Good climbers to grow through a privet hedge?

[Malcolm Fraser]

Our new house has a ~3m high privet hedge along one side of the front garden and I'm hoping to make it more interesting and valuable for biodiversity by growing some climbers through it - can anyone suggest species which would be good/suitable for privet?

Thanks!

[Jez]

Hi & welcome to WAB,

How about white everlasting sweat peas, wild clematis or cultivated varieties e.g Spring beauty or Macropetala (bumble bees like this plant in spring), or even Ivy perhaps as a late insect nectar plant and place of hibernation? Since privet is a dense shrub some denser than others I think these would stand a good chance of growing up and through them Malcolm. If in a shady spot then also wood vetch, bush vetch, black bryony (shiny succulent berries for birds) or bittersweet!

Cheers

Jez

[Cowgirl]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Fraser

Our new house has a ~3m high privet hedge along one side of the front garden and I'm hoping to make it more interesting and valuable for biodiversity by growing some climbers through it - can anyone suggest species which would be good/suitable for privet?

Thanks!

Hi malcom, have a look at a thread where I asked a similar question & got lots of great answers.

Improving a Privit Hedge for birds
Cheers
Janette

[diggleken]

Hi Malcolm,
just to add, dont forget, if you let the privet get rampant and fully flowering, they are fabulous for butterflies and other nectar insects.
Cheers
Ken

[Malcolm Fraser]

Thanks for the tips!

Janette - I'll take a look at that other thread and see what others have suggested.

Ken - Unfortunately privet rarely flowers up here (Edinburgh) and I don't think I've ever seen it fruit...

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Fraser

Our new house has a ~3m high privet hedge along one side of the front garden and I'm hoping to make it more interesting and valuable for biodiversity by growing some climbers through it - can anyone suggest species which would be good/suitable for privet? Thanks!

A timely question for me as I'm also pondering how to 'improve' some privet hedging. Jez has listed the main contenders and I can attest that Vetch works. I'm less certain about Ivy and Honeysuckle in that both are vigorous and will be competitors with the Privet, potentially impacting on the strength and 'presentability' of the Privet. If keeping the hedge 'looking good' is important then my suggestion would be to stick with the 'lighter growing' plants - the bryony and clematis look to be good choices.

When it comes to planting, if you can, set the climber roots at least 50cms away from the Privet trunks - 80cm would be better, and provide a good amount of humus rich material in the planting hole, this will help the plants get established despite the competion from the Privet roots.

CM

[Malcolm Fraser]

I've ordered some everlasting sweet pea, clematis vitialba and honeysuckle seed. I'll see how they go over the summer, thanks for all the advice.

CM - I'll keep a close eye on the honeysuckle - thanks!

[marvin]

hi

some good suggestions there. you might want to try a variety of clematis as you get spring flowering ones (alpina (montanas may be a bit vigorous for a hedge)) large flowered early summer flowering hybrids (eg nelly moser) and the smaller summer flowering viticella types. if you get it right you can have clematis flowering from march to november.

if its a sunnyish spot tropaeolum speciosum is pretty impressive.

BBC - Gardening: Plant Finder - Flame flower

if you want quick fix you could grow some annuals through it for this summer...nasturtiums and sweet peas could be sown directly into the soil or morning glory could be sown on a windowsill/greenhouse and transplanted early june.


cheers
tim

[Cowgirl]

Forgotton about this when I originally asked but quite by accicent I found that vinca (don't know type, but it's purple) grows nicely through the hedge at the front. It looks quite pretty too. Heck even bindweed has it's moments. Not in my hedge but have seen it in hedgerows.