Clematis Montana in Scotland. Planting advice!

Gaughan.david

Hi everyone,

I've bought a decent sized Clematis Montana 'Mayleen', and had hoped to use it to cover a boring black iron fence in my front garden for some privacy. 

The fence is in an interesting position, though, and I thought someone might be able to give me advice. 

The front garden faces East, with my house blocking it to the West. The whole front garden gets a little bit of sun in the morning, but it's quickly shaded by the house and surrounding trees. The Southern extent of the front garden gets decent sun for a lot of the day, but the rest of the garden is blocked by the house. I've doodled on a google maps image to explain where the sun sits most of the day. 




My question is this- Do I plant the Clematis in the shade to the north, and hope that it grows to the sun in the South, or do I plant in the sun in the South, and hope that it grows to the shade in the North?

Thanks!

Fairygirl

They'll grow anywhere. Just plant it where it's most convenient for you, and tie in the growth along and across the fence till it covers the whole thing. You can just trim bits off when they outgrow their space.
It'll take a couple of years, but you'll then have largely obscured the entire fence, if you don't want to see it 

Fire

Just make sure to prune it after flowering else it turns into a crazy birds' nest.