Green Screen from windowboxes?

Greetings to the Container Gardeners!

I'm new to the forum, the website, and growing things in general, so I apologize in advance if I should miss something obvious...

I live in a third floor apartment in Manassas, VA - zone 6b, I think. It's got all the usual apartment amenities: parking out front, in-unit washer and dryer, and a balcony with a decent view....of the neighbors' balconies. Now admittedly, the primary view is of a densely wooded area right in back of the apartment, so it's not all bad. It's just that I've got a 5-foot-deep by 8-foot-tall opening on the western side of the balcony which is open to three other balconies, all of the neighbors' activities, and a half-dozen air conditioning units.

What I'd like to do is to grow a "green screen" between myself and my neighbors, in order to afford myself some measure of privacy, and make my balcony a nice place to relax. This would also have the practical benefits of eliminating some of the summertime glare from the afternoon sun shining on my sliding glass doors, and the accompanying rise in utility bills, as well as shielding me from a sodium light on the side of the building, about fifteen feet away. The balcony is shaded by the building for most of the day, but it gets direct sunlight in the afternoons until the sun goes behind the trees in the evening - not sure exactly how many hours of sun it gets during the days from spring to fall, but right now in the winter, I think it's getting maybe four to five hours of direct sunlight, plus the sodium light shines from dusk till dawn.

I've got a pair of windowboxes which go together to fill the five-foot depth of the balcony, and would probably make a decent base for the screen, if I could just figure out what to plant in them.

- My initial thought was to hijack some cane bamboo from a friend's place, but my ignorance and ineptitude killed it before it even made it into the planters.
- "Plan B" came from my mother, who supplied me with a number of Sweet Autumn clematis seeds, and the assurance that they would grow quickly and thickly. Unfortunately, I have since found out that Sweet Autumn clematis can be very invasive around here, with its windborne seeds taking root wherever they may land.
- The next idea was to plant pole beans, which could climb on strings or netting, but those apparently require full sun and don't fare well in containers anyway.
- Having learned a bit about bamboo since my initial experiments, I suppose that - were I to transplant it properly - I might be able to manage a fast-grower like Japanese arrow bamboo. Sure it's a running bamboo, but it would have to run awfully fast to make it from a third floor windowbox to anything it can take root in before I noticed that it was trying to escape.
- I've got some philodendron and pothos cuttings in some glasses. I suppose that I could plant some in the windowboxes, and figure out a way to hang them up high from the pair of "bicycle hooks" in the ceiling so that the philos can drape downwards over the gap, and try to get them to grow thickly enough to provide some cover, rather than getting all viney and strung out.

It may still be the middle of winter, but I figure anything that I can get started inside just gives me that much of a head start on my privacy once the weather gets warm enough to move them into place outside.

Thanks for any help or suggestions that you might be able to provide!

Just a guess here, but the best growing annual vine for me is Hyacinth Bean - Dolichos lablab It is easily grown from seed and fast growing. Pretty purple flowers and seed pods. The vines are not too hard to take down in the fall. Just have a pair of old scissors and cut away.

I grow mine on the west side of the house, like you, I have woods behind me. I would say mine get a good 6 hours sun.

I can't find a good picture of it, but there are a bunch on the web and probably here on Daves.

I love the hyacinth Bean...Dolichos lablab................go to Thompson and Morgan seeds on line out of the UK....Where the plants and seeds are alphabetized to make it easy to shop for what you want, just go to the D's and seek out Dolichos lablab Ruby Moon.........................I can't wait to try it as it has the pinks and purples.....good luck
You can always find good pics on Thompson and Morgan site because it is alphabetized....

Click on the Plant Files link here for some information on the annual Hyacinth Bean Plants.

I was thinking more of climbing roses .... you say you have 5 or 6 hours of sun daily. Or, how about a butterfly bush of some sort ... or wisteria vine, you could put some sort of trellis inside the box on the floor, for the vine to grow up. Or tie fishing line from the ceiling to the box for the vines to grow on.

colder, plantlady's ideas would be better for year around screen, but they would take a while to grow. The hyacinth bean is an annual.
Depends on what you are looking for and how long you plan to stay there.

Here's the link I meant to add to the above post re: Hyacinth Bean:

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/890/index.html

you could also plant clematis....blackeyed susan vine....morning glories....there are any number of annual you could plant....Honeysuckle would grow quickly and make it smell wonderul too..LOL...there are ivies you could grow there as well....you may want to grow vines on either end to "enclose the space and do some hanging baskets across the opening with the view...and some planters with things that have womderful smells...LOL Petunias, alyssum....in hanging pots are really nice...lots of color to choose from too...good luck and post some pics when you get it done..

I've heard that hops is a fast-growing vine that makes a wonderful, dense green screen... You could mix something like that with some prettier flowering vines... Love in a Puff has lovely, lacy foliage that would add a nice layer of texture, see http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/648/index.html

About the invasiveness of Sweet Autumn Clematis... I'm not downplaying your concern, but it takes some time after the flower is done blooming until the seeds ripen and are ready to blow away, so it would probably be easy enough to deadhead, and you could do so any time within probably a month of the bloom period. It does grow enthusiastically! I got a plant from Brushwood that grew maybe 6 feet tall it's first year, with a reasonable amount of branching and fullness.... the second year, it tried to take over the world, growing up one side and down the other of a big 6 foot trellis and then doing its best to also cover the second trellis beside it. The blooms are a treat, little scented white stars...

I liked Janet's idea of vines on either end and hanging baskets in the middle... I've got hanging baskets all across one end of the morning room, and they do an effective job of screening off my view of the neighbors!

Just beyond the top of the photo, there's a black metal closet rod that spans the width of the room, near the top of the windows... it's working out really well!

Plus, the Sweet Autumn sure does smell SWEET!!! I love that smell!

I'm guessing space is at a premium on your little balcony... I'd be tempted to save some space at that end for potted plants set up against the railing, then mount a planter (the deeper the better) to hang down on the other side of the railing (assuming the railing is sturdy enough to take the weight). Then I think I'd plant an assortment of annual vines -- hops, Love in a Puff, morning glory, hyacinth bean, etc -- and let them duke it out.

You could probably just put a few little hooks or nails up along the roofline, and run monofilament line up and back down to the railing a few times... I think most of the vines we've mentioned would just run right along a line, and the lines wouldn't be particularly noticible as the vines were filling in.

Thanks to everyone for the advice so far - it's given me a lot to think about.

The end of the balcony is 5 feet deep - more like 6 when you add in the column on the right of the photo, and 11 feet wide. I'm planning on filling the end pictured with as solid a wall as I can, for privacy, and then using the long dimension for other stuff that won't have to cover so completely. It doesn't receive sun as directly as the short end, but it does receive some sun, if at an angle.

As I mentioned at the start of the thread, I am an utter novice at growing things, so I figure I'd probably be safest with something not very exotic and easy to come by. I kind of like the idea of just planting a bunch of viney stuff and seeing who wins - it sort of spreads out the risk, figuring that there should be _something_ I can throw in there that will grow. I figure this approach will have the added advantage that I can save a part of the seed packet for later, and if I like the looks of something that seems to be doing well, I can sow the rest of the seeds in their own container along the long dimension and enjoy them on their own.

I'm still trying to decide what to plant, but I like the suggestions that I'm seeing so far. I'll have to see what I can get my hands on.

How about English Ivy or Virginia Creeper?

Colderwild, just finding this thread and I agree with critterologist - potted plants "along the railing".

To get you started this year, you can buy fairly large potted plants - Philodendrons, etc. - usually at Lowes, Home Depot or Walmart and sometimes at unbelievable prices...you just have to time it right. I'd place a nice assortment of these on the floor along the railing at different heights - you can adjust the heights of the pots by simply turning a clay pot upside down to set the potted plant on - use different sizes to get a variety of heights. Then if you hung a few hanging baskets from the ceiling, you'd almost have a "wall".

For a more permanent idea - something that could provide the screen all year long - you could place a few large containers in back of the potted plants and plant a few Conifers which are evergreen and eventually would give you year round privacy. Most are fairly slow growing but you would need to choose varieties that have mature heights of only about 4'-6'. The first year they're planted, the potted plants could be placed in front of them to disguise their immature size and give them a full year to become established to provide you with the desired screen. There are some gorgeous Conifers with a variety of foliage - texture and color - and you could have a very interesting corner of the balcony with a few choice selections.

Debbie