Climbers in containers for balcony - advice needed

celcius_kkw

Dear gardeners 

I’m a novice in gardening and I’ve recently started to embark on a project to turn my top floor terrace into a green space. I’m planning on growing a few climbers - jasmine, Virginia creeper and Wisteria - in a container with trellis drilled into the wall with the aim of these plants eventually covering the facade of my terrace. 

I need some some advice on the following: 

what sort of container (rectangular or round) should I go for? 

What sort of dimensions should they be - I know bigger is better but the really big planters (over a metre in length) are very pricey costing over a hundred pounds each. I have pictures of people growing climbers in normal medium sized pots and they seem to do well. I have recently just busted my budget purchasing some David Austin roses so any saving would help. 

My terrace, being on the top floor (8th) is open air, and being close to the coast it does get a little windy at times particularly when a storm arrives. Should this be a factor to consider in perhaps not growing climbers that will achieve some height? 

Lastly, are any of my choices of climbers above likely to damage the walls or cause cracks in them? I heard that ivies are notorious for that and given there could be drainage pipes within my walls i wouldn’t like to upset my fellow leaseholders by doing so. 

I look forward to hearing your expert opinions. (And sorry for the lengthy post)

Warm Regards
Adrian 

Ceres

This might answer your questions. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=674

You are right to be cautious about ivy. It clings to walls and can damage the surface when you try to pry it off.....virginia creeper is also a bit of a thug.

celcius_kkw

Ceres said:

This might answer your questions. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=674

You are right to be cautious about ivy. It clings to walls and can damage the surface when you try to pry it off.....virginia creeper is also a bit of a thug.

Thank you. That website is very helpful. 

On on another note, I have a couple of roses that I potted with topsoil mixed with compost, which I now gather should be been done with potting mix instead. They seem to be doing fine and have produced a few flowers within a couple of weeks of repotting. I’m now in a dilemma as to whether to repot them to switch to potting mix instead of the current topsoil/compost mix. 

What do do you reckon? 

A

Ceres

Leave them be......they grow in topsoil in the garden. Just make sure you feed them regularly. The plant food in all composts is only designed to last a few weeks anyway.

Gardenpixie99

Ceres said:

This might answer your questions. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=674

You are right to be cautious about ivy. It clings to walls and can damage the surface when you try to pry it off.....virginia creeper is also a bit of a thug.

Ivy has done so much damage to the panels next to my garden gate, it’s pushed it’s way through the panels and split the wood. Yesterday I removed most of it so I could give everything a spruce and paint it. My son come up with the idea of using the crab claw on a hammer to pull it off and it worked a dream.
 

celcius_kkw

Ceres said:

Leave them be......they grow in topsoil in the garden. Just make sure you feed them regularly. The plant food in all composts is only designed to last a few weeks anyway.

I see. When you say feed them ‘regularly’ - how often is that? I’ve read that for potted roses liquid fertilisers are better? Being a new owner of roses I have been very tempted to feed my roses in the hope that they will grow fast but then the internet also says over feeding will cause damage to the roots. My liquid fertiliser instruction says feed every 4-6 weeks at peak season.. that doesn’t sound overly frequent to me? 

Ceres

Follow the instructions on the bottle/packet. If it says every 4 to 6 weeks then that is correct......for that particular fertiliser. Liquid fertiliser is best for potted plants in my opinion. You can see how much they are getting.