Quick-Growing Privacy Plants? No trellis, just chain link fence?? Northeast US?

Question

First- I know nothing about gardening!
So, can anyone with experience in gardening in the Northeast US (Boston) give any advice as to what I could plant alongside a chain link fence to eventually provide privacy between our yard and our neighbor's (ugly) yard in the spring and summer? Preferably something that I could plant in spring and have a full cover by the following summer (if not sooner)?

I have seen other posts and seen recommendations for morning glory but no details as to how fast this grows, how well it covers and whether it can stand our climate here.

Thanks for any advice!

Answer 1

   My recommendation would be to plant evergreen shrubs instead of vines or an ivy.

   An English Ivy would definitely do the job but the sheer amount of maintenance this would require would make it a bad choice. The stuff is highly invasive and grows like mad, you'd have to be pruning it back every couple of weeks in the growing season or it would take over. Plus it will easily grow over or through the fence and into your neighbor's yard where it could root and spread even more. You don't want that.

   Ornamental vines like clematis are generally perennial in nature, you'd have no privacy screen for half the year.

   I am in USDA Zone 6 and in this climate Arborvitae does fine for me. There is a specific cultivar called Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' which I use here in southern PA. It's common name is the Emerald Green Arborvitae. It grows at a moderate rate and at full maturity is only 12-15 tall and 3-4 feet wide. This means that's it not that difficult to keep at the size you want because it won't be trying to grow into a huge plant. It's evergreen too, so you will have a year round privacy screen.

   Talk to your local nurseries in early Spring, see what they have to offer that's similar to this plant and will take your climate and cultural conditions.

Answer 2

I would go for the Laurel Nobilis. Its quick growing, evergreen and has few growing problems. You can buy in bulk by mail order to make it cheaper. You would need to plant one every 4-5 feet.
You just chop off the top when too high.
My son planted them for this same reason and they give excellent privacy cover.

Answer 3

Morning Glory's die in the winter and are a real pain to clean up the dead vines each year.
I might suggest Boston or English Ivy, which grows fast, stays green in the winter, and is easy to care for. But, it can be evasive, so it does need to be maintained from growing on buildings or places you don't want it to be. It can be pruned and shaped to your specific needs....
Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Get you some IVY its grows all year long and covers everything it really pretty too. It also means peace. All you do is plant it and it will cover everything and I mean everything you can trim it and it wont hurt it also you can grow it in water. Make sure its the outside kind not inside.

Answer 5

Bamboo

Answer 6

Have you looked into ornamental shrubs? There are many varieties of decent looking flowering shrubs out there. Take a look at Park's below, they have some nice ones :)

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=gateshrubstrees

Answer 7

PHONE A GARDEN CENTRE

AB