Climber believer
Trust clems to cheer you up
CLIMBERS are your flexible friends, filling out and cheering up dead spaces.
They can be bent, twisted and trained to fit any corner of the garden and hide ugly objects.
For borders, plant in layers. Begin with a canopy of trees and shrubs, under plant with perennials and bedding plants for seasonal colour and weave climbers in between.
Use them to disguise bare walls or fences. Or let them scramble through shrubs to add an extra tier of colour and extend their season of interest.
Climbers are especially useful for covering arbours and pergolas to give privacy. If plants are scented they will turn shelters into relaxing havens.
Known as the queen of climbers, clematis is popular and versatile. It can be used as ground cover, to clothe large trees and shrubs and planted in containers or to decorate walls.
Clematis flowers vary in size, shape and colour and even the foliage comes in a variety of forms.
Support
The large flowered hybrids make superb container plants. Clematis Sunset and Silver Moon will grow well in hanging baskets for a couple of seasons or more if well fed. They produce flowers in May and June on old wood and again later in the year.
Old trees provide a great support for vigorous climbers such as rambling roses, which have pliant stems. The beautiful antique rose Mannington Mauve Rambler is superbly fragrant and produces large clusters of mauve flowers in mid-summer.
When training a climber into trees, plant it 90cm away from the base on the windward side so shoots are blown towards the tree. Train it into the lower branch up a length of rope attached to a cane at the base of the plant.
Honeysuckles are valued for their fragrant flowers that can perfume the entire garden in mid and late summer.
They too are rampant growers, and are a magnet to bees. The berries that follow are an autumn treat for birds.
The late Dutch honeysuckle, Lonicera Serotina, with its red and yellow flowers, is lovely around a seating area. Combine with lavender for a mix of sweet and smoky scents to be enjoyed as you sit and relax.