Please help me plan a corner of my garden....

[madcows]

MN Experts,
I've been reading some of the threads on here, and am so impressed with the expertise on here (esp those in the Flaming June thread!) so thought I'd pick your brains.

I have a corner of the garden that we are about to re-do. It gets the evening sun, and has a wall at the back (west facing) and a fence on the side (north facing). Behind the wall are houses which I'd like to hide - we could put a trellis on top of the wall to help that. Behind the fence is a very ugly leylandia-type tree (belonging to neighbours). They have chopped the top off. They are happy for us to cut off any overhanging branches, but we've left them for now as they act as a screen for the houses behind the wall (if that makes sense).

We are planning to put a seating area in this corner, and I am trying to plan the plants that will go between the seating area, and the wall/fence. I want to screen the houses behind, and hide the ugly tree, so am thinking of various climbers, but also want room for things like foxgloves in front.

CLimbers I have on my list so far are:
Climbing hydranga - because it is okay in shade, apparently... I'm trying to find an evergreen one. Any suggestions?
Pyracantha - because it will support itself above the wall and the birds like it
Honeysuckle - Lonicera japonica Halliana - because it is everygreen and scented
Jasminum polyanthus - again, evergreen and scented
Then I want some clematis to grow amongst this lot... but not sure where to start on that - there are so many to chose from!

One thing I want to make sure is that whichever climbers I choose go up, rather than out - as I don't want too much depth taking up space in my beds. Does that make sense?!
Also, as its quite a dark corner, if any of these could be variagated I'd quite like that too...
Any thoughts from you experts would be much appreciated!
madcows

I read recently that clematis like to bask in evening sun , so they should be very good for your spot. They do die back over winter, so wouldn't hide the view all year round. If you're not fussy which kind, Thompson & Morgan have a 3 lucky dip clematis for £1offer on at the moment. See the 'ways to do gardening on the cheap' thread for the link.

Jasmine and foxgloves sound like a lovely combination. Honeysuckle tends to grow wild and fill out too much, IMHE. Adding interesting groundcover will stop you focusing so much on the view outside the garden. Is he bed shady? I have a long list of shady annuals & perennial ideas if it is. You could also add bulbs to tempt you out into the garden at the first sign of spring.

Thanks for that - interesting (and great) that clematis like the evening sun, as they should get a fair amount of that. And I'd love to see your list of shady plants (esp the perennials, as I do those mostly).
I'm hoping that the evergreen pyracantha will keep the houses out of site, but want clematis that will grow through them... Still trying to choose.

The problem I'm having now is that I find what seems like the perfect plan (evergreen, grows in shade etc) but then can't find it actually for sale! So - for example - the jasmine polyanthus looks great - but can't find where to buy it. My local garden centre has no jasmines, pyracantha or climbing hydrangea of any sort at all...

The work in that corner (replacing fence etc) has started, so i want to get on with getting the plants.... so hard!

Here you go...this is everything I am looking out or o fill my shady border.

Spring:
Bluebells
Snowdrops
Lily of the valley

Summer:
Allium
Lamium
Astilbe
Lily turf
Campanula/Bellflowers
Old fashioned bleeding heart
Begonias
Coral bells
Lungwort
CorydAliis
Foxglove (likes dappled shade)
Campanula blue cups
Hosta
Sweet peas (may survive)

I've already put in the hosta & sweet pea and am really surprised how well they're doing, despite the shade.

fwiw, pyracantha is very spiky IME so if you're going to be sitting close to it, be careful!

clematis montana is great for growing UP (although having got past all support it then falls down again)

I'm sure there is a winter-flowering hydrangea which is evergreen

there is also an evergeen clematis

I will have a google for you

\link{http://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?ProductID=3296\evergreen hydrangea}

\link{http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=453\clematis armandii (evergreen)}

both white flowers & dark green leaves though so maybe a bit samey

\link{http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-1009212/clematis-montana-var-rubens/\clematis montana rubens} grows incredibly fast & is incredibly resilient (you can hack it back very cruelly if necessary) so a good fallback plant if others fail but maybe a bit too vigorous for you?

\link{http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-1009214/2-clematis-montana-elizabeth/\montana Elizabeth} might be better. I might get a couple of those myself!

THank you both!
Not - that list is almost exactly what I already have - so I'm obviously on the right lines. THere are a few there that I don't know or don't have, so will look out for those.

Ponders - really helpful. And the great thing is that the evergreen hydrangea that you linked to is the one that I'd found too! I'm having difficulty finding it in any of the local garden centres, so will probably have to buy online which I've never done before.

I bought a pyracantha coccinea red column yesterday. I realise it is prickly, but it'll be right up against the wall and we'll keep it well pruned. And I've also bought a Lonicera japonica Halliana, which is evergreen and okay for part shade.

Still trying to find the perfect jasmine. Does anyone know Jasminum polyanthum? (might be called J blini or pink jasmine). Think this one is evergreen too... Again, can't find it in any garden centres, so may go online.

Plan is to get the 4 non-clematis first, then work out which clematis to chose to get max flowering throughout the year...

To add to the excitement, the paths are going down today, and it looks like I might have space for a (very small) pond.

Garya elliptica 'James Roof' and hydrangea petiolaris are evergreen and like North fences. If the tops of the plants against your trellis will be in the sun you could try Clematis Montana Broughton star or Clematis Montana Marjorie, both very pretty and a little different to Montana Elizabeth though I do like Montana Elizabeth Rubens a lot. Spring flowering' Clematis 'Jingle bells' is winter flowering, one of the viticella clematis would be summer flowering and vigorous climbers though not evergreen.
Winter Jasmine is lovely. Honeysuckle Lonicera 'copper beauty' is a gorgeous orange evergreen honeysuckle.

Clematis Jingle Bells is evergreen and flowers in winter. We used to have one on our fence at our old house and it is lovely. Nice to see a splash of flowers in winter and it likes semi shade too.