Had the tree fellers in this avers & they've taken down most of an orrible manky old apple tree. I've asked for some trunk & branches to be left - I thought of growing something over them and also of course using the branches to hang bird feeders.....but what can I plant round the tree to grow up it? Ideally I want something that will cling to the tree but I can only think of ivy - which of course the birds will love - but what other options are there please?
Wot about a clematis? A friend did this and it looks great.
My other thought was clematis ::)....would it need support tho or will it attach itself to the trunk?
just a few well placed strings will do if you grow one of the alpine varieties. After the first year they find there own way up. So do the montana range.
Thanks Shirl. Anything else I wonder? (I don't really like clematis :-\) but I suppose that some 'invisible' wire would be the way to go, whatever I decide, to get anything established....
There is a nice perennial sweet pea ,a good white colour no scent tho'
unlike honey suckle!
Climbing roses look good, Honeysuckle you can get the evergreen one is it Hendry? not sure. Or sweet peas, morning glory , chillien glory vine list is endless. Raised bed around the root of the tree gives you more scope?
Sounds like the tree just had a prune so will grow new branches.
for scent: jasmine?
for speed and rapid cover (maybe too rapid) Russian Vine / Mile a Minute.
Or, as we did at the last house on a sad looking Cherry Tree, a Golden Hop.
Mikey
we've made hazel growing things and put clematis one side and a beautiful golden rose up the other side of it ;D
A Dorothy Perkins rose( masses of small bright pink button roses ) and grow it together with Solanum jasminoides (the ordinary blue one ) they look sensational together in flower ! I have put a soft plastic trellis around the trunk to tie them into . End of summer I cut out all the flowered shoots of the rose and tie in the new shoots to flower the following year. I wind them round and around the trunk . Easy peasy ! :D
Rohaise x
I like Mike's ideas.....golden hop would be spectacular, as would Russian Vine (is that the one that changes colour in the autumn?) - and both easily obtainable too, which is a bonus. RIGHT! That's what I'll be looking for.. and chilean glory?..I saved seeds from the one I've somewhere else, so I'll have a go at germinating them too 8) I'm off my perennial sweet pea...I'd thought to have it scrambling through my hawthorne hedge? Well, I've got the roots but my neighbour gets the flowers...grrrrrrrr
Teresa, there's no chance that this diseased old tree's going to recover.....my tree feller was concerned that if he cut it back as I wanted, it would kill it....."YEP!" says I with a big big grin ;D....
A morning's work and the apple tree debris is now neatly made into a layered fence in the boundary gaps.....shopping this weekend, then...
Many thanks everyone for your help.
(ooooooo, just when I thought I'd made a decision, Rohaise posts....hmmm... Dorothy Perkins....does it have a long flowering period?
Late summer flowers ( late July), but you could plant something interesting for the beginning of summer as well.
A nice Climbing rose ,,Rosa Americana Is Nice
Check these out,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VIRGINIA-CREEPER-FAST-CLIMBING-HARDY-PERRENIAL-PLANTS_W0QQitemZ250092517514QQcategoryZ57223QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GARDEN-FLOWER-SEEDS-GREAT-CLIMBER-GLORY-VINE-10-SEEDS_W0QQitemZ290094204010QQcategoryZ57224QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Thanks so much for those links Theresa - you're a darlin'. So it's virginia creeper or golden hop for my apple tree with some saved seeds from my chilean vine...the birds are going to love it - and so am I. 8)
One tip virginia creeper needs to be in full sun to get 3 weeks where the leaves are bright flame colour otherwise its green. ;)
The dont say that on the plants. >:(
What about a rambling rose? or vigorous clematis?
you can always search for and check out plants using a database
htp://www.findmeplants.co.uk is a good one.
Honeysuckle
Custard marrow.........sorry, couldn't resist :-[
cj :)
Depends on how much sun the area gets and how exposed it is, but Passionflowers would be good. Or Jasminum stephanense. I do have a fondness for Clematis macropetala - it's not as fussy as the others. And Solanum jasminoides.. All good plants.
CHOCOLATE vine??? ;) ;) ;D ;D
http://www.crocus.co.uk/findplant/selectionresults/?ContentType=Plant_Card&ClassID=225&CategoryID= (http://www.crocus.co.uk/findplant/selectionresults/?ContentType=Plant_Card&ClassID=225&CategoryID=)
Inspiration Dotty 8) ;D
I saw a Golden Hop at the G.C. this weekend....£9.99......hmmm.....still gotta £10 voucher from Christmas, so I might just....
Lishka if it says buy me! do it ( golden hop) you will only regret it afterwards if you dont.
I'm certainly fancying the idea of a golden hop.....tomorrow it's 10% off at Wyvale for Penshners.....
I take it that you dont want to try re-Buding it with a nice/rare apple variety so that you could have fruit as well as other plants growing up the trunk !