Re: Climbers for fence??

Hi Maria,

I am glad that you enjoyed what I wrote...  I arrived
back home abit too late in October to really get any
of our typical late Indian Summer weather here in The
San Francisco Bay Area, instead it has been dense
marine layer fog for a week at a time, while no doubt
just a bit inland it is brilliantly sunny...  I find
myself wishing for sun, and remembering the brilliant
sun of the south of Spain, Crete, or the most recently
departed location, Bali.  We get so spoiled here in a
mediterranean climate by the sun, when it is absent
for extended periods, some people really miss it
badly.  the rains are no doubt soon to come here as
well, I also got a foretaste of winter rains with the
onset of the West Monsoon Rains of Malaysia, where it
was pouring rain every afternoon as I left Malaysia
for home.  I had no feel for what signalled rains, as
it looked like heavy smog as you might see in Los
Angeles, before the skies opened up to rain.  The
Malaysians would complain that the monsoon rains seem
to pick afternoon rush hour to really open up,
guaranteed to snarl traffic and cause accidents on the
evening commute. It just looked like smog to me, and I
always thought it was more of the wind driven smoke 
of burning forests in neighboring Borneo or Sumatra, a
continuing problem for all of South East Asia.  The
Indonesian government even refuses the help of
neighboring countries to help put out these fires
which are set by locals to clear forest for crop
plantings in slash and burn agricultural practices,
and get out of control in the dry season.  It is less
bad than it was the past two years, but there are
times in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where
going outside is hazardous to one's health, and the
sky is very dark, like a northern winter at high
latitudes.

Back to your question regarding what to plant;

The biggest constraint on what to plant along your
fence will be the pool waste water, as the chlorine
may be too strong for anything to do well in this
situation.  If you could tell us if plants already
subject to this same water are doing okay, it would
give us a better idea of the (potential) toxicity of
this soil.

A couple of good performers for mostly sun but more
shade in winter would include: 

Star Jasmine/Trachelspermum jasminoides, which is also
not too vigorous, and wonderfully fragrant in early
summer, quietly elegant the rest of the year
  
Lavender Trumpet Vine/Clytostoma callistegioides is
another to consider, and much less rampant in growth
than Distictis buccinatorius or my other favorite
deeper lavender/purple flowered trumpet vine, D.
'Rivers' which I can highly recommend for the
flowering, if you are willing to keep the growth in
check.  It is strange to me that these trumpet vines
are not more popular around the world, or even in the
warmer parts of the USA, such as Florida.  They are
all grown to perfection here, and mostly come from
Mexico/Brazil.  Any of them can be a wall of color for
months on end, but are all subject to damage in areas
that get regular frost.
  
Pink Jasmine/Jasminum polyanthum will also grow well
in these conditions, but is ultimately rather
vigorous, and will mound up on itself at the top. 
This tends to bloom in late fall through early spring
in our area, but can be blooming at any time of year,
and very fragrant,(I wouldn't want this close to my
bedroom window or brought inside as a cut flower, as
it is overpowering to me, but I love it at a
distance).

Carolina Jessamine/Gelsemium sempervirens will also
take part shade/full sun conditions, and is more late
winter/early spring blooming

Guinea Gold Vine/Hibbertia scandens is another
attractive glossy leafed vine, but it often seems abit
touchy about where it is planted, and is very prone to
thrips in wind sheltered gardens here in Berkeley.  I
have this planted in conjunction with a purple Petrea
volubis on a sheltered south facing wall in my
backyard, and love the purple/yellow blooms in early
spring.

Lilac Vine/Hardenbergia violaceae 'Happy Wanderer' is
a great vine that is more drought tolerant than most
of the above species, and has beautiful late
winter/early spring bloom, (or sometimes even this
early in fall), purple bloom, but it can not by any
stretch of the imagination be called restrained, and
resists being neatened up by shearing of the top
growth, it is like Wisteria, and requires regular
thinning and training


If you have the room for a slightly wider growing
shrub adjacent the Cypress Hedge, you might consider a
New Zealand Tea Tree/Leptospermum scoparium cultivar
such as 'Ruby Glow'.  These can be clipped to a 3~4 '
wide hedge and still bloom, and are magnificent
planted against a dark green backdrop.  These are
blooming now through late spring, quite showy, and
quite drought tolerant once they are established. 
 
Also not a vine, but an extremely useful dense growing
shrub very adaptable as a narrow hedge is Lavender
Star Flower/Grewia occidentalis.  I have this one
trained against a cyclone fence bordering a
neighboring apartment building parking lot where it
gets full sun in summer, virtually none in winter, and
no watering after the first year, and it is very
effective.  It tends to grow flat, and can be kept to
a narrow 2 foot depth.  It does tend to defoliate in
winter due to lack of sun, but bounces right back in
spring, and blooms virtually all year

Another vining shrub to consider, also very drought
tolerant once established, is Cape
Honeysuckle/Tecomaria capensis.  The yellow forms are
less rampant in growth than the typical scarlet
orange, but still quite showy

Bougainvillea is also a classic choice for such a
situation, but is likely to stop blooming and look a
little sparser in winter with little direct sun.  the
cultivars 'Barbara Karst' or 'San Diego Red' are two
of the more moderate/dense growers, the purple colored
form tends to be more vigorous here in our (locally)
cool coastal conditions.

If you feel like something completely different, and
do have the available water to irrigate in summer, one
of the South African tender perennial Plectranthus, P.
ecklonii, could be brilliant about now against such a
hedge.  It seems to prefer full sun in our cool summer
conditions of Berkeley to bloom well, but is more
often seen growing in dappled shade in hot summer
areas, or as seen at Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens. 
The brilliant purple flowers will light up any frost
free garden in late fall through winter, and is native
to the Eastern Cape, and a much loved perennial for
fall/winter color throughout the milder parts of South
Africa.  It will easily get 6 to 8 feet tall if not
pinched back, as will another similar herbaceous plant
that would thrive in full sun, and has incredibly
brilliant magenta flowers in late summer through
winter; Salvia involucrata.  If kept restrained with
wire to keep it narrow, it makes an excellent long
blooming espaliered shrubby perennial.  Salvia
wagneriana(pink or pink and white) and S.
madrensis(daffodil yellow) are two other late fall
into winter bloomers from Mexico that can also be used
as giant perennials against a hedge or wall, (in areas
which stay mild in winter), giving gorgeous color all
winter. These hold up better with regular irrigation
in summer, and protection(year round) from winds, and
heavy winter rains here can unfortunatley trash them
at their peak of bloom.  They are perhaps more
reliable performers in areas with only light rains in
fall/winter, as they come from areas of summer
rainfall in the highlands of Mexico, and fairly
frequent nightly fogs the rest of the year to give
them some supplemental water.  I tend to use them
where they will receive dappled light all day, and
full late afternoon sun under tall evergreen trees,
which tends to protect them from the ravages of our
winter weather.  From what I saw of the southern coast
of Spain, I think they would do extremely well there,
as well as along the Algarve in Portugal. 


--- marianoo@wanadoo.es wrote:

> So to my query.  We have a chain link fence dividing
> us from our neighbours about 40 metres long.  It is
> 2 m high, facing east, probably with full sun until
> 4pm during Summer months but only a couple of hours
> sunshine during the Winter with the house and other
> trees and shrubs casting shade.  The other
> considerations are i) my neighbour has a 10m cypress
> hedge growing just at the other side of the fence
> ii) swimming pool waste water exits and runs along
> part of the fence.  I am looking for some flowering
> climbers/ramblers (not too vigorous) which might
> cope with the above situations.  Advice welcome.
> 
> Maria
> Zone 9/10



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