northernflwr, since you are in zone 3, you might want to consider the hardiest form of wisteria, "Blue Moon". It is hardy in zone 3, and unlike the oriental varieties, blooms on new wood and so it has no flower buds to winterkill because they form on the new growth in the Spring. The picture I have attached is a plant that is only 3 years old. Good luck in your decision!

northernflwr, one other foot note. This wisteria is very fast growing, but you can prune it back as much as you want each Spring, since it blooms from new wood, so it should not take too long to cover your fence, but can be managed fairly easily.

For vines, Common hops grows like mad and will easily cover a fence in two seasons.

Other choices include honeysuckle, clematis (although I find they're not too fast growing), kiwi vine, grape vine (not sure how fast they grow) and perennial sweet pea. There are a good selection of climbing roses that do well such as Henry Kelsey, John Cabot, Quadra, etc. I'm sure there's more.

That wisteria looks very interesting. I'm gonna have to see if I can get that somehow.

Cedars don't like wind, so if you can give them some shelter they'll do okay.

Evergreens grow slowly - you'll get about six inches of growth each season, tops, if your plants are less than six feet tall.

Good tree choices for privacy are Swedish Columnar Aspen and Tower Poplars. These grow very quickly (3-4 feet a season) and are narrow and tall, so you can plant them closely together.

Good shrub choices include lilacs, caragana and larger rose bushes such as Hansa, Therese Bugnet and Roseraie de L'Hay.

For trees, I second the motion for Swedish columnar aspen. They are very narrow so won't spill over your neighbour's yard, and they grow VERY quickly. I put 4 in a few years back. The first year they just settled in, the second year each of them grew more than 6 feet in height. Last summer (their second full year) they added another 4 or 5 feet. Great for summer, won't give you much of a screen in winter though.

Thanks very much I'll give your ideas a shot. I would love to get this covered over as soon as I can.

artictropical - I'm in zone 5a and the wisterias in my catalogs are only hardy to zones 6 and up. Any suggestions on where I can buy this wisteria from a catalog?

Also, when you mention that you can prune it back, do you mean throughout the summer to control the size or in the fall before it dies back? I'm assuming you mean during the growing season since it grows on new wood each year.

Do you treat it like a clematis and cut it right back to the ground in the fall? Please let me know and I'd love to have this to cover an unsightly lattice wall below my deck

trillium, I'm not sure where you can purchase them in Canada, but I purchased mine on the internet from Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery, in Wisconsin. I was very pleased with the plants. In fact, one of them had flower buds when the arrived (one gallon pots). Good luck!

Anyone heard where you can purchase this Blue Moon Wisteria in Canada? My DH just built my front pergola walkway last year and I'm in need of something spectacular for my guests to walk under on the way to my front door.

Is it also just called Blue? Because I recently received a catalogue but the blue wisteria they carry does not survive according to them up here. What about climbing roses. In the catalogue they have one yellow variety but I'd love a pink variety...anyone know of one that'll survive up here? Thanks.

NF, if it just says Blue it is not 'Blue Moon'.
What catalogue are you referring to? Usually mail order climbing roses are not hardy in our climate.

William Baffin is a very hardy semi-double pink.
Polestar is a crazy white flowered climber!

It was the Veseys catalogue. They are the only place that would send me one.

Your probably bang on with the cedars however they will take a long time to fill in an area. They don't require a lot of work compared to a vine generally speaking.

I certainly don't recommend vines to fill your need because the privacy they give would generally be subject to the season. Below are some comments on the ones I have experience with.

Most of the summer one of my chain link fences gets covered in Clematis Tangutica. I think it was called Clematis Bill MacKenzie. Its an amazing mess of yellow flowers. The nice thing with Bill MacKenzie was how fast it fills in during the spring over my other vines.

I do have other clematis but nothing as bushy and filling as Bill MacKenzie.

You could also look at Virginia Creeper but be careful as it can get out of control very fast. The neighbor behind our house has his crawling over his back fence snaking through the back lane and strangling parts of my garden.

If you don't mind planting annuals every year you could try morning glories depending on the size / height of the area you want to cover. I've had good experience with morning glories all over my limited space.

I'd seriously consider a long term investment though like cedars or some other type of bush. Evergreens for your area will give you all season privacy. Or if winter privacy isn't a big deal consider an edible bush like saskatoons.

Well my 2 cents.

I would like all season coverage for sure. I didn't know morning glories were annuals. I did pick up some of those seeds to try as I remember them growing pretty good. The clematis you mentioned sounds really nice like the Blue Moon mentioned anything with flowers would be a bonus. And the Virginia Creeper if it grows that fast I would be interested. According to the one catalogue I have it may not survive up here.
Thanks very much.

Virginia creeper does fine in zone 3 - I have one growing on a chain link fence that's totally exposed to the elements.

VC is hardy here too. Its really beautiful in the fall with its red leaves.

Although they will lose their leaves in the winter the canes will somewhat cover the chain link fence, in the meantime you can start growing those cedars.

Sharon

Siberian Peas-growth rate is pretty decent, they have beautiful yellow flowers, and can be pruned into a hedge. Moose love them though. If you have some room, White Spruce--slow growth rate, but shade tolerant, so you can plant, say, paper birch in between. Paper birch grows faster, really pretty, while white spruce has a really nice upright shape, large needles and lighter bark than the Alaskan typically pretty sketchy black spruce. Both are very nearly indomitable and will take anything almost any climate can dish out. Delphiniums are a nice screen, but not really a privacy hedge. I second the hops. Especially if you have a male in your life that is fascinated by the idea of GROWING BEER!

I've had lots of luck with native grape vine. One vine covers my whole pergola! We cut it back periodically, and its back within a year. One year we went on holidays for four weeks, and by the time we returned, we could hardy see the patio. Needless tosay, out came the clippers! It takes a couple of years to start, but after that Yikes!

So guess clematis is a safe bet for the flower vine then? Besides, there are quite a bit varieties in clematis family one can choose from, aren't there? or morning glory for that matter ...

'cause my friend is having the similar question, she has a west facing window with deck outside. So she is getting a 1.5' x 2.5' planter box with lattice on the back, trying to block some heat with natural green, and flower as a plus.
She was asking me what to grow in that flower box ... clematis can grow up to around 5 feet in one summer?
I'm sorry if it looks like I'm hijacking this thread :p
Rick

Hi.... I have the very same issues with needing privacy from the neighbors. The fance we share with then is only about 4 feet from the back of their house.... and their kitchen window looks out over the fence into our yard. Anyway, I've had my husband attach some really nice iron trellis' along the length of the fence and I'm going to plant American Bittersweet vines along there. I needed a vine that would be tolerant of some shade and would grow fast and tall. They also have very pretty bright yellow seed pods and red berries in the fall. You need to plant male and female vines. I bought mine from Spring Garden.ca
Good Luck!

I need to plant a row of fast growing trees to act as a guardrail. I'm looking for trees that have a narrow canopy because there will be planted about 8' in front of a Leyland Cypress hedge along my fence line. I want the Leylands to get enough sun. I thought about planting Hybrid Poplar trees, but none of the nurseries in my area sell them, in fact one Nurseryman told me about what a nightmare they can be.
Any suggestions?