Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Cinnamon]

I have a lovely big Crab Apple in my border, & have also acquired 3 nice climbers from Aldi last week.

I was thinking about growing one of them up next to the tree,with a view to it rambling through it in time - has anyone else tried this?

 

My 3 candidates are a Clematis Montana,which has a 25ft spread & will be too big,I think.

A Passionflower - bought this for Hubby as he likes them,but the flowers are a bit showy for me,so I don't especially want it in such a prominent place.

Or a pretty deep pink flowered Jasmine,which is what I think will work best.

It has a 12 ft spread & is starting to flower now,which is nicely in-between the Crab Apple blossom & the fruits.

 

Happy to hear your thoughts on the plan.......

[beach chick]

sounds a good plan to me. I've got a couple of clematisisises (sp?!) going through trees and they look lovely (or they will do when they're a bit bigger, we are only on year 2)

 

I agree the montana would be too big, and the jasmine is a good solution because they go very bare and twiggy when not actually doing their stuff, so hopefully the crab apple would help hide that.

 

where are you going to put the passionflower? we get the benefit of our neighbours' - grown on their west facing wall, it comes right over the top and drapes down rather nicely... they've mixed it in with a grape vine but I think it's a bit much altogether.

[Cinnamon]

Well, we have just stripped the border that runs alongside the fence between out garden & next doors.

The fence is being replaced (finally!) next weekend,with a taller version that isn't half collapsing, & we are going to run wires along it for a Clematis that is already there & the Passion Flower. It should be around the area the hen pen is now.

 

As for the Clematis Montana - I have no ideas where that is going to go yet,but they are such spectacular plants & it was so cheap that I simply could not NOT buy it

[beach chick]

with montanas tho, you can chuck em in and hack em back down in 3-5 years time when they have outgrown their space - you might lose flowers for a year, but they are impossible to kill!

[Ms Marple]

I'd be tempted to use the clematis. That particular variety is so robust and could make a beautiful feature as it looks like a lace table cloth once it has established itself. You can keep it under control if you choose to. Passionflowers can die off suddenly for no reason ( although cold weather certainly helps). I think the jamine would look simliar to the crab apple bark when not isn bloom.

[Cinnamon]

Well,the jasmine is in now,but the Clematis us going on the fence directly behind the tree,so I am sure it will make its way over in time

We had one a few years back that just romped off - beautiful when in flower though!

 

Also it flowers a little earlier than the Jasmine,which could be about the same times as the tree blossoming,which sort of defeats the purpose.

 

The Jasmine is tiny - it looks quite lost,& I hope it gets a good foothold soon,so it can establish itself.

[Ms Marple]

It will look great I am sure

[Patricia W]

We had a montana which came over from next door and covered our apple tree. It was great for a few years then got too rampant so we had to cut it right back. We've have a grape vine climbing a very large fir tree for years and which now looks wonderful in the autumn when the tree drips with purple grapes. And another fir tree with a rampant honeysuckle.

 

Mine have all happened more or less by neglect rather then planning!