Climbers that always rise to the occasion
Climbers are unbeatable for disguising ugly or bland areas, great for softening bare walls or adding extra interest to the stems and trunks of other plants or trees which are better clothed than bare.
Trellises, pergolas and arches are crying out for the tendrils of a climber to add another dimension to the garden. But beware those plants that start off small but end up trying to take over.
You’re pretty safe with the lateflowering clematises, such as Clematis viticella, which will bring beautiful colour from late summer until early autumn. Cascading over walls and fences, growing around doorways and windows, these are the perfect floral decoration and can transform the most bland wall or fence.
C viticella is a deciduous climber with open, bell-shaped flowers 4cm across, with four broad purple or violet-blue tepals and creamy-yellow anthers in summer and early autumn
And look out for Clematis ‘Alba Luxurians’, with its gorgeous green-tipped, white sepals, ‘Etoile Violette’, with its violet-purple flowers, or ‘Purpurea Plena Elegans’ which bears abundant double flowers with seductive purplish-mauve sepals.
But the clematis don’t have it all their own way – there are other climbers which are worthy of a place in many a garden.
For fabulous fragrance and flowers in mid- and late summer, choose Lonicera periclymenum, also known as woodbine or common honeysuckle, whose flowers are white-yellow with a flush of red.
And ‘Serotina’ (popular name ‘Late Dutch Honeysuckle’) which bears creamy white flowers, or ‘Graham Thomas’ are fantastic choices, the latter having an exceptionally long flowering period.
Just remember that honeysuckles which bloom on the previous year’s growth will benefit from pruning immediately after flowering ends. Prune back to strong new side-shoots.