I have a lot of use for climbing plants, as one of my next door neighbours has a penchant for massive, ugly wooden-slatted fences, one of which we now have standing oppressively all the way down one side of our (long and thin) back garden, like some kind of forgotten siding left over from the Berlin Wall. The pre-fall-of-communism Eastern-bloc is also commemorated in kind by the towering breeze-block outbuilding these folk have recently planted hard against the objectionable fence. This, on the planning application was supposed to be rendered sympathetically, and to be surfaced with Cotswold stone in keeping with the rest of the house and garden - which it is, on ...  Read the complete review

I bought a Virginia Creeper about three years ago. It just looked like a stick with roots and I must admit that when I opened the packaging (it was via mail order) I was not happy. I really thought I had paid for a dead stick. Anyway, I planted it and just left it, not expecting it to do anything. This was in august. Within two weeks it had started to grow and when the winter arrived it was about four feet tall. I had forgotten about it when it sprouted again in the following spring. The first year it covered one end of my outhouse and from then onwards if has gone mad. The tendrils on this plant allow it to hold on quite tightly to any surface but ...  Read the complete review

I have a rather high fence down one side of my garden, and needed a climber to cover it. I decided against the unstoppable Russian Vine, and decided to try Parthenocissus quinquefolia aka Virginia Creeper instead. I had, of course, seen it growing up the walls of houses and watched it turn that beautiful shade of red in late autumn, and thought how lovely it would look growing along my fence. Was this a good choice? On balance, no I do not think it was, for three reasons:- 1)Yes, it looks pretty in the autumn when it turns red. This does not last very long, perhaps two weeks, then the leaves all fall off. Through the winter all you get to look at is the ...  Read the complete review