Climbers - Versatile plants for versatile sites

A mantle of gentle flowers or luxuriant foliage brightens up dull walls and adds beauty to many other garden structures.

Practical and ornamental climbing plants bring a pleasurable extra dimension to gardens, clothing walls, arches, pergolas, screens and even trees and shrubs with their flowers and foliage. They can be used to conceal unattractive features, provide privacy and help to integrate house and garden.

Many climbers produce spectacular blooms, including Clematis and Rosa. Others are grown for their attractive foliage, such as Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper), or for their colourful fruits, such as Celastrus orbiculatus.

Some climbing plants will cling unaided to a support; Hedera (ivy) uses aerial roots and Parthenocissus has sucker pads. However, most ascend by tendrils, like Lathyrus, by curling leafstalks, like Clematis, by twinning stems, like Lonicera (honey-suckle), or by hooked thorns, like roses. All these plants will climb unaided through the branches of trees or shrubs but need training on wires or up a trellis if grown against a wall.

Although they are not true climbers, some shrubs, including Ceanothus (California lilac) and Jasminum nudiflorum (winter jasmine), can also be trained against a support.

The extensive range of climbers means there is a choice of plants for most garden situations. Pasiflora (passion flower) and Trachelospermum require a sunny and sheletered site but Jasminum officinale (summer jasmine) and Clematis montana thrive in shady or sunny areas. Ivy or Hydrangea anomala sp petiolaris (climing hydrangea) are tough enough to cope with an exposed, shady position.

I have 2 Bougainvilleas - one purple and one pink. 2 Jasmine plants, a Plumbago. One white and one purple Pasflora.

Choosing your garden plants

Plants for dry sun
Many grasses like dry, sunny conditions. Big, clump forming Miscanthus sinesis 'Variegatus' is a handsome architectural plant for a dry border.

Any garden benefits from having a good mixture of plants, both in terms of height and shape, and in the variety of foliage and flower form and colour. However, it is surprising how much diversity and interest you can create without flower colour.

Plants for shady parts of the garden will inevitably major on leaf form and shape; plants for full sun will have more flower power. Make sure that you choose those that do well for these differing situations, and look, too, at the soil conditions. Some plants prefer acid soil, others alkaline.

Rhododendrons and azaleas, for example, refuse to grow on alkaline soil but will quickly provide useful ground cover for large gardens on peaty soil.

Hopefully, the differing habitats in your garden will allow you to choose a variety of plants from dry-loving to damp-loving, sun-loving to shade-loving.