The Climbing Garden

On Plants That Climb

A climbing plant spends its early life looking for something to hold. The shoot grows long and thin, with little wood to stand on, and the tip sweeps slowly through the air in wide circles. Botanists call this circumnutation. A hop shoot completes one turn in about two hours. When the tip touches a cane, a wire, or a neighbour's stem, it stops searching and begins to climb.

Each family solves the problem its own way. Hops and honeysuckle twine clockwise when seen from above. Bindweed and runner beans twine the other way, and no amount of coaxing will change their minds. Sweet peas reach out with tendrils, which are leaflets reshaped into coiled springs. Clematis wraps its leaf stalks around a support like a hand closing on a rail.

Ivy does not twine at all. It sends out short aerial roots that press into the cracks of brick and bark. Virginia creeper grows tiny adhesive pads at the ends of its tendrils, strong enough to hold the vine to a smooth wall for years after the plant has died back.

A gardener's work with climbers is mostly restraint. Tie in the leading shoots in spring, while they still bend. Pinch out the tips in summer so the plant branches lower down. In autumn, after the leaves turn and fall, cut back to a pair of fat buds and let the frame stand bare through winter. Left alone for three seasons, most climbers will cover whatever they are given, including the words on a page.