in their slash-and-burn activities. As you say, the only way to look at it is as an opportunity to plant something new.

macraignil

Scribbler100 wrote: »

I can't get down to the end of the garden on the crutches, celticbhoy27, but from what I can see, they have certainly cut it right to the ground. I planted it about 10 years ago, and it had made an ugly wall into a thing of beauty. It was not as long established as your Viburnum tree, Lumen, you have my sympathy over that incident. It's hard not to feel that sometimes people wait until your back is turned and then indulge in their slash-and-burn activities. As you say, the only way to look at it is as an opportunity to plant something new.

Don't give up hope even if it is cut down to the ground. The linked page claims that old hydrangea vines can be cut down to the ground and "come back better than ever the following year". You probably will have to put up with loosing the flowers this summer but it could also be an opportunity to paint the wall to brighten it up before it's grown over again.

Scribbler100

Thanks a million for that, macraignil, I really thought all hope was lost. I will be so happy if it can be resurrected. I may not have to consider divorce proceedings after all.

daheff

celticbhoy27 wrote: »

No, wish it was that simple. I know the white would show up the dirt more but the wall gets blasted with dirty water from passing traffic. No matter what colour it was painted it would show I'm afraid

but if the wall is getting splashed with dirty (probably oily) water, so will anything you plant. Wouldnt the plants die from this?

celticbhoy27

daheff wrote: »

but if the wall is getting splashed with dirty (probably oily) water, so will anything you plant. Wouldnt the plants die from this?

Why would the water be oily? The dirty water wouldn't be an issue.

daheff

celticbhoy27 wrote: »

Why would the water be oily? The dirty water wouldn't be an issue.

You said its from passing traffic. Cars drip oil onto roads /into puddles. If its splashed onto the wall/plants they'll be covered, no?

Maybe I'm overthinking it?

macraignil

daheff wrote: »

but if the wall is getting splashed with dirty (probably oily) water, so will anything you plant. Wouldnt the plants die from this?

There are roads throughout the country with plants growing right along the edge and in some places right along the middle of the road. They must be in some way tolerant of the dirt from the cars that is splashed on them but I'd imagine it could be a bit troublesome for more delicate plants. Pyrachanta from what I've read is fairly hardy and I know of one along the lower Glanmire road on the way into Cork city that is passed by every car and truck going into Cork city on the north side of the river and still makes a great display of berries in winter months. It's separated from the road by only a very narrow footpath in a spot where I am surprised to see something growing so well.