Some useful climbers are suitable ground cover or trailing plants.

Useful Climbers... When and how to use.

All climbing plants can be classed as useful climbers when used in the correct position. Climbers can be used to clothe walls, fences and buildings. They can be trained up posts, pillars and over arbours and screens, or they may be left to crawl through shrubberies and climb into trees.

When growing climbers through other plants, thought has to be given to how the plants will react to each other. Ivy may look nice climbing into a small tree, but a few years down the line and that small ivy could smother and kill the tree.

The Russian Vine, (Polygonum baldschuanicum) is another useful climber, but this also can cover the canopy of a tree causing severe damage.

This does not mean that climbers cannot be used in this way, as long as a suitable type of climber is used or the more vigorous are kept under control by pruning.

Useful climbers for walls and fences are the self clinging types such as Ivies, Hydrangea petiolaris, and Pileostegia viburnoides, but these have to be kept under control because they can get under roof tiles, block drain pipes and guttering.

In their favour, because these plants are self supporting, it does mean that they require little or no maintenance, no tying, no wires, no nails or trellis, only the occasional pruning to keep them within bounds.

Ugly walls can be made beautiful and those in a poor condition can be protected from frost, damp and atmospheric pollution by the selection of useful climbers.

A vigorous climber that is not self supporting can carry a considerable amount of weight and will need substantial support from the use of wires, strong trellis, plastic coated or galvanised netting.

Posts, arches and pergolas all need to be well made if they are to last the life of the climber. All wood used to support the plants should be treated against rotting. Wooden posts are best set in concrete to stop wind movement when the climber becomes established.

Annual Climbers

Another set of useful climbers are the annuals. These plants are grown from seed each year and can be used to fill in the gaps while the perennial climbers become more established. Some can also be grown up canes in containers and moved around the garden, e.g.

Some of these can be sown in early spring under glass, the others can be sown directly outside where the plants are to flower.

Flowers, Foliage & Fruits

Most people when choosing a useful climber will think of the flowers first, but a perennial climber is there all the year round and consideration should be given to its other qualities i.e.