Mile a minute climber

[Harry123456]

Hello, we have a very boring front of house and want to liven it v quickly, we have bought a mile a minute climber as we have been advised that it will cover the house no problem, which is the result we need.
My question is , do I need to attach a climbing frame (wire etc) for the climber to climb, or will it climb on its own?
Question no 2. How and when does it need to be pruned.
Thankyou.

 

[r896neo]

you will need wires or a trellis of some kind. It does grow very fast but in my opinion it can look pretty grim in winter.

 

[ajstoneservices]

I bet you regret planting it once it gets going.

 

[xdave]

Answer 1: It will attach to the brick, render, gutters, roof tiles, windows, drive way, telegraph poles, lamp posts, and if you let it it will likely follow you to work. Training it over wire will help though if you don't have a rough surface.

Answer 2: It will need pruning back, hard, every morning before work, and ideally when you return in the evening as well. It is called 'mile a minute' for a reason.

In all seriousness, if you are prepared for a vigourous maintenance routine then you could get away with it, but otherwise I would reconsider your choice in climber. Left unchecked it will cause damage to your property, and in a few months time you may well regret planting it. I know two people who planted it in their gardens to climb over ugly fences, and both have since destroyed all traces of it because it was so invasive.

 

[Thermo]

it attaches itself by spiralling, not by suckers as ivy does, so it will not attach to brickwork etc. if it is properly trained and controlled there is no problem with it. install a decent trellis where you want it to grow and it will be fine.


its a plant not a triffid

 

[ajstoneservices]

its a plant not a triffid

It doesn't know that.

Russian vine
Another common name for Russian vine is mile-a-minute, and that's a conservative estimate.

It grows far too big, too fast and too ugly even for a large garden. In a small garden there wouldn't be standing room after the first season. This plant is probably worth avoiding.

 

[Thermo]

does if you take the felcos to it

 

[ajstoneservices]

does if you take the felcos to it

I try not to repeat my mistakes so shouldn't need to

 

[tapir]

Mile a minute also has the ability to take over other plants spaces too; once in, you are more than likely to regret it.

We have a passion flower plant growing up the front of our house; in 3 years it's covered most of it. I installed a lot of wires for it to follow, now I have to trim it every 3 months or so.

You could also try a clematis (sp?)

 

[Harry123456]

Thankyou to all of you for your replies

 

[quercus320]

After three years in our current house, we've just about managed to eradicate the russian vine that the previous inhabitants had planted for fast-growing cover...


As tapir suggests, and depending on the eventual height you need, I'd be tempted to do a bit of research online for one or more suitable clematis. They'll take a little longer to establish, but they're still fairly vigorous and fast-growing, and won't be as thuggish as mile-a-minute.

Some spring-flowering evergreen clematis armandii will grow to about 6m high. There are apparently some evergreen and winter-flowering varieties (clematis anshunensis Winter Beauty), although I haven't tried them. Clematis montana has also always worked well for me - again spring flowering, and very vigorous. You could also search for some high-growing summer or autumn-flowering varieties, and a combination of the various types could give you both foliage cover and flowers for much of the year. Much prettier than mile-a-minute!


Clematis will need some support - something like trellis battened to the wall up to about 3m, with some wires higher up, should do the trick. Little pruning generally required.


Good luck with whatever you decide!