« you have to... | Main | water sprite »
rustic rot
I have spent the last couple of hours painting the fence panels to stop them rotting. This is a job I have been putting off for some time, as the grapevine grows over the fence and I am frightened that a big spider will leap out from behind a twig and get me. Given that spring has firmly sprung in the Southeast I knew I had only a week or so before the little buds start growing into huge leaves and cover part of the fence up, so that's why I girded my loins and tied my hair up (to stop the spiders, of course) and painted the damn thing.
I had chosen a nice rustic brown to blend harmoniously with the old, Victorian brick walls on the other sides. It looked a little orangey going on, but I naively thought it would dry darker. It fu*cking didn't and it looks bloody awful. I could go over it agin with darker treatment, but to be honest, I am now scarred and traumatised from my ordeal. Could anyone who knows anything about plants please help me out. What climber would you recommend for quick cover (it will have to be grown in a pot). I like flowering plants, but Mr McMuffin is frightened of passion flowers (he thinks they look like Audrey 2 out of Little Shop of Horrors) so they're out of the question.
mrs mcmuffin on 1 Apr 2005 @ 04:52 PM ✲ Permalink
Comments
You could grow something from seed that would last the summer - those usually grow quickly, like ipomoea (convulvulus). Otherwise your choices are limited for speedy growers unless you pick something entirely unsuitable and invasive like russian vine.
Clematis montana is quick growing, but drops its leaves in winter. We have an evergreen clematis that has spread very well - but I seem to remember it took a while to get going after we first planted it.
Go to your local garden centre or plant nursery and they ought to be able to advise you.
</alan titchmarsh>
Posted by: Kirsty | 1 Apr 2005 19:47:51
Hops. Golden Hops. Lush, fast growing, nice hop buds in the fall.
Posted by: jo | 2 Apr 2005 01:54:01
Did you try Chis Bonnington? I've heard he's a very good climber, though I don't know as to his suitability for covering a manky fance.
Posted by: Steve | 2 Apr 2005 14:47:17
Than you very much for your advice. I like the idea of hops and clematis, but the most attractive idea has to be Chris Bonnington clambering over the fence all summer.
Mr McMuffin can be so perverse, he told me that the fence looks really nice, but I don't care-I've sent him out to buy pots for my hops and clematis and a little cage for Chris.
Posted by: mrs mcmuffin | 2 Apr 2005 17:16:48
Can't you get special cream to rub on clematis, or do you have to take penicillin?
Posted by: David (TEFL Smiler) | 2 Apr 2005 21:31:24
what's a manky fance Steve ? :-PP
Posted by: sandy | 2 Apr 2005 21:44:53
It's Middlesbrough dialect. You wouldn't understand it.
Posted by: Steve | 3 Apr 2005 19:47:13
Someone I used to know always smirked at the word 'clematis' - as it reminded him of the kind of thing you might find in a 'lady garden' (if you catch my drift)
Posted by: Kirsty | 4 Apr 2005 18:22:34
No, no idea. You'll have to explain it in simpler terms.
Posted by: Steve | 4 Apr 2005 23:28:17
Well, we could explain it, Steve, but you might still have trouble finding it.
Posted by: mrs mcmuffin | 4 Apr 2005 23:56:02
Hold on - that's not what _I_ meant! Besides, isn't there supposed to be the 'A' spot? Up a bit, and then back towards the front a bit, in a double-jointed, bendy kind of way?
(Anyway, right now I'm too (happily) drunk to remember what I meant, but that's another story...)
Posted by: David (TEFL Smiler) | 5 Apr 2005 03:38:32
