5 Favourite Climbers for a Pergola
Imagine sitting outdoors this summer under a leafy vine-covered arbor, pergola or trellis, enjoying the cool relief of the deep shade
Vines are great for growing over a structure for creating welcome shade in the hotter months, as well as providing sun protection and privacy from neighbours. They are relatively fast-growing, too. Just plant them in a sunny position next to the uprights of your pergola etc, and let them twirl their tendrils sky high. Do, however, keep them away from other frameworks or buildings they could damage or envelop, such as a shed, a neighbour’s fence or even your own house. Climbing vines can be very fast growing and are strong, too, so beware.
Although it may take a couple of seasons to get the vine of your choice to full-cover, there’s no time like the present to start transforming an exposed patio or garden corner into a idyllic outdoor dining nook or siesta spot. Do some research about the place in your garden you are attempting to cover or screen, especially in regards to its relation to the sun’s passage overhead – as vines love direct sun. When choosing your climbing vine, note that a deciduous plant will let the winter sun in but others will be leafy all year long. Talk to your local nursery about climbers that are best suited to your garden and your needs before purchasing. Here are five popular with Houzzers.
Although it may take a couple of seasons to get the vine of your choice to full-cover, there’s no time like the present to start transforming an exposed patio or garden corner into a idyllic outdoor dining nook or siesta spot. Do some research about the place in your garden you are attempting to cover or screen, especially in regards to its relation to the sun’s passage overhead – as vines love direct sun. When choosing your climbing vine, note that a deciduous plant will let the winter sun in but others will be leafy all year long. Talk to your local nursery about climbers that are best suited to your garden and your needs before purchasing. Here are five popular with Houzzers.
2. Wisteria
Popular botanical varieties: Wisteria floribunda and Wisteria sinensis
Train a wisteria over a pergola and you’ll have everybody wanting to share this outdoor room with you. Easily the most elegant vine of all, the wisteria produces impressive pendulous bunches of mauve flowers that hang like grapes, although they also come in white and pink varieties. And just to keep up the romance that this gorgeous vine brings to a garden setting, the blooms emit a heavenly perfume. It will grow well in temperate climates of Australia, even cooler places to the south but wisteria does like a somewhat sheltered position in full sun. The vine should be lightly pruned in winter as it is deciduous. It may take a good few years for a newly established wisteria to start flowering but the vine itself can grow three metres or more in a year.
Did you know?
In the Victorian era, when flowers were assigned different meanings, the wisteria symbolised ‘over-passionate love or obsession’. This referred to the choking nature of the vines.
10 top scented plants for your garden
Popular botanical varieties: Wisteria floribunda and Wisteria sinensis
Train a wisteria over a pergola and you’ll have everybody wanting to share this outdoor room with you. Easily the most elegant vine of all, the wisteria produces impressive pendulous bunches of mauve flowers that hang like grapes, although they also come in white and pink varieties. And just to keep up the romance that this gorgeous vine brings to a garden setting, the blooms emit a heavenly perfume. It will grow well in temperate climates of Australia, even cooler places to the south but wisteria does like a somewhat sheltered position in full sun. The vine should be lightly pruned in winter as it is deciduous. It may take a good few years for a newly established wisteria to start flowering but the vine itself can grow three metres or more in a year.
Did you know?
In the Victorian era, when flowers were assigned different meanings, the wisteria symbolised ‘over-passionate love or obsession’. This referred to the choking nature of the vines.
10 top scented plants for your garden
3. Star jasmine
Popular botanical variety: Trachelospermum jasminoides
The star jasmine, named after the shape of its small white flowers, grows moderately fast, and is easy to maintain. It has glossy dark green leaves and thin tendrils, which can be kept under control with regularly trimming.
If you train the leafy jasmine to climb around a suburb backyard pergola, you will not only enjoy welcome relief from the summer sun in the middle of the city but also enjoy the waft of jasmine’s delicious perfume from the small flowers that bloom from spring through summer. Jasmine likes sun but can tolerate semi-shade. It grows with a medium vigour in all but the coolest zones of Australia.
Did you know?
The milky sap of the jasmine is supposedly an excellent deterrent for possums. Consequently it is a plant safe from their nocturnal picnicking!
Popular botanical variety: Trachelospermum jasminoides
The star jasmine, named after the shape of its small white flowers, grows moderately fast, and is easy to maintain. It has glossy dark green leaves and thin tendrils, which can be kept under control with regularly trimming.
If you train the leafy jasmine to climb around a suburb backyard pergola, you will not only enjoy welcome relief from the summer sun in the middle of the city but also enjoy the waft of jasmine’s delicious perfume from the small flowers that bloom from spring through summer. Jasmine likes sun but can tolerate semi-shade. It grows with a medium vigour in all but the coolest zones of Australia.
Did you know?
The milky sap of the jasmine is supposedly an excellent deterrent for possums. Consequently it is a plant safe from their nocturnal picnicking!
4. Ornamental grape
Popular botanical varieties: Vitis vinifera and Vitis californica
The beautiful ornamental grape has a thick lush cover of green leaves in summer that turn deep red before dropping off in winter, It grows rampantly so needs to be kept under control with pruning in the dormant winter period, but otherwise needs little care. Just train it to climb during the growing season to get the best results. It is the perfect climber to cover a pergola in a garden that has a Mediterranean feel. It will grow in most parts of Australia, except the tropical north and subtropical coastal regions. It loves full sun and good drainage.
Did you know?
The ornamental grape vine is the same species as the wine-making variety. It does bear fruit from time to time, but they are small and bitter and are best removed so as not to be targeted by birds.
Popular botanical varieties: Vitis vinifera and Vitis californica
The beautiful ornamental grape has a thick lush cover of green leaves in summer that turn deep red before dropping off in winter, It grows rampantly so needs to be kept under control with pruning in the dormant winter period, but otherwise needs little care. Just train it to climb during the growing season to get the best results. It is the perfect climber to cover a pergola in a garden that has a Mediterranean feel. It will grow in most parts of Australia, except the tropical north and subtropical coastal regions. It loves full sun and good drainage.
Did you know?
The ornamental grape vine is the same species as the wine-making variety. It does bear fruit from time to time, but they are small and bitter and are best removed so as not to be targeted by birds.
5. Climbing roses
Botanical variety: Rosa spp.
Not vines as such but certainly climbers, these rambling roses just need a little help with being tied to a frame. They produce long-lived branching stems which grow steadily over a supporting arch or trellis – providing a garden with a most romantic setting. A climbing or rambling rose should flower profusely if pruned when dormant in mid-winter or at the end of summer when flowers are spent.
Creating the perfect nook for a rustic garden seat is a drift of pale pink blooms of the Eden climbing rose, seen here. Also laden with pretty flowers is a metal dining gazebo, as seen below, which presents a sturdy framework on which to tie shooting canes.
Did you know?
Roses were considered sacred in Greek times, linked to many Greek gods and goddesses, primarily Venus and Isis.
Botanical variety: Rosa spp.
Not vines as such but certainly climbers, these rambling roses just need a little help with being tied to a frame. They produce long-lived branching stems which grow steadily over a supporting arch or trellis – providing a garden with a most romantic setting. A climbing or rambling rose should flower profusely if pruned when dormant in mid-winter or at the end of summer when flowers are spent.
Creating the perfect nook for a rustic garden seat is a drift of pale pink blooms of the Eden climbing rose, seen here. Also laden with pretty flowers is a metal dining gazebo, as seen below, which presents a sturdy framework on which to tie shooting canes.
Did you know?
Roses were considered sacred in Greek times, linked to many Greek gods and goddesses, primarily Venus and Isis.
Something extra
If you live in a cold-climate area but want to train an exotic climbing plant for colour and texture, you can grow them indoors if you have a transitional space between the indoors and outdoors that will act as a sun trap, such as this conservatory. Encourage tendrils to climb across the space by hooking up a rod at ceiling height for it to cling to.
TELL US
What is your favourite climbing plant? Show us one you have you had success with by uploading a photo of it in the Comment below.
MORE
Give Me Shelter: 10 Ways to Take Cover Outdoors
Garden Seating Nooks Worth Dreaming About
The Shady Business of Staying Cool in Summer
If you live in a cold-climate area but want to train an exotic climbing plant for colour and texture, you can grow them indoors if you have a transitional space between the indoors and outdoors that will act as a sun trap, such as this conservatory. Encourage tendrils to climb across the space by hooking up a rod at ceiling height for it to cling to.
TELL US
What is your favourite climbing plant? Show us one you have you had success with by uploading a photo of it in the Comment below.
MORE
Give Me Shelter: 10 Ways to Take Cover Outdoors
Garden Seating Nooks Worth Dreaming About
The Shady Business of Staying Cool in Summer
Popular botanical variety: Bougainvillea glabra
This fast-growing vine is a beloved backyard beauty prized for its display of spectacular colour. Bougainvilleas are available in pinks, oranges, reds, creams and purples. The plant is a particularly popular choice because it requires very little care or cultivation. In fact, if you rarely prune, fertilise or water it once established, you should see a good show come summer. Plant it in a sunny, well-drained spot against a fence or supporting structure. It will grow well in tropical and temperate climates, especially in warmer winter areas, providing at least spring and summer-long brilliant colour, which will be all-year round in some areas.
Did you know?
A common misconception with Bougainvillea is that the colourful bracts at the end of a stem are flowers. The flower is actually the tiny yellow thing in the centre of this cluster.
22 European garden styling tricks