I suggest you re-post in the main forum in order to get some traffic on your question.

Hi there! I just came across this discussion because I have a similar problem with an unsightly fence -- and more - next door. In my case, I need something tall and broadleaf to block a view that the douglas firs we planted will eventually block... in about five or six years! I'm thinking of using a hardy Southern Magnolia. If you are right about the abutter having the right to plant a vine on a neighbor's chain link fence, I may consider a Major Wheeler honeysuckle which stays evergreen in zone 6. I wanted to mention, since the subject of invasive plants has been raised, that in the case of Burning Bush or other invasive plants, what makes them invasive is not necessarily that they will sprout up elsewhere on your own property. Many aggressive plants that are also native will do that but they are not considered invasive. What happens with invasive plants, e.g. non-native escapees, is they sprout up in nearby woodlands and roadsides where no one is around to weed them and so they reproduce without any natural controls on them. I have three haggard looking winged eunonymous shrubs growing in my wooded backyard along with escaped Japanese honeysuckle, wineberry, Oriental Bittersweet and mulitiflora rose. There are a couple of Japanese barberry and a Japanese holly back there too. In recent months, I've also been fighting an English Ivy invasion. These invasions are all the result of seeds that either traveled by wind or bird poop into our yard from neighbors' houses in the past twenty years. I intend to weed them all out, but I'm dealing with the worst first: the honeysuckle. Japanese honeysuckle happens to be allelopathic and actively prevents other plants from growing with it. It will also grow in deep shade! By the way, what grows from seed is not the beautiful cultivated variety of the plants I mentioned, it's the weedier looking species variety! If you ever take a walk around the Six Mile Run Reservoir area in NJ in the fall, you'll see pale pink winged euonymous shrubs growing all over the place in the woods, displacing native plants. We can't always see the harm we are doing by planting invasive plants in our gardens. But others get to see it, and the natural environment suffers. Just thought I'd bring it up. I live in a part of NJ that suffers greatly from invasives and it's so hard to keep fighting the good fight. I just found out the arctic kiwi vines I planted last fall are invasive in NJ so now I have to rip them out. How I hate to take the life of a plant : (

There are many wonderful vines - some perennial and some annual. For a well-behaved perennial I like sweet autumn clematis - it gets huge, covers itself in small white blooms and is fragrant. For an annual vine, you might like morning glories - there are so many pretty ones.

Sweet potato, morning glory, moonflower are all Ipomoea, so multiplying your vines with cuttings would work for any of these. With the extra wait since morning glory and moonflower are usually started from seeds, the sweet potato can give some quicker results because it is usually bought already growing. No reason to not have all 3 kinds if you like. Like any vine, their tendency will be to grow straight up and leave naked space below. If you give them a little guidance when you think about it, you can direct vines sideways for more coverage of the fence. Once they have some length, more than a few leaves, pinch off the growing tips to inspire side shoots to form. Occasionally pieces of vine may droop out toward the yard. Tuck those back into the fence, as low as they will go, to keep the coverage as solid as possible from top to bottom. The Clematis should be back next year, hopefully ready to do a little more growing but your disappointment this year is understandable. Everyone wants instant results! Bamboo - something like concrete or metal going deeply into the ground would be needed as a barrier to keep it from taking over your lawn. When you're tossing morning glory and/or moonflower (should you decide to use either,) there's no reason not to toss other flower seeds, something more to help cover the bottoms of the vines and fence. Just keep an eye at first to guide the vines up the fence instead of the other plants. If you put some landscape timbers or other kind of border separating other plants from lawn, it will be easy to keep tidy and trim against. If placed slightly sunk, the mower tires can run along the border to eliminate trimming an edge.