Green up your privacy screen: a fast living wall of climbing plants

A fence goes up fast, but it stays a fence. A living wall, by contrast, is alive: it hums with bees in summer and turns colour in autumn. If you want to shield your seating area from prying eyes without putting up a bare plank barrier, climbing plants are the loveliest solution. This article shows you which plant climbs how, what support it needs, and when to get it into the ground.

How climbing plants climb: two types, one goal

Before you drive to the nursery, a minute of theory pays off, because it decides your entire shopping list. Climbing plants fall into two camps.

Self-clingers need no help. Ivy and climbing hydrangea form clinging roots, Virginia creeper even little adhesive pads that stick like suction cups to stone, render and wood. The price for that: they climb slowly at first and can hardly be removed later without a trace.

Scramblers, on the other hand, look for something to hold onto. Hops and morning glory twine their whole shoots spirally around poles and wires. Clematis and nasturtium grip with their leaf stalks. And climbing roses do not really climb at all; they merely lean their long shoots and have to be tied in. All of these plants need a support: a trellis, a wire or a grid.

The distinction is no hair-splitting. Set a clematis in front of a smooth wall without a grid and it grows along the ground and never becomes a screen. First match the plant to its support, then buy.

Self-clingers: the low-maintenance living wall

If you want to green up a solid wall, a concrete face or a sturdy plank fence and would rather not tinker much, self-clingers are your route.

Ivy (Hedera helix) is the classic and the only climber on this list that stays dense and green even in January. It grows in shade as well as sun, tolerates drought, and over the years becomes a load-bearing wall. Count on two to three years of patience before it really gets going; after that it is hard to slow down.

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus tricuspidata und quinquefolia) is the faster relative. It drops its leaves in winter but makes up for it with a glowing red autumn colour from mid-September. Its adhesive pads carry it up to the third floor.

Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) is the elegant solution for shade. It climbs with clinging roots, flowers cream-white in June, and even copes with a north wall. Its only drawback: for the first two years almost nothing happens above ground, because it is building its roots first.

Scramblers: more effort, more choice

Once you are ready to fit a support, the whole variety of flowering and fragrant climbers opens up.

Hops (Humulus lupulus) is the sprinter among perennial climbers. It dies back above ground in winter and shoots up completely fresh in spring, then reaches six metres and more by high summer. For a screen that is dense in its very first season, there is hardly anything better.

Clematis brings the big flowers. Varieties like Clematis 'Jackmanii' or Clematis 'Nelly Moser' drape a trellis in colour from May to September. Its famous rule: head in the sun, feet in the shade. So shade the root zone with a low perennial.

Honeysuckle (Lonicera) is intensely fragrant in the evening and draws in moths. It twines around poles and wires by itself and is one of the more easy-going scramblers. Climbing rose, such as the variety Rose 'New Dawn', delivers the romantic classic but has to be tied in. Wisteria is the most spectacular and at the same time most demanding choice: the blue-violet flower trusses in May are breathtaking, yet over the years the plant grows arm-thick and bear-strong.

Annual quick-starters: dense in the first summer already

Should the living wall stand not in three years but in three months? Then in the first year plant additional annual climbers in front of the still-bare support. Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) grows two to three metres from a direct sowing from mid-May in just a few weeks, flowers orange-red and supplies edible leaves for the salad. Morning glory (Ipomoea) opens fresh funnel-shaped blooms in glowing blue every morning. Both are not hardy and make way in autumn, while the perennial plant slowly picks up speed in the background.

Dense this seasonHops, nasturtium, morning glory: several metres in a few months.
Dense after two to three yearsIvy, Virginia creeper, climbing hydrangea, clematis, wisteria: but lasting.
Evergreen in winterOnly ivy; all others stand bare from November to April.
No support neededIvy, Virginia creeper, climbing hydrangea; the rest need a trellis or wire.

The support: what really holds

For scramblers, the support decides between success and frustration. As a rule of thumb: the heavier the plant, the sturdier the frame. For clematis and annual climbers, stretched wires or a light wooden trellis are enough; for wisteria and old climbing roses you need galvanised steel cables or a massive frame. Always keep six to ten centimetres of clearance from the wall: that air gap lets the facade dry out after rain. How to build such a trellis yourself you can read in the article Build your own trellis and espalier.

Planting: hitting the right window

Choose the window: CW 14 to 20 or CW 38 to 44
Spring (early April to mid-May) and autumn (mid-September to early November) are ideal: the soil is moist and mild, and the roots take hold before heat or frost arrive.
Dig the hole with clearance
Dig the hole 30 to 40 centimetres away from the wall, not right at the base: immediately against the wall the soil is dry (rain shadow). Excavate the hole twice as wide as the root ball and mix the spoil with compost.
Plant angled toward the wall
Set the root ball slightly angled so the shoots point toward the support. Plant clematis five to ten centimetres deeper than it sat in the pot; that makes it resistant to clematis wilt.
Water in and mulch
Slurry it in firmly until no more air bubbles rise. Then lay a hand's width of bark mulch or leaves on top, which keeps the root zone cool and moist.
Guide the first shoots
Tie the young shoots loosely with soft raffia until the plant finds its own hold. Self-clingers you press gently against the wall.

Position, soil and the first years

Most climbing plants like a soil that holds water without waterlogging. Very sandy soil you improve with compost; heavy clay you loosen with a little sand. The position depends on the plant: wisteria, climbing rose and clematis want sun, while ivy and climbing hydrangea cope even with a north wall.

In the first year the rule is: water, water, water, as long as the roots are shallow. From the second year on, most species are self-sufficient. A cut keeps the wall in shape: ivy and Virginia creeper you cut back in spring, clematis in February or after flowering depending on its group.

A living wall is no sprint. The first year builds roots, the second shoots, the third the screen. Whoever has patience in the first summer is rewarded in the third.

Gardener's rule of thumb

Climbing plant or hedge?

Both screen you off, but they solve different tasks. A climbing wall needs almost no ground area and fits into the narrowest strip between terrace and fence. A hedge needs width, but in return offers birds nesting space. If you are wondering whether a living hedge might suit you better after all, the overview Planting a hedge: species and position will help.

Häufige Fragen

Which climbing plant grows fastest as a privacy screen?

Among the perennials, hops is the fastest: it reshoots every spring and reaches six metres and more by high summer. If you want a dense wall in the first summer already, combine it with annual nasturtium or morning glory. Ivy and Virginia creeper are more lasting but take two to three years to reach full density.

Which climbing plant needs no support?

Self-clingers hold onto the wall by themselves: ivy and climbing hydrangea with clinging roots, Virginia creeper with adhesive pads. They suit solid walls, concrete and sound timber. All the others (hops, clematis, honeysuckle, wisteria, climbing rose) are scramblers and need a trellis, a grid or stretched wires.

When do you plant climbing plants for a privacy screen?

The two best windows are spring (CW 14 to 20, early April to mid-May) and autumn (CW 38 to 44, mid-September to early November). In both periods the soil is moist and mild and the roots take hold calmly. Potted stock can be planted all summer at a pinch, but then demands daily watering.

Which climbing plant stays green in winter?

Of the common climbers, only ivy is evergreen and screens densely even from November to April. All deciduous climbers such as Virginia creeper, hops, clematis and wisteria drop their leaves in autumn and stand bare until they releaf. If year-round screening matters to you, there is hardly a way past ivy or an evergreen hedge.

Do climbing plants damage the house wall?

On intact render, exposed concrete or solid wood, clinging roots and adhesive pads are unproblematic. It becomes risky on crumbling old render, open joints and external insulation systems: there the clinging organs work into cracks and can widen damage. When in doubt, stretch a trellis with six to ten centimetres of wall clearance; then you green the surface without touching the facade.