Everyone I know with a chain link fence covered by English Ivy had to literally sit out there for YEARS and weave the vines up and through the fence mesh, the plants won't do it on their own. In fact the vines constantly want to escape the fence and creep away on the ground or climb up into the trees - anything but be intricately woven into the chain link. The process took many many years since English Ivy pretty much sits still for at least the first year (and I've seen it sit still for up to three years in poor soil). Once it has adapted to its new home it can grow very fast but that rarely happens right after planting. The first step in keeping English Ivy from becoming the next Kudzu is to stop it from growing up the sides of tall buildings or tall trees. The vine we see is actually the juvenile form, which it can stay as forever. Once it climbs up around 25 feet the plant will switch to its adult form which is more like a woody stemmed shrub, its leaves will change shape and it will bloom and set seed. So if you see it being used as ground cover or climbing up a small fence it is not able to bloom or set seed in that stage. That is not the plant that we should be concerned with - it is harmless, though a rampant grower. As a garden plant, they will grow in spots that few other plants will survive and nothing seems to eat them so they have a place in my garden but I cut them back every other year to stop them from blooming.

Don't know if you are still monitoring this thread, but just in case I will kick in my experience. We live in Gilbert, Az.(near Phnx), and have over 200' of 5' chainlink on our west side next to a canal. We have tried pink bower vine, potato vine, Lady Bank's Rose, snail vine, and finally, passion vine. The bower vine and potato vine were a disaster, the Bank's rose is barely holding its own (but it IS under a big cottonwood tree), the snail vine is doing ok, but not great. The passion vine seems to be the one that will take. After 3 years it has grown 20' in each direction, and has lush dark green foliage with copious beautiful large purple blooms. They smell a little funny, but are attractive nonetheless. It froze back one year, but returned with renewed vigor in the spring. Try it, you will like it! Today I was clearing the weeds and dead grass from under it and noticed that the ever-present large orange butterflies were laying 1 egg at a time on the leaves. We have never seen a caterpillar, but there must be some relationship going on. Good luck!

I haven't tried them all on a CL fence in particular, but the containment would depend a lot on how much fence they have to grow on. The food vines I've put on fences before go straight to the top, then sideways along the top. But that's pretty much the case with any vine on a fence. The problem with perennial vines is that they usually have woody stems/trunks that and can eventually damage the fence, and/or become enmeshed in the fence and impossible to remove. Those that die back to the ground for winter usually leave debris that most people feel compelled to remove 'cuz it's ugly. Some kind of grapes might work, IDK, or jasmine (but nothing edible on that.) I've started Passiflora on mine for the butterfly caterpillars to eat, but that's probably not what you had in mind either... although if the caterpillars don't decimate the vine, it might make passion fruits. Berry vines might be something you'd like, if you don't mind dealing with a thorny plant. Raspberries might grow differently but the wild blackberries that are all over this area don't really grow up the fence, they just kind of lean on it. Without occasional intervention/guidance, they're as likely to just fall to the ground as find their way through the fence for support. Growing something on the fence is a common romantic notion, but in reality is not at all easy, assuming one doesn't want to damage the fence, even without the desire for something edible. Maybe someone else will have a brilliant suggestion, I've not said much you can use... Good luck!

OK, I've been researching this further and I've given up on the idea of planting something at the top of the tree for the fact that it likely will not survive our winters. I'm now looking for a vine that I can plant in the ground next to the tree trunk, and send it up the trunk to reach the roof of the tree house and spread from there Its been an interesting journey while researching these vines. Im looking for a fast grower that can reach a significant height, and Im not easily scared away by pruning & that type of maintenance - I enjoy it. This led me first to Trumpet Vine. It sounded like it could climb to the roof of the tree house in a season, and its not delicate or hard to grow. The flowers would look nice, but would also attract bees and insects that we don't really want... Then I started reading more of the posts about this vine and I had visions of this vine taking over the tree house, then the yard, my house, and also my neighbor's houses. I didn't want to bring this kind of destruction on my neighborhood so I started looking around for another vine. There are a lot of horror stories out there. One of the images that came to mind: I then started looking for a fast & tall grower that didn't flower and bring the bees along with it. We already have hops growing in another part of the yard and love it for that area. However, for this tree house I am hoping to find a vine that will not die back to the ground each year, so it doesn't have to make the 16' climb each season before it can start to fill in the roof. Next up was Virginia Creeper. Doesn't have the insect problem, fast grower, woody stalks stay through the winter, so far so good. It sounded like it also would try to take over the neighborhood, and has to be kept in check and requires pruning - OK, I like pruning, I can run a mower around the base of it, and I have a chainsaw in case it goes Jumanji on us. I've nearly made up my mind about going with the VC and planting and then I come across posts like this one about how poisonous/toxic/allergenic this plant can be! Other sites and forums & sites dont mention it at all... And I was getting ready to make this a significant part of a children's play structure! So far this experience has made me realize how clueless I am in this selection - apparently I am attracted to all of the wrong types of plants. Any input would be appreciated. I am starting to wonder if rafters, sheathing and shingles wouldn't be a better route. My latest search has me looking at Hardy Kiwi vine. I like the first word in it's name. Im not really looking to harvest any fruit from it or deal with that mess, but it might be interesting in the future to get a male pollinator and have some hardy kiwis. I read that it can reach 60' heights and can grow as much as 20' in a season, which sounds good. Does anybody have any experience with this vine? Does it sound like a potential fit?