"NewGarden" wrote in message ...


Hi. New to the forum. We've recently moved into a new build house with
a garden. After both of us living in flats our entire lives, this is our
first ever garden. We are based in Edinburgh in a Northish facing
garden.

The space is app 18x14 metres but part of this is taken up by a garden
room. There is an app 2m slope over the 14m from the house to fence
line.

We have a landscaper in at the moment building a retaining wall for a
patio that will come off the back of the house. The patio area is large.
6m wide. Worried we've made an error and it's too big but my other half
assures me it's perfect.

The retaining wall will be app 1m high.

We want to grow evergreen vine over this wall to help it blend in and
give the illusion of an extended green area. Does anyone have any
suggestions on a vine that will keep its colour and foliage all year
round, will be ok with a 1 metre high wall that stretches about 5
metres? Worried about root systems damaging the foundation over time as
well as the wall. The wall will is shade a lot of the year.

The landscaper is putting in a garden bed on top of the retaining wall
app 20cm inches in and 20cm wide which will sit just flush with the
patio to aid in water run off and create a visible boarder to try & stop
people falling or jumping off onto the lawn. He suggested planting
crawling vines in here as well to grown down the wall. Any suggestions
on what to use here? Low lying and shallow root systems.

I think I made an error and posted this a few days ago in the wrong
section. I went to 'gardening' but replies were from America. My error.
Specifically chose a .co.uk site to get uk advice. I read the uk site
rules a few minutes ago and the FAQs link goes to a dead page, so I'm
really sorry if a post on vines is available there. If so, happy for
someone just to point me in that direction for self help.

Thanks.




As others have said Ivy will be about the only plant that will cling to your
new wall and be evergreen. One of the smaller leaved varieties would do the
job but slowly, anything like a large leaved one would cover the wall
quickly but then would need constant cutting back and tend to look untidy
too. Your problem is that it likes to grow upwards, like most plants, so
would prefer to be planted at the base of the wall.
There are lots of plants that will cascade down over the summer months, from
Trailing Pelagoniums (Geraniums) and trailing begonias, basically any of the
various plants used in hanging baskets but they would only be for summer.

This is a Newsgroup on Usenet (one of the oldest parts of the internet which
actually predates the www) which Gardenbanter allows you to view and post to
via their web site. Most of us come here direct.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK