Ugly front of house - ideas needed!

[HellloBambinos]

The front of our house is really quite ugly (brick mid terrace that's flat) so I'd like to brighten it up a bit. Has anyone got any recommendations for climbers that are good for growing up houses/around the doorway? Tia!

Does your house have a front garden or does it open up straight onto the pavement? Can you put on window boxes and plant them up with trailing plants and seasonal flowers? Which way does the front face?
Climbers I'd suggest are honeysuckle which you can get both winter and summer flowering ones. There are lots of clematis which like all sorts of different situations. Or there are climbing roses. There are obv lots more climbers but these are the main three I'd say.

climbing honeysuckles? x

@longtompot we have a small front garden and the wall in question faces west.

Thanks for the suggestions!

A mixture of a climbing rose and a clematis to wind through it.

Climbing rose would be my choice. Check the potential growth height before you buy - they vary wildly. Also make sure you choose one with a strong scent, as some don’t smell at all, and one of the joys of roses round your door is the waft of perfume through the summer months! The David Austin website is good for this sort of info.

You’ll need to put up trellis or a good network of wires, and google how to tie in the so that you get roses all the way up and not just at the top! The key thing is to bend and tie in your branches to the horizontal.

Us too @HellloBambinos. I’ll be following! We have no windows on the front!! They’re all down the side and at the back. As you drive up to the property it looks awful!

A new outside light and a new post box. With swanky door number is on the top of my list.

And a blue trellis with a climber :)

Our front door is pretty so there’s that....

What colour is the brick?

Passion fruit might grow well on west facing wall.

I have honeysuckle on my house wall

Thanks for all the tips! Am planning it all out in my head now

@Dontletthebastardscheeryouup love the blue trellis idea! I bought a nice door number from Ebay last week too.

@Roseburn the brick is just that usual orange red colour

I've got a climbing rose, it's taken over everything so I'm cutting it down and digging it out. Bees everywhere.

If it’s taking over everything it sounds more like a rambler than a climber. They are not ideal for house walls. This is why it’s essential to check how big plants will get before you plant them.

@HellloBambinos - check out the David Austin website for Roses. They’ll list climbers by height etc and you can also search for roses for certain areas (ie to climb fences, up walls, up pillars, around doorways etc). For each situation, you can also find advice on how to plant the rose and how to train it up each particular structure.

Thank you @Furries I will do that

I've grown clematis Montana successfully in a pot - stunning flowers during the spring too!

My vote would be for a trellis with a well-chosen climbing (not rambling) rose and a clematis. Honeysuckle in my experience gets too rampant and might swamp its neighbour, gorgeous though it is.

A solanum (potato plant) can be trained and will grow well in a west facing position. You can get white and purple flowering varieties.