covering a shed

[fairyofallthings]

We have an ugly shed which was here when we moved in, we can't get rid of it. To cover it we planted a virginia creeper which is great in the summer but obviously looks awful now. Is there any kind of fast growing evergreen plant that we could put there instead?

We have an evergreen clematis covering a trellis. Don't know the species but it has white flowers in late spring. It does need hard pruning though.

If you live in Scotland or the shed is in deep shade then forget this but Trachelospermum is a good one as it's evergreen, fast growing and produces scented white flowers. I have one in my garden and since it was planted in May, it has put on at least 3 inches of growth on all established branches and there are at least 4 new branches on it. Very impressed.

Also perhaps think about an evergreen clematis if you can keep the roots in shade (you can cover them with tiles if you need to). The armandii species of clematis are vigorous, evergreen and produce scented flowers in spring. www.taylorsclematis.co.uk/Clematis-species-armandii/

Both these plants are extremely vigorous. They can grow to about 20feet in height so will cloak a shed easily. I don't know how big your shed is so be aware that these will eventually be big plants.

A really easy plant attractive plant is a large leaved ivy such as Hedera colchica. There are two main forms of this - sulphur heart which has large variegated green and gold leaves. I have this one. And dentata variegata which has green and silver leaves. Both are quite vigorous and will grow in shade although the variegation won't be as quite pronounced as if it were growing in sun.

Oh and don't be tempted to plant Mile a Minute (Fallopia baldschuanica). It is deciduous so not appropriate here and is rampant and very hard to get rid of. Google it and see that few have anything good to say about it.

Trachelospermum sounds great, thank you. It's an east facing garden which gets a fair amount of sun; the shed probably gets more than most of the garden because of where it is. It's an ugly huge shed so a large plant will be just the thing.