Ideas for small trellis planting

brionywoods56

We have recently trellis'd in an unsightly oil tank and would like suggestions for compact climbers, eg roses, clematis for instance, to disguise it. It gets a reasonable amount of sun until late afternoon/evening.  We are in Cornwall with what I assume is a slightly acidic soil as camellias and rhododendrons grow well.
As you can see from the photo the only planting position is at the side of the tank, with the plants then trained round to the front.  Am looking for something compact as the trellis height is about 1.4m - anything above that would interfere with filling the tank. Anything I've found so far looks like it would take over!

Fairygirl

Some of the early flowering clematis - alpinas, will be ideal. They like a drier soil too, so they would be ideal. You can train them to wherever you need, and they need no pruning, although you can take them right back if needed for any maintenance etc, and they'll soon come away again. They often flower again later in the year -late summer/early autumn.

Take a look at Taylor's Clematis, Thorncroft and Hawthornes, as they are all specialists.

Obelixx

There's nothing to stop you digging up a bit of grass and making a bed round the front of the trellis but whether you do that or you stick to the spot round the side you'll need to work in plenty of well-rotted manure to improve the texture, fertility and water retaining properties of the soil.

Then you could go for repeat flowering rambling rose such as Malvern Hills (pale yellow) or Lady of the Lake (pale pink).  Being ramblers they are easy to train and will flower form late May/early June and then have repeat flushes through the summer and into autumn.   See the David Austin website for more info and options.

If you fancy clematis, this website lists all know varieties and lets you search by size, colour, pruning group - http://clematisontheweb.org/new-clemlistsearch.cfm - so you can see what pleases you and then go and see if you local nursery or GC has the or else visit the nurseries suggested by @Fairygirl.  They all do mail order.