Climbers

Climbers add a vertical dimension to the garden that is especially useful in smaller spaces. They also help us 'hiding' ugly features like fences or walls, can be trained over attractive features like pergolas or arches, or can stand alone, trained onto an obelisk. Being specially adapted to cling and twine, climbers are an obvious solution for a vertical surface. They use a large variety of methods to cling on and climb. Some have twining leaf stalks that wind around supports or other plants, others have aerial roots that can burrow into brick and mortar, others still have tendrils, adhesive pads or thorns to help haul themselves upwards.

If you consider to use climbers in your garden then you have to know that there are climbers for any situation. You will find suitable climbers to cover a sunny or a shady wall, some that look good covering a fence or others will show their beauty or arches or pergolas, but remember that they need your help in their first steps. You will need to offer them some anchor points or a wire system. When not supported, their stems spread luxuriantly, adding color, texture and horizontal lines, while some also function as weed-smothering ground cover. When allowed to scramble through other tall plants, climbers can extend the season of interest in your garden.

Beside their help in hiding things that we don't like in our garden, some of the climbers are also flagrant, bearing abundant strongly scented flowers. You can even grow climbers in containers, if your garden is a small one, but they will need some extra attention like regular repotting and feeding and even some severe pruning to the ones that grow fast. Containers are especially suitable for less hardy climbers, the ones that need winter protection and need to be taken indoors or in a heated greenhouse at the onset of autumn frosts.

Climbers may be propagated from seeds, from stem or root cuttings or by layering or even by grafting. Propagation from seeds is the most cost-effective way to produce large quantities of plant, the only method for increasing annuals and the easiest way to propagate herbaceous climbers. Propagation from stem cuttings taken from soft or semi-ripe wood is used to almost all climbers and is the best method to select cultivars. Propagation from hardwood cuttings is normally applied only to vines and root cuttings is used for a small number of plants.

Some climbers produce new plants naturally by self layering. If you don't need a large number of plants then simple and serpentine layering are both straight-forward methods of propagating climbers that are difficult to raise from cuttings.