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California Gardening

Need info on ivy or creeping vine for garage wall

16 years ago

I am relandscaping my back yard and fairly new to the gardening world. I'd like to plant something that will grow up the side of my garage wall, west facing, lots of exposure all day long. wall is about 20 ft across by 7 ft to the bottom of the rain gutters. what creeper or ivy would work best here and how many do I need to plant? will be well-sprinklered, although not crazy about splashing water onto the foundation of the garage all year (hey, it's only the garage!) so the less water the better. blooms would be nice but not essential. just need texture and something other than an olive stucco wall to look at from the deck!

also need help selecting a few shade providing trees for the back wall of the yard. that is south facing, plenty of sun all day long, plenty of water. would like something that grows to about 12-15 ft max (could be smaller), doesn't need major maintenance with shedding. considering a pear tree but uncertain how well that will do in my zone. tree needs to provide broad shade but won't get too out of control growth wise and overwhelm oleanders on the neighbor's side of the fence. trees will be close to fence, less than a foot...

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Comments (2)

cleatscrea
16 years ago
Creeping fig (ficus pumila) grows fast and covers a wall densely. Don't know about the trees, mine grow too big, too fast.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
16 years ago
According to the Sunset Western Garden Book, creeping fig is very agressive and can be a problem--best to pull it off every few years so you can still use the garage--also not recommended for south-facing walls (page 351 of 2001 edition)--might not be the best choice. It's very delicate and beautiful when young but gets heavier and coarser over time.

I've got Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) on my concrete walls. It's the plant that gave the name to the "Ivy League" colleges. It loses its leaves for a few weeks in winter (leaves turn red first--brilliant color).
You would only need 1 plant. I pull it all off every 2 or 3 years to the ground (it comes off with a gentle tug) and it all grows back quickly. It gets very lush and looks good.

Real ivy (genus Hedera) can be a pest--it spreads all over and rats like to nest in it.

If you want a small, fairly clean tree what about dwarf Citrus? Evergreen, good screen, and the smell of citrus blossoms is just heavenly. Plus the fruit. 12-15' size you are looking more at a medium shrub rather than a tree. Most things sold as trees will get much much taller and at 1' away from the fence you don't have much room. Look also at Prunus caroliniana 'Brite and Tite', Nandina...I think this forum's FAQ has a list of 'narrow screen' plants you might want to check out.
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grilledcheese, you might try" silver lace vine". it can cover a fence really quick, it has tiny white bloons, that bees love,tiny bees. i have some freezingin the winter so mine dies down in winter, but it bounces back real quick when the weather warms up. hope this helps molly
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very good-I will keep all plants with suckers away because I do have cracks in the stucco which was another problem I have to solve this summer. water is getting in the cracks and making it worse. when the stucco was applied the contractor did not cure the stucco properly and especially on the south facing wall it is cracked everywhere. I am trying to find out what product to use to smooth over the current stucco that might fill in those cracks and keep the water out. Someone mentioned to me there may be something on the market but could not remember the name of it. was thinking of posting the question on another forum but was not sure which one. I am in the process of putting the deck and pergola up to shade the south wall of house along with the deck area and need to address the stucco issue soon before the structure is in the way.
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Thanks, bluebars, for your reply. I will try the other forums you mentioned. They are sparrows, roosting at night mainly. There are not nesting. I considered the owl idea, but suspected it wouldn't work . Birds are smart! Thanks for confirming my skepticism. My husband did end up pulling the vine down, but lovely man that he is, he didn't cut it, or dig it out, rather he re-directed it further upwards, to grow vertically, higher up the house, rather than letting it nestle itself along the garage roof line. So at least the vine is still growing, and if I ever figure out a solution to this dilemma, I can train it back to where I wanted it (It looked SO good there!). Thanks again for your help!
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I have creeping fig, trumpet vine and Star Jasmine all mixed together on one 6' property line wood wall topped with 3ft lattice. I planted the creeping fig and the neighbor planted the others. In Los Angeles, so same area as OP. I can tell you that the creeping fig is by far the best choice as it's very clean with no mess and gives uniform coverage. The Jasmine is nice too but only supported by the fence and other plants on the wall and does not support itself, same with the trumpet vine which is very messy from leaf and flower die off . It's also quite aggressive attaching itself to nearby trees. At one point I let it go up on the two story building and it literally covered the entire side! Ended up removing.
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