Do you want a fence that is planted with climbing plants? We have gathered everything worth knowing about the topic here. We explain to you how to green a fence with climbing plants and which climbing plants look particularly good on the fence. We also look at the properties of different fences. In addition, our guide provides you with many tips and tricks on the topic of climbing plants that you can immediately put into practice.
There are many ways to green a fence with climbing plants. Yours too! Which brings us to the middle of the topic: is your fence already standing? Or should it be built first? This is an important question, because both the type of fence and the type of climbing plants play a role in the success of the greening. The rule is: Fence is not the same as a fence and a climbing plant is not just a climbing plant. Our guide will help you with this
- either find the right climbing plants for your existing fence
- or to find a suitable fence for your garden and the appropriate climbing plants.
Climbing plants: a fence is not just a fence
Table of Contents
A fence can consist of different materials. Each fence material has specific properties that result in different conditions for greening with climbing plants. Let’s take a closer look at this:
Metal fence and climbing plants
You can find metal fences in a large selection in the trade. Also here in our online shop – take a look! Wrought-iron models and wire mesh fences in various designs are particularly popular as garden fences or property fences. A typical feature of such metal fences is that they offer hardly any privacy. Greening with climbing plants can change just that and ensure that curious people are prevented from looking into your garden.
Our tip: Please note that classic forged fences with their elaborately forged ornaments are in themselves a decorative element for garden design. After greening with climbing plants, there is not much left of the fence to see – it would be a shame about the significantly higher investment. Who (still) has the fence choice, therefore decides better for a modern, simple forged fence or for a wire mesh fence. As a basis for greening, both types of fences are not only more practical, but also significantly cheaper than a classic hand-forged fence.
Both forged fences and bar mat fences offer climbing plants sufficient hold. There are enough vertical and also horizontal struts, on which the most diverse climbing plants spread in a climbing, looping or climbing manner.
Our tip: If climbing plants grow on a fence, precipitation can no longer dry away there without hindrance. The climbing plants themselves also bring more moisture to the fence material. Therefore, when buying your metal fence and then taking care of it, make sure that it is optimally protected against moisture and does not rust under the climber splendor.
Recommended climbing plants: perennial, woody climbing plants such as wisteria, climbing hydrangeas, climbing roses
Wooden fence and climbing plants
Hunters’ fence, wattle fence, picket fence, chain fence – these are the types of wooden fence. As a natural fence material, wood is suitable for greening with climbing plants. The fence and greenery form a single unit and at best act like a hedge. Depending on the structure of the wooden fence, a wide variety of climbing plants find a hold on the stakes, laths etc.
However, there are two things to keep in mind when you want to green a wooden fence:
1.Wood has only limited natural protection against the weather. It swells in damp weather and dries when dry. Without the right wood protection, the fence wood will rot over time. This is a process that climbing plants favor because they bring with them a basic moisture that can damage the wood. Also important: If you choose climbing plants of several years, you will not be able to access the wooden fence for a long time to provide it with the necessary wood protection. This can be remedied by support aids or climbing aids that can be placed in front of the wooden fence: the climbing wall in front looks like the wooden fence has been planted, but thanks to the gap between the plant and fence wall, it gives you space to “breathe” and you have space to care for the fence.
2.Because of its natural, fibrous nature, fence wood can sometimes not do much to oppose certain climbing plants: Because instead of just climbing, climbing and looping along its posts, slats and stakes, some climbing plants penetrate deep into the fence wood: they literally strike Roots in wood. In the long run, this leads to the decomposition of the fence material, so that the fence statics suffer and the fence breaks. So it is important to choose the right climbing plants for the wooden fence.
Recommended climbing plants: annual, herbaceous, not woody climbing plants such as morning glory, scented flat pea, climbing nasturtium
Plastic (WPC) and climbing plants
A fence made of the composite material WPC consists of wood and plastic fibers and is more weatherproof and easier to maintain than a wooden fence, although they are hardly distinguishable from one another visually. The fairly smooth surface of modern WPC garden fences sometimes does not offer climbing plants sufficient hold, so that here too one works with support and climbing aids.
Walls, gabions and climbing plants
A solid, stone wall, be it made of field stones or bricks, serves the same purpose as a fence made of metal or wood. Nevertheless, it is not called a garden fence, but a garden wall. A wall as well as a fence is suitable for greening with climbing plants. And that’s why we also give her our attention in our guide to climbing plants for fences.
The self-climbers among the climbing plants adhere to masonry with suction cups, adhesive washers, chin hairs or adhesive roots. Every little bump comes in handy. The Deutsche Naturschutzbund e.V. (NABU) also emphasizes that the wall base is kept comparatively dry due to the constant removal of water by the climbing plants. Caution should therefore be exercised if the masonry is brittle and weathered or if the plaster crumbles. Earth could be stored in larger joints, into which woody shoots could get. As a result of the growth in thickness of the shoots, the joints could enlarge or the damaged masonry could flake off. According to NABU, newer lime cement plasters according to DIN 18550 can withstand any growth.
Recommended climbing plants: morning glory, black-eyed susanne, firethorn, clematis
Gabions are becoming more and more popular in the garden: wire frames, mesh baskets or boxes filled with stones, also known as stone or pouring baskets, have proven their worth both as garden furniture and as a fence. Gabions make a great base for climbing plants because the metal grille provides the climbing plants with support and support like a metal fence. The direct greening of the stones in the mesh baskets is somewhat more complex. For this purpose, the spaces in the mesh baskets are either filled with soil so that they can then be planted.
Recommended climbing plants: hops, pipe winch
Fence: a climbing plant is not just a climbing plant
Depending on the fence, you should choose the appropriate climbing plants.
Self-climbers for solid walls and walls in the garden
Examples: wild wine, ivy, climbing hydrangea
So-called self-climbers like to conquer solid walls and walls that are in the garden as a privacy screen and / or boundary. They hold on to it with their adhesive discs or adhesive roots on their own, so that no extra support or climbing aid is necessary. However, you can make it easier for the self-climbers to start by tightening directional cords.
Ranker for metal or wooden fences
Examples: Real wine, wild tendril wine, coral wine, clematis
Rankers, on the other hand, need help in the form of bars or narrow struts, such as those found in fences made of wood or metal. Wire rope constructions also help climbers: they climb upwards.
Spreading room for fences with horizontal climbing aids
Examples: blackberries, climbing roses, burdock bedstraw, winter jasmine and gnats
Spreading climmers naturally get stuck to the fence with their growing spines, thorns or protruding side branches. You should tie up your often whip-like shoots. This works best if the fence has horizontally aligned wooden slats, bars or wire ropes. Grids are also suitable for this.
Rollers and winder for fences with thin vertical struts
Examples: honeysuckle, wisteria (Chinese wisteria), Japanese wisteria, hops, black-eyed Susanne, morning glory, fragrant clematis armandii and knotweed
Fences with thin vertical struts, tensioning wires and bars offer perfect hold for so-called slings or winders who can manage without specially trained climbing organs. Instead, the entire plant shoot preferably winds up around vertical climbing aids, for example thin rods. And either clockwise or anti-clockwise. Even with bars, Schlinger and Winder only use the vertical struts.
Annual or perennial climbing plants for the fence
While annual climbing plants green your fence within a gardening season, several years take several years for it. With annual climbing plants, you not only get a quick privacy screen, but you also keep the opportunity open for a change. As a rule, annual climbing plants are also easier to care for, for example they do not need pruning.
Perennial climbing plants: ivy, evergreen honeysuckle, wild wine and wisteria
Annual climbing plants: firebeans, funnel winches, nasturtiums and passion flower
Evergreen or annual climbers for the fence
Evergreen or not – you should also think about this question when planting climbing plants on your fence. Do you want your fence to be green even in winter? Then you should keep in mind that evergreen climbing plants like ivy and honeysuckle prefer shady or semi-shady locations. Deciduous climbing plants such as wild wine, wisteria, clematis and climbing hydrangea give you an autumnal rain of leaves in the garden, which you may also have to dispose of.
