Clamberers not climbers

AS do most gardeners, I have a clear image of what I expect from a plant. Dahlias must be bright and bold, sweet peas overloaded with perfume and delphiniums the colour of a Mediterranean sky.

- John Hoyland

Plant breeders and collectors may well become excited by pink delphiniums, unscented sweet peas or dwarf dahlias, but there is no place for them in my garden.

I want plants that display the basic qualities that made them attractive in the first place. The exception I make is for non-climbing clematis: plants that have developed without the tendrils that allow the rest of the family: latch on to supports and climb skywards.

Although not as spectacular as their climbing cousins, they are tough, disease-resistant and with a long flowering period that is followed by attractive seed heads, precisely the sort of characteristics I look for in any plant.

They can be staked or allowed to scramble through other herbaceous plants and shrubs, can act as ground cover, be grown in pots, or encouraged to sprawl over low walls. When it comes to pruning, you don't have to remember which group they belong to: treat them as you would any other herbaceous perennial.