Manor Nurseries

Climbing Plants and Wall Shrubs

Versatile plants for vertical sites!

Manor Nurseries stocks a range of twisty, twining plants suitable for growing through trees or covering unsightly fences and walls.

Climbers

What's the difference between climbers and wall shrubs? Generally speaking, climbers are plants that twine their way upwards, through trees or over fences, twisting and turning as they go. If they run out of places to climb up, they trail downwards. They may be self-clinging, using tendrils, curly leaf stalks, suckers, or aerial roots ... or they may need encouragement using wires, netting, obelisks, or trellis. There are evergreen climbers and deciduous climbers. They may have flowers or they may just provide foliage cover. Parthenocissus species (Virginia Creeper and Boston Ivy) dazzle us with their autumn leaf colour. A few, such as Grape vines or Actinidia (Kiwi fruits), bear edible fruit!

Some prefer full sun, like Actinidia kolomikta, Passiflora, Wisteria and Grape vines. Others, such as many of the Honeysuckles, Clematis, Hedera, and Jasminum nudiflorum, thrive in shade. The vast majority fall somewhere in the middle.

What sort of plants are we talking about? Things like Actinidia, Akebia (Chocolate Vine), Billardieria, Campsis, Clematis, Hedera (Ivy), Holboellia, Humulus (Golden Hops), Jasmine, Pandorea, Parthenocissus, Passiflora, Solanum (Potato Vine), Sollya, Trachelospermum, Wisteria.

Climbing and Rambling Roses are dealt with on the Roses page.

Wall Shrubs

Wall shrubs need the support of a wall or fence, as they aren't quite strong enough to be free-standing, but they haven't mastered their twining skills.

Some wall shrubs, such as Coronilla or Fremontodendron, thrive best against a hot sunny wall. Others, such as Hydrangea petiolaris (Climbing Hydrangea) or Chaenomeles (Flowering Quince), thrive in the shade of a north-facing wall or fence.

There is a grey area when differentiating between climbers and wall shrubs, but some of the plants we would class as wall shrubs include Chaenomeles (Flowering Quince), gold flowered Coronilla, x Fatshedera, Fremontodendron, Hydrangea petiolaris (Climbing Hydrangea), Itea, Pileostegia, Pyracantha, Schizophragma, and Solanum crispum 'Glasnevin Blue'.

There are also plants which are classed as shrubs, (such as the Euonymus fortunei types) which will happily grow up a wall given a bit of encouragement. Garrya elliptica covered in long tassles looks amazing grown tight against a wall. Ceanothus and Stachyurus praecox are also candidates for wall training. And don't forget espaliered fruit trees.

Climbers

• Actinidia kolomikta
• Actinida deliciosa (Kiwi Fruits)
• Akebia quinata (Chocolate Vine) - a tough semi-evergreen climber for sun or shade. It has deep purple flowers in April and May, although this year we got hold of the more unusual cream coloured variety for a change.
• Billardieria
• Campsis - outrageous, bold orange and red trumpet flowers that take you straight out to the Mediterranean ... they flower well into October.
• Clematis - in constantly changing variety, including some evergreens
• Hedera (Ivy)
• Hoelboellia
• Humulus lupulus 'Aureus' (Golden Hops)
• Lonicera (Honeysuckle) - bees love these!
• Pandorea - where the Campsis are outrageous, the Pandoreas are delicate. Pretty in pink ... provide them with a warm sheltered wall and they will reward you with dusty pink trumpets against silver variegated leaves. These are really good grown in pots, which you can stand inside over winter.
• Parthenocissus - Virginia Creeper or Boston Ivy ... we're talking full on autumn colour here ... fire engine red foliage as soon as the weather turns cooler.
• Passiflora (Passion Flower)
• Solanum (Potato Vine) - flowers either blue or white.
• Sollya (Bluebell Creeper) - a delicate climber for a sheltered wall.
• Trachelospermum - if you love the smell of Jasmine, but prefer something evergreen, these are for you. They flower from midsummer into the autumn, and there are several varieties which give you a choice of leaf colour. They also grow and flower in either sun or shade. So how good is that!
• Wisteria - pink, white, deep purple plus the more traditional lilac-blue.