Nature's way

Graham Rice asks why force climbers up obelisks and poles when they can grow naturally and more spectacularly in shrubs?

- Graham Rice

IF you look at a country hedgerow in summer, after the blackthorn, hawthorn and other hedgerow shrubs have finished flowering, what do you see taking over? Honeysuckle is completely hiding the developing hawthorn berries, old-man’s beard is clinging to the blackthorn spines, wild hops and wild climbing roses are taking over, and ivy is steadily making its way up the tree trunks. These are climbers, doing what they do naturally – using mature shrubs for support to carry their flowers into the light.

Supporting climbers 

So why do we insist on forcing climbers onto obelisks and up poles and confining them to narrow panels of trellis by the front door? Of course, choose the right varieties and they make very effective features in tight spaces. But if you have mature shrubs, or even shrubs of modest size, why not copy nature and set climbers to use them as support?

In nature, climbing plants use wild shrubs and trees as support – twining or clinging until the flowers open in the light. We can enhance our borders in just the same way by using our established shrubs to support climbers of all kinds.

Think about it: our forsythia and flowering currant were lovely in the winter and early spring, but now the flowers are long gone and all we have left is a mass of unremarkable foliage.

So why not use it as support for a climber that will open its flowers in a whole new season? Two plants in the one place, creating colour in two different seasons.

Easiest to manage