Fast Growing Climbers

TorturdChaos · Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:39 pm

Last year I put up a 8ft tall x 16ft long lattice privacy screen on the side of my deck. This year I was going to try growing some short of climber up it. Looking for something fairly fast growing that can do well in Montana's crazy weather. Soil isn't the greatest around here, but I have access to all the composted cow manure I want.
Lattice faces west and gets a lot of afternoon & evening sun.
I was kinda eyeing either Clematis Montana or Clematis Jackmanii, but I'm open for suggestions.
I'm not very picky about the colors, just mostly looking for something that's tough, low maintenance, and fairly fast growing.

Thanks!

rainbowgardener · Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:10 am

For me clematis is kind of picky and I don't think it will like all that afternoon and evening sun. It prefers morning sun and afternoon shade.

Fast growing climbers include trumpet creeper (if you don't mind that after 2-3 yrs of getting established, it takes off and gets huge), honeysuckle trumpet vine (fast growing but a little better behaved), virginia creeper (not very conspicuous flowers, but very fast growing and nice fall foliage color)

mtmickey · Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:45 am

Rainbow Gardener is right about Clematis AND they take a bit to get established here in MT. Last year was year 2 for mine and it did quite well...but it is in mostly shade. Try sweet peas or canary climbers, they both do quite well here.

TorturdChaos · Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:21 pm

I think I like the looks of sweet peas. How long do they take to get established?

mtmickey · Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:17 am

The first year, for sweet peas, you will have a few....let them go to seed and after a couple of years, you will have tons.

WildcatNurseryman · Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:28 am

Autumn Clematis would work but does draw in a lot of bees/wasp when in bloom. Annual vines grow very quickly, two of which are Canary and Cardinal Vines. They tend to reseed so that you don't have to. Clematis, in general, should do fine. They prefer to have shaded roots, not necessarily shade for the top-growth. In other words a underplanting to shade the ground around the roots so that they stay cooler and moist.