can I get it to cover a 6 foot tall x 7 foot wide wall

A garden center out here has a winter creeper in a cherry tree that looks to be about 15 ft. across. It climbed up the trunk and then went sideways. As these often do.

You don't need a trellis really. You can put horizontal wires on the fence securely fixed to the uprights and tensioned. An espalier will fill whatever space you want it too but not without your intervention. You'll need to prune and guide it throughout its life.

Thank you for your reply. If we replace this fence at some point, would it be ok? Can we just take off the wires, take fence down and put wires on new fense easily?

Do you think I will be able to get it to have a vertical garden look without too much trouble? I'd like it to be like a urban vertical garden wall of green.

Thanks

Yeah, depending on where you live, Euonymus kiautschovicus 'Manhattan' might just grow naturally to 15 tall and 15 feet wide (more like a small tree). It's pretty fast-growing and puts on growth all summer. You'll be hard-pressed to keep it flat against your fence as a true espalier without constant attention. A slower growing shrub such as camellia sasanqua might be a better choice, but that may not be hardy where you live.

as with all such projects.. this is more of a pruning thing ... it will be.. what you make it to be ...

i suspect ... as time goes by.. it will be free standing.. but for current new growth ... as far a fence work ... a stand alone trellis ... would allow you to paint fence.. etc ... unless you went plastic ...

you will become a pruning expert ... buy some good hand pruners ...

and do understand ... that this all happens in tree or shrub time ... i would bet.. any that you see of signif size .. are 0 or 20 years old... if not significantly more ... this will be an long lived hobby ... in other words ... do go all instant gratification on it all ...

planting guide below ...

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

I have responded on your duplicate thread.

What Dave in NoVA said, go with a camellia

You're in suburban DC right? Here is 'Anacostia' camellia found in Nat'l Arboretum first week of April. If you can't find this one get something similar. You can get your fill of Manhattan Euonymus surrounding Safeway parking lot. You have a perfect, sheltered area for camellias or something like daphne. AAMOF take out the birch and put in several BLE shrubs.

new post on same topic at link

in my MI ... a flowering shrub like above ... is a two week max flower show ... and boring green the rest of the year ... though i dont know cam's specifically ... but an espalier ... is a year long topic of visual interest ...

ken

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4496378/can-manhattan-euonymus-espalier-be-this-close-to-weeping-river-birch?n=11

The Euonymus would be boring green year round. The Camellia has at least one season of glory.

...or, if you really wanted to go with a Euonymus, there are smaller-leafed, slower-growing ones with some appeal, such as E. japonicus 'Silver King' or 'Chollipo', which seem to hold their variegation fairly well.

Here's a rather unkempt example of what could be done. Looks fairly good against a dark wall, but your fence is lighter.

But I guess you've already purchased the Manhatten.

Here's what I think of when I hear Manhattan Euonymus, its just not my cup of tea.

sam_md that picture made me burst out laughing! :D

Thanks so much guys for your two cents here! In the end I went with it except on a different wall in the patio.

I loved the suggestion of the Camellia but in the end didn't go with it because it is so slow growing I heard. I want that wall covered asap (but not so asap, as with a vine or something, that will go out of control everywhere). Also, the rest of my patio garden isn't evergreen. And I wanted some strong beautiful green in there. Also, like one of the commenters said, it only blooms so briefly too. If it had bloomed all summer i would have been sold.

So I am going to 'try' to upkeep this on a trellis. I have a lot to learn and it may end up looking like that pic sam_md put up but hopefully not :D

To get some flower action in there, I opted for a 5 foot tall azalea to occupy the wall in the picture above. And I have two hydrangea back there as well now. I'll post a picture of it all soon :)

Thanks again!

How is your espalier manhattan euonymus doing? I want to do this as privacy screening along our property line behind some Weigelas. I don’t have a fence to put it against, so I’d have to do stakes or a trellis or wires and I’m wondering if it’s too much work.