[Closed] Gardeners: Spec me a fast growing ivy to cover a breeze block wall.🌿

Virginia Creeper? not an evergreen, but will do a good job of obscuring the wall in a couple of years.

Thanks mate, I didn't think of the evergreen part, I assumed all vines were!

Does need to provide constant coverage of the wall, so does need to be evergreen.

I'll go check if the Boston ivy is evergreen now...

Ive learned something today - Boston Ivy is very similar to Virginia Creeper and is in the same family. So the plant growing in our garden might be Boston Ivy and not Virginia Creeper....

I've had a Virginia creeper for two years and it is not very fast growing.
My English ivy appears to grow faster, but mainly upwards, its not very thick.
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Any evergreen honeysuckles?

I'm not sure that you'll find a fast-growing, evergreen, clingy, climber. I can manage 3/4 of your list, e.g. Russian Vine (fallopia), isn't evergreen
Box honeysuckle (lonicera nitida) will go vertical to 8', but doesn't self-attach, and so on.
Someone will hopefully be along soon

Check out Lonicera henryii for an evergreen honeysuckle.
Trachelospermum jasminoides would be a good fit as well; denser then a honeysuckle and prettier in my opinion.

Although it’s not evergreen have a look at climbing Hydrangeas… the stems are interesting enough over winter and it might keep its leaf that far south if it doesn’t get too chilly. Fits your bill perfectly otherwise.

Akebia quinata is worth a look; another ‘mostly evergreen’ that should do well if it gets a bit of sun.

get some pasiflora and mornign glories and clemaitis in for the shortterm they'll cover the wall drape the wall in jute net for something to grow onto which will rot away under the ivy.

Then plant some ivy

ignore me, missed the north facing.

Holboelia latifoloa or coriacea are pretty vigorous once established and would do OK in the se on a North wall but you'd need to string some wires for it to climb up.

Any chance of planting some shrubs at the base instead and trimming them back - there's a few options of suitable stuff that'll cover a North facing wall eg garrya eliptica (James roof), chaenomoles

Mix of English ivy and a Honeysuckle? Pollinator tastic and will look pretty good as well?

Ivy is horrible stuff - why would you want it ?
Cover the wall with something much nicer ! Honeysuckle / Wisteria etc

+1

Ivy's awful and won't just stay where you put it. We had it infesting our allotment and it was a PITA to keep away.

Another +1 for it’s awful stuff. I spent an age in autumn cutting lots of mine down as I got fed up continually trimming it back in a bid to keep it in check and there is one that grows over the wall from next door that I need to keep cutting back too. if you want a FAST growing one it may cause you a lot of work later on. Virginia creepers are slower growing and have lovely red leaves in autumn but are not evergreen. I also have one called Paddy’s Pride (I think) that is not too fast growing so easier to keep in check, it has large variegated leaves and looks better than the dark green wild type ivy.

Our neighbour has ivy which keeps growing up our workshop (breezeblock walls). PITA as it gets under the roof tiles and into guttering etc, so every year I have to climb up and cut it all off....

Ivy might be horrible stuff but its a really important nectar source for loads of bugs.

I did exactly the same as you, had a tiny rooted cutting of a variegated ivy and planted it against my north facing breeze block wall to block its grey boringness. It took off like a rocket, now about 10 years later its covering a good 20' or so of a 6'wall.
Planted tbe same thing against a South facing wall but it was too vigorous there, it bushed out massively and was bushing out from the wall by about 4' til i eventually dug the whole roo t system out.
I would say think hard on whether you really want the ivy there, ive been toying with the idea of getting rid of it and panelling that wall with fencing but with timber the price it is and the fact the ivy acts as a haven for the birds I'll probably leave it for now.
Happy to send you some cuttings if you really want it.

We've got ivy on a breeze block wall and the stuff is a nightmare, you have to constantly cut it back. When we moved in we must have removed 4 estate cars worth as it had become a huge bush. It's now only on the wall but I'll need to cut it off the garage again this summer as it's disrupting the guttering and tiles. there always all sorts of wild life in it though which is good.

Personal preference would be a plant-wall type thing from somewhere (maybe amazon), I also have to periodically remove the ivy that grows through my fence (literally it'll piece the panels) from a neighbours garden. Bloody stuff.

Virginia creeper planted in the ground grows rapidly, but is not going to look pretty for about half the year.

I've been fighting to rid my garden of ivy for the past 2 years. When you have to use a spade to remove just a couple of years growth from the wall, you know it is fast growing...

Wouldn't recommend

I'd rather have a breeze block wall on show than a garden full of ivy. I hate the stuff.

The best solution for a breeze block wall is render and paint.

The best solution for a breeze block wall is render and paint

Or just masonry paint and trellis? Our neighbours detached garage forms the boundary of our garden and its pebble-dashed. Now whilst that's nicer than plain breeze block its still bloody awful. I'm convinced the garage itself is asbestos, but might just be concrete panels, and the wall panels are only very thin so fixings are out of the question. We did get a free ivy from a garden centre they were chucking out as dead, its very slow growing and only covers one corner. Tried to mask the rest with shrubs and dwarf trees.

Must be fast growing

Pretty sure everyone who's ever gone for this has regretted it...

Everyone says that ivy is no problem if your trees are healthy and your pointing is sound.

To which I say, bullshit. After long enough, your trees will no longer be healthy and your pointing will be wrecked.

However it's not really that hard to manage, just chop the trunks at the bottom, everything above will die (unless well rooted into the wall).

I'm with the ivy on buildings haters.
I take it that the wall is your neighbours and you dislike them? 😉😀

Our neighbours detached garage forms the boundary of our garden and its pebble-dashed. Now whilst that’s nicer than plain breeze block its still bloody awful. I’m convinced the garage itself is asbestos, but might just be concrete panels, and the wall panels are only very thin so fixings are out of the question. We did get a free ivy from a garden centre they were chucking out as dead, its very slow growing and only covers one corner.

I get where you’re coming from, but if anyone grows ivy on a building I own, it’s getting killed by me. Because there no way the planter of the ivy will take responsibility for the damage to the building.

I agree with @thecaptain re trees. We had an apple tree that was completely covered with ivy. Only the ends of the branches were free of it so it really wasn't very happy.

When it blew over (due to having lots of evergreen leaves in winter storm) I cut it up. On what looked like a 2 foot diameter trunk, half of it was ivy.

I get where you’re coming from, but if anyone grows ivy on a building I own, it’s getting killed by me.

My neighbour is more than happy for it - I checked once I knew what the 'dead' plant was growing into after we'd chucked it in the ground! It covers less than 10 % of the wall, and is keen to grow vertically not horizontally. I keep it in check as it gets up to roof level as it does like to go under the facia under the metal roof; and also where it tries to grow through the fence gaps.

Because there no way the planter of the ivy will take responsibility for the damage to the building.

You obviously weren't actually there when I spoke to my neighbour then? 😉

Similar with the apple trees, I cut the ivy trunk on one of my mothers' and was surprised when it didn't die off a few months later. Then I realised the real ivy trunk was another layer down under the trunk I'd dealt with! But the tree is much happier for it.

A bit of ivy in the right place provides useful cover, pollen and is also an important host for the holly blue butterfly. I wouldn't want it to be exterminated completely but it needs kept under control.

I've got ivy just starting to grow up an 80ft sycamore in our garden. I applied to have the tree cut back (by a professional) and the council slapped a TPO on it! Hoping the ivy will do it's thing and kill the b&stard so I can plant something more sensible.

Get this stuff Here

Hateful stuff we’re plagued by neighbours ivy Coming over wall, through the 70s style open blocks and up my garage paint it green plant something nice for the bugs instead

Clematis Montana may do the job. It will need some guide wires but won't ruin the wall like Ivy will.

And every man needs to know where the clematis is!!

Thanks for all the logging info guys. Wow, the choice is huge!

timber
Full Member
I’m with the ivy on buildings haters.
I take it that the wall is your neighbours and you dislike them? 😉😀

I'll just say that he is not happy if we render it. Even on our side...

Hence intend going full Ukrainian.

Don't care how much grows onto his side of the wall.👍