Growing Climbing Plants
With our outdoor plants team member Pip
Good climbers for fences include clematis, passion flowers and smaller climbing roses, such as ‘Blush Noisette’ and ‘Buff Beauty’, which bloom low down where you can enjoy them. For large walls and long fences, try vines and creepers.
Give climbers support by fixing horizontal wires, 45cm apart, to your fence or wall. Space the vine eyes 1.8m apart horizontally, then run wire through them. Secure the ends by looping through the eye and wrapping around the shank. You can tighten the wire using a pair of pliers to turn the end of the vine eye. If the climber can’t grip by itself, tie its stems into the wires, keeping the twine loose
Growing climbers up other plants is a great way to add an extra season of interest to trees, spring-flowering shrubs and evergreens. Climbers always head towards the sun, so the trick when training them is always to plant them on the shady, north side of your living support.
To clad a wall with a shrub such as ceanothus, set up series of horizontal wires, as above. Tie in the main shoot vertically, then fan out the side branches and tie in too. After flowering, remove any branches growing out from the wall, and tie in other shoots to fill any gaps.
