Need evergreen vine to hide animal pen

We plan to build a second chicken and goat pen along a weird perimeter line. Since we're on the top of a hill, it will be seen for miles, so we want a little privacy, and to hide it. Most of it will be a 6' tall fence, but part of it will be a 6' tall goat house and a 4-6' tall chicken coop/house. We might even put an alpaca here. Will do sometime in early Spring 2011 so we have plenty of time to decide.

There will be about a foot of space between the fence and the "houses". Enough space for a vine to grow but not really enough for a person to walk through. Comfortably.

Located on the eastern plains of Colorado, it gets very windy here, and can often have negative 25 degree temperatures with huge snow drifts. Summers bring blazing heat.

The pen will be along the south-east perimeter of the property, so will get much sun (there's really nothing on the other side except the neighbor's lawn).

We're looking for an evergreen vine that will grow up along the fence and goat/chicken houses to hide them, plus provide a cooling effect during the summer, and help keep in warmth in the Winter. Needs to stay green year-round. It can't be poisonous just in case the critters nibble on it. Thorns would be good too, to provide our animals protection from the foxes and other predators in the area. Needs to be drought tolerant because it will be a little difficult to water.

Suggestions?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here in Australia we've been going through a horrible drought and the bouganvillia have absolutely loved it! I have no idea how they'd fare in snow but they're thorny, evergreen, hate to be fussed over. they grow wild all over India. Worth looking into. Every summer they flower in really hot shades of pink, orange, variagated etc.