Climbers and Ramblers

Climbers and ramblers are nature's gift to the land-locked gardener. I don't think there is anything cozier and more delightful than a little corner filled with greenery and flowers tucked away from the world, sheltered between walls covered in rose bunches or hiding behind an old arbor trailed by fragrant vines.

There is a hint of enticing wilde
ess in this landscape brimming with color and scent, which takes you by surprise and enchants you.

Climbers and ramblers are first cousins and there is not much difference between them: climbers can hold on to their trellises on their own, while ramblers need to be tied to them, but both are thrilled to cling to vertical supports.

Some, like sweet peas, mandevilla, morning glories or black-eyed Susans, sport sappy green vines, others, like roses, clematis, chocolate vine, wisteria and honeysuckle grow rugged wood stems; many grow faster than you can keep up with them and are delightfully scented. No room? No soil? No problem. They enjoy their tubs and planters, as long as they can reach a lattice and clamber their way closer to the sun.

Absent that, trailing vines are perfectly content to sprawl on the ground, a habit which is annoying when you're trying to maintain a tidy flower bed, but which comes in handy if you have dry and unstable slopes, or deep shade corners where nothing else will grow.

One word about rose trellises. One of those can make a garden all on its own, and they often do, in professional plantings that tackle awkward outdoor spaces. Climbing roses are not fast growers, you can't expect them to mature in one season, but give them a few years to get established and they will delight you for decades.