Best plants to cover ugly fences

[doodleygirl]

We recently moved and I would like to grow some plants to cover the fence, preferably perennials but would also love some flowers. Full sun and partial shade. I know clematis, honeysuckle and ivy, any other suggestions. Also any suggestions that don’t require trellis.

Im a rubbish gardener but really want to improve my skills and knowledge.

Wall shrubs such as chaenomeles (flowering quince), cotoneaster horizontalis (which can be persuaded to grow up and fan out).

Climbers - passion flower, perennial sweet pea, virginia creeper, boston ivy.

Up against our fence we have a regular flowering shrub whose name I forget, and all we have done is knock some vine eyes into the fence posts and tie the branches to it. Any that grow forwards get chopped off.

A couple of months ago I planted a climbing hydrangea, it's growing really well so I have high hopes.

Be a little bit careful of rapid growing deciduous climbers as they can look a mess over autumn and winter and early spring....so I'd avoid passion flower and clematis Montana (for dxample) as they are such a mess, although beautiful for a short while in flower. I am a great advocate of ivy. So many different variegated forms, self clinging, fantastic for wildlife, easily managed with a pair of clippers. Also hydrangea petiolaris (climbing hydrangea as mentioned) is lovely and self clinging, but not evergreen.....but is also not rampant. Tracheleosporum jasminoides (sp?) is lovely, but will need a trellis. Avoid white flowered jasmine as it's too prolific (although evergreen). A good starting point for cheap plants is local supermarket. Also shrubs which can be wall trained, eg pyracantha.....cut off any shoots growing outwards. Good for wildlife, long period of interest (flowers and berries)evergreen, but spikey.
Apologies for long post.

As you must realise from my user name I am not a fan of ivy 😀

We back onto a railway line and we regularly gave to cut back the very rampant ivy that grows into our garden.

So, I advise no to ivy.

Another vote for climbing hydrangea. It takes a while to establish but it’s well worth it.

We’ve got Jasmine and it’s lovely - evergreen and when it flowers the scent is heavenly. We’ve also got climbing hydrangea and that’s good too but sheds it’s leaves over winter.

Not fucking Ivy unless you want World War II with the neighbours

Chocolate vine - great coverage and spring flowers. I grow clematis through mine to extend the flowering season.

Thanks everyone, I am
off to our local nursery tomorro2.

We have jasmine and love it. It’s beautiful and the scent is gorgeous.

Climbing hydrangea grows very tall . Choose plants suitable for the height of the fence. Avoid Russian vine, it's rampant.

I am absolutely no help but I just wanted to say on scrolling past I read the title as “Best plants to cover ugly faces” 🤣🤣

Evergreen honeysuckles like Japonica and Henryi could be a good option. I planted some small ones to hide and ugly breeze block wall and they grew very fast. If you trim them back every year once established, you could probably get away with not having a trellis. I used canes and chicken wire for support as I didn't want to drill into the neighbour's wall.

Another down vote for Ivy, it's a PITA to control and will likely damage the fence. I've just cut back a load which was growing onto my wall from next door and it's peeled off the paint. The little suckers it uses to grip on are a nuisance to remove completely.

Clematis Montana, honey suckle and jasmine.

i have all 3 and they look great. The star is the Montana but eventually it becomes leggy but that’s quite a few years away. It grows quickly, it’s easy to train and looks great for most of the year. I had blackbirds nesting in mine this year.

Buddleia or Photinia Red Robin shrubs. Buddleua has lovely purple flowers which attract butterflies, Red Robin has lovely red leaves to add colour. They are hardy and the buddleia flowers every year.

Roses and honeysuckle, but they would require trellis.

Giving your fences a good scrub down to remove any algae etc then a re-paint can also work wonders.

Good luck!