North facing container friendly climbers

growjogrow

Hi all

I'd love to hear your thoughts about what you'd plant on the north side of our house.  It's single story, north facing and it would need to be in containers. Although we have scope for the containers to be large e.g. a 2 x 1/1.5 meter trough. 

The house is long and the north side is very visible from the road, so I want something/things with interest all year round.  Seems most stark through autumn and winter due to surrounding environment. There are 3 separate sections separated by tall windows so we could have a mix of climbers.  

Climate wise were in Yorkshire. 

A climbing hydrangea seems like a reasonable option, but is it ok in a container? what would you do? 

Thanks

Loana

Hi growjogrow, i would try Taylors clematis, their site allows you to choose aspect, flowering time, evergreen or not and height etc, perfect to narrow your choice down in respect of clematis. I have used them and had nice plants from them.....clematis avalanche, doesn't get too tall but has masses of white flowers in spring and it is evergreen, here is mine

growjogrow

Thanks Loana

Your clematis avalanche is beautiful.  I love the idea of clematis.  Will take a look on Taylors site. 

Thanks for replying!

Borderline

It's alway harder trying to grow climbers from containers, but if you have planters that are at least 60cm in depth, I recommend the following for their ability to grow in a container. I don't think Hygrangea or woody climbers are a good option. They will be very high maintenance. The two I recommend should give you impact from Spring right through to Winter. They should do fine in containers provided it's in good moist free draining soil. I think John Innes No 2 will be fine.

Tropaeolum Speciosum, the Scottish Flame Flower is not woody and has a natural habit of scrambling up and through things. Nice striking red flowers in summer sit above the fresh rounded foliage that scrambles about. Just cut it down in late spring, and the cycle starts again.

Clematis Terniflora, the Sweet Autumn Clematis, a vigorous semi-evergreen climber that will grow and cover your walls quickly. It flowers from late summer right through to autumn and then has interesting seedheads that persists into winter. It's also scented and very reliable. A really relaxed and cottagey style clematis that should grow from your containers. In the ground, some consider it too vigourous, but in a container, it's a choice Clematis on a north wall. Just cut down in early spring and it will bounce back.