Plants for a Purpose: climbing plants
- BBC Gardeners' World Magazine
Published: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 12:04 pm
Discover a host of beautiful climbers for your garden, chosen by the Gardeners' World team and our friends in the gardening world
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There is truly a climber for every situation: climbers that will happily clamber along a shady wall or fence, or wind up tripods to add height to a sunny border; climbers that will scramble romantically through a tree, or ones that can be grown in a pot to welcome you by the front door. Ranging in habit and vigour from wild and rampant to more modest and well-behaved, climbing plants do a great job of softening a shed or hiding a bare wall, and they can be great for wildlife. Whether you are looking for a mass of colour, a hit of fragrance, or perhaps just some leafiness in a bare corner, read on to find the right climbers for your garden. Our choices include recommendations from the Gardeners' World team and familiar faces from across the gardening industry.
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More climbing plant inspiration:
- Ideas for climbing plant combinations
- Climbing plants for shade
- 20 of the best evergreen climbers
- All you need to know about growing climbing plants
Clematis x triternata ‘Rubromarginata’
This free-flowering clematis enjoys full sun to partial shade
Chosen by Nick Bailey, Gardeners' World presenter
Creating a cloud of delicate blooms from late summer into autumn this rampant climber has perhaps the strongest scent of any clematis and works perfectly over arches. The flowers of Clematis x triternata 'Rubromarginata', which are produced in abundance, are small with yellow stamens and white petals, stained pink at the tips.
Solanum laxum 'Album'
Grow potato vine in a sheltered spot and be rewarded with months of flowers
Chosen by Toby Buckland, Gardeners' World presenter
Give it a sunny spot, and Solanum laxum 'Album' flowers pretty much all-year-round, however the pearly-white blooms are at their most abundant in early autumn. Mine grows up to a balcony where the flowers froth above head-height.
Sollya heterophylla
Native to Australia, Sollya heterophylla can be grown outdoors in frost-free areas
Chosen by Flo Headlam, Garden Rescue presenter
Small enough to be useful in a limited space, the nodding blue flowers of Sollya heterophylla have a gentle melancholy. It's late summer flowering, bringing a little moodiness before the edible berries arrive in autumn.
Clematis x cartmanii ‘Avalanche’
Winter-flowering Clematis 'Avalanche' seen here growing through a climbing hydrangea. Getty
Chosen by Manoj Malde, garden designer
I would choose to plant this evergreen clematis where I can see it from the house as it produces a mass of creamy white flowers from late winter to early spring, providing some much needed floral interest and colour in the garden when very little is happening. The added benefit is that this clematis is sweetly fragranced.
- The best winter-flowering clematis to grow
Dregea sinensis
Dregea sinensis is ideal for a warm sheltered wall or conservatory. Getty
Chosen by James Alexander-Sinclair, columnist and garden designer
Someone gave me a Dregea sinensis a couple of years ago. I had never heard of it before but planted it on a west facing wall and am always thrilled by the scent of the flowers every time I go for a walk in summer. Sweet as crushed meringue. Not suitable for really cold spots.
Clematis 'Apple Blossom'
A vigorous climber, Clematis 'Apple Blossom' has a lovely scent
Chosen by Emma Crawforth, horticultural editor
In spring, my garden fence is covered with the pretty pink-white blooms from this evergreen clematis, which perfume the air. With C. armandii in its breeding, it also produces long, elegant, dark green leaves. These are soft and flexible and red-toned when new. While some evergreen plants are not very hardy, this variety will take winter temperatures down to at least -10C. It's rangy, so give it a spot several meters wide, but it's not hard to keep an eye on tendrils that fancy climbing into other plants. As with other evergreens, leaves will drop throughout the year, but they are large and so easy to collect.
- How to grow clematis
Clematis
*Clematis '*Meghan' flowers twice: in early summer and again in early autumn
Chosen by Jo Cloke, art editor
I grow several varieties of clematis and love how you can have a clematis flowering all year round, if you choose carefully. Some clematis have larger flower heads are some are tiny and delicate. They can work in a container, growing along some trellis or combined with a climbing rose. They are so reliable, long flowering and easy to care for.
- Find a clematis for every season
Trachelospermum jasminoides
The evergreen leaves of self-twining star jasmine turn bronze in winter
Chosen by Catherine Mansley, digital editor
On my walk home from work, there is an enormous star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). It smothers an entire wall of a building and, in summer, the heady scent of the millions of tiny flowers hits you from a mile off. I have one growing on a fence in my garden that hasn't yet reached such mammoth proportions, but I'm waiting hopefully. This vigorous climber combines the delicious flowers of a true jasmine with glossy evergreen foliage, so it looks good all year, not just when it's in flower.
- How to grow star jasmine
Parthenocissus quinquefolia
Virginia creeper is grown for its quick coverage and vibrant autumn colour but it is invasive
Chosen by Oliver Parsons, horticultural sub-editor
One of my fences regularly gets covered with this cracker, coming in from next door or the park behind our garden. I don't mind though, as the rich-red October leaf colour is worth it. Just be aware, though, that it’s an invasive non-native, listed species on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in England and Wales. It is an offence to plant or otherwise cause to grow this species in the wild. You should stop them spreading from your garden and avoid purchasing or accepting gifts of these species. Parthenocissus henryana is a less vigorous alternative.
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- More about virginia creeper
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