On 16/04/15 20:22, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Spider wrote:
On 14/04/2015 15:57, Jeff Layman wrote:
My wife asked me to find an evergreen climber for an arch which we have
just replaced. I thought the choice would be pretty large, but that
isn't the case. Just about all are white-flowered, maybe cream, but good
colour is very rare. The plant would get sun all day, and would be about
3 metres from a south-facing wall. FWIW, I'm in south Hampshire and the
soil has a fair amount of clay in it.

See what you think of Berberidopsis corallina, Eccremocarpus scaber or
Solanum crispum 'Glasnevin'. The first appreciates partial shade, the
others full sun. Burncoose reckon they're hardy down to -10*C. All
fairly long-flowering.

If I recall, the first needs an acid soil and both sexes of plant,
but I may be misremembering. Eccremocarpus is short-lived and
tends towards the herbaceous in the cold, though it will self-seed
if it likes the location (which I don't think includes clay).
Solanum crispum is deciduous and suffers from dead branches in
the cold.

I've grown Berberidopsis corallina before. In one place it lived for
many years. In another it died after one year. Both were in the shade in
ericaceous soil. It does not like sun, but I had it in flower every year
in the shade. Never seen any fruit though. Maybe it needs a different
clone to fruit.

I guess that E. scaber could be grown from seed each year, but then
there are quite a few non-hardy annuals which would also do. But I'm
really after an evergreen.

--

Jeff