Trailing plants for a 10 feet high wall

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Hi all,
I have a 4 metre high garden wall and am not able to plant at its base. However, I can easily create a planting bed at the top and wish to plant cascading/trailing plants to give colour and coverage. Any suggestions for trailing vines (not invasive ivies) and perennials please?
 
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Greeting's welcome to the Forums.

As you can plant a bed at the top, I imagine this is either a retaining wall or a building with a roof garden, rather than a 3-4 meter (10-13 foot) free-standing wall. Please do post photos. It will help the Forums with design and plant selection questions. Also, how much sun does it get? It sounds like it would be sunny and exposed, but one never knows.

Many vines prefer to climb if they can, but if the cannot, they will creep along the ground and tumble over a precipice just as well.
My first thought is a blend of climbing Rosa and Clematis spilling down, but there are so many other options, of course.
 
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Thanks for your reply Marck, please see attached photo of the wall. Obviously, there's a bit of clearing to do and a bed needs establishing just behind the wooden fence at the top of the wall. The wall is southwest facing and gets a lot of sun, along with a lot of westerly winds which are often quite strong. All ideas for plantinand design welcome. Thanks in advance.
 

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What a lovely setting. The fence at the top of the wall is most prudent, and any vine planted will be able to grow over and through it.
I still think spilling vines or groundcovers would be the best choice. What kinds would you like? Evergreen or deciduous? Many flowers or mostly greenery? Would a fruit crop such as grapes or berries be a boon or a bane? In spots away from where people walk, would some thorns or prickles be permissible? In a sunny, well-drained situation there are so many, many possibilities.
 
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Thanks Marck, I was thinking more towards evergreen spilling vines. With regards to colour from other spilling plants, definitely, as I'd like the wall to be a real showpiece. I love clematis but am wondering which varieties are easiest to train to trail downwards? Any recommendations on specific species would be appreciated to help me when going shopping :)
 
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The growing culture for most Clematis is similar (sun, regular,water with good drainage, fertilize yearly). Your planting site should be ideal. You mention it is windy, but Clematis should handle that fine, as long as they don't dry out.

The size and flowering time of Clematis do vary, and this also affects how and when they should be pruned, but that is an easy skill to master. You didn't mention a colour preference, but Clematis come in a wide variety of hues. I'll pick some Clematis I know and like, but there are many others with identical care needs.

Using just Clematis, I might suggest a planting like this: a vigorous late spring bloomer such as Clematis montana. I particularly like the pink form, C. montana var. rubens. Then interspersed with this, I would place one or two large-flowered varieties for early summer bloom. Some rebloom a bit in the Fall too. They come in almost every color, I'll pick Clematis x 'H.F. Young' which has breathtaking, large lavender-blue flowers and Clematis x 'Niobe' with deep red flowers. Then to finish off the season with more color Clematis x 'Polish Spirit' which is another vigorous grower that covers itself in purple flowers.

Now, I just mixed pink, lavender-blue, red, and purple, which is the kind of wild colour blend I enjoy, but you could substitute all whites and pastels or anything else you fancy. Besides, they won't usually all be in full bloom at the same time, though there should be some overlap. If you are shying away from mixing in a climbing rose due to thorns, consider thornless Rosa x 'Zephirine Drouhin' with bright pink blooms.
 

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