Climbers have always fascinated me with their casual ramblings. I also love beautiful old walls whether brick, stone or rock, and the enhancement of flowers and foliage merely increases their charm.
There are two lovely old flint-faced cottages in my village, side by side; one is clothed in a clematis montana “Rubra”, the other in a yellow clematis with purple wisteria draped over a gate, arbour, and fence. This is one of the reasons I prefer to walk through the village at this time of year; there is so much beauty to be seen, it is dangerous to be behind the wheel of a car!
The lighter vines and rambling roses look wonderful winding themselves up around an old apple tree, peeping out through the blossom or fruit. Try this with other fruit trees, too. Many people espalier a fruit tree against a wall or fence – an excellent method for growing and harvesting fruit, and these accommodate vines marvellously and the vines are much easier to prune on these.
Of course, it is important to ensure that the structure you choose for your climber is sturdy enough to carry the weight. You need a heavy-weight structure for wisteria and it generally looks better on its own. I have seen several growing through tall trees, but wisteria vines become quite thick with age and the danger of eventually choking smaller branches should be thought of. Honeysuckle is another plant which requires strong support. When you are using another plant for vines to climb, ensure that the pruning requirements of both are compatible: lavatera, for instance, needs to be heavily pruned annually, as does most clematis (there are one or two exceptions). I would suggest you keep Passiflora (passion vine) to its own space, though; it grows with a passion (!) and needs rigorous pruning and/or untangling. Then there are the vines with catkins or berries that need a strong support, enabling easy suspension for their elegant displays.
Do you have a fence or wall which you could curtain with a width of yellow Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium), next to a spread of pale violet trumpet vine (Clytostoma callistegioides), leading to a cascade of white jasmine (Jasminum laurifolium nitidum or Solanum jasminioides.) The latter also comes in purple and its common name is potato vine.
But remember to pull out all the insidious things you don’t want: ivy immediately comes to mind. I once bought a house with a stucco finish and was alarmed to find how thick the ivy vines had become behind the stucco. I had thought it was a simple matter of just pulling it all off. Quite wrong: some expensive refinishing was required.
Try some new (to you) color mixes in different areas of your garden. Lime green, silver and white is an enchanting combination. Remember, most silver plants are quite tolerant of dry conditions. Deep or bright blue, pale yellow and white gives another fresh, bright look. Try deep orange wallflowers with pale blue forget-me-nots; cerise gladioli with lime green euphorbia; and a bed of pale pink phlox around the feet of deep purple iris (but check the sun exposure and watering needs of iris since they vary quite a bit by species).
Don’t forget to plan your foliage with the same care and thought for the entire year, not merely the autumn: the deep reds and purples of cotinus, phormiums and some acers; the blue-greens of melianthus and junipers, the lime greens of other acers, lysimachia and helichrysums; and the yellows of Choisya ternata “Sundance”, honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos “Sunburst”), or the English yew (Taxus baccata “Aurea”).
A deep blue ceanothus, bright pink rock rose, and a silvery artemisia would look lovely together, and they all prefer sunny, dry conditions. Imagine wands of pink scabiosa waving above mounds of blue fescue grass, a shimmer of white spiraea “Bridal Wreath” as background for scarlet peonies. Yellow/green euonymus as a foil for that riveting deep blue of some delphiniums will splash a corner like a painter’s palette.
Get out your own palette and paint your garden anew.
