What can I plant to disguise this water butt?

[mrslaviniachandelier]

I might have been a bit hasty in getting this installed, but it’s in now. Can anyone suggest a fast growing climber to camouflage the black plastic?

We use this sheltered corner for our firepit - south facing, and I’m happy to grow something beyond the water butt and up the house wall. Ideally we’d like something that will flower in summer. We are in Edinburgh, so something that will survive winter, though the walls mean it doesn’t get too cold. I’m trying to cultivate a cottage garden and wondered about a rose but no idea which one. I would absolutely love some suggestions!

Two cottage garden plants I'd use are...
Hops - these grow really ridiculously quickly
Honeysuckle creates dense evergreen cover

Thank you, I would never have thought of hops, but I love that idea (and DH thinks it would be fun to grow hops). Would they have to be cut to the ground every year though, as that wouldn’t solve the camouflage issue?

How about wrapping a willow or rush screen around it? That would help to disguise it a bit, and you can cut a hole in the screen for the tap.

Ah, yes you cut hops back to the ground in winter - so not so good for screening...

But then again, I don't actually mind the look of your water butt - it looks fancy (much nicer than my dull black one!).

If you change your mind on the black plastic - I installed a whisky barrel for a water butt, and it looks just fine.

I’m with @madaffodil Ive got an oil tank in my garden and I bought a cheap £10 bamboo/reed screen - it does the job.

You could then put some pots in front while you grow something in slow time.

Depending on what you grow, you might need to put wires us for it to attach to.

Thanks for all the great advice, this is exactly what I needed! I’m leaning towards honeysuckle I think, with annuals in pots to help screen. I’m off to investigate bamboo and other screening- might be a good option while other stuff grows. Oh and we are definitely getting some hops now for another spot in the garden!

I really like your water butt @mrslaviniachandelier and I've just shown it to DH and suggested we get a couple. All being well we're moving into our new house in a few weeks with a bigger garden than I've ever had and I'm so excited!
Anyway can you tell me where it's from? I really like the idea of a butt flattened to the wall like that so it doesn't take up so much space.
When I showed it to him he suggested putting a trellis in front of it and growing things up that to hide it. 🙂

It’s this one from Garden-tech. I’m now thinking it’s not so bad 😁 it does have great space saving properties https://www.garden-tech.co.uk/product/garantia-dark-grey-slim-stone-wall-tank-330-litres/
Good luck with your new garden- that is extremely exciting!

Fab, thank you @mrslaviniachandelier . I am ridiculously excited and can't stop planning! 😂 Although we have no completion date yet, so I'm having to confine myself to planning and not actually buying plants, which would be a bit premature.

The planning bit is so much fun though!