Climbers

Climbing plants add another level of interest to your garden. They bring flowers right up to eye level. Climbers are good at hiding ugly old fences and walls, and blurring the boundaries of your garden, helping to make your garden feel much larger. Many are scented too! Some of the favourites with the plant team here at Twenty Pence Garden Centre are:

Trachelospermum Chilli and Vanilla

Trachelospermum is an evergreen climber, commonly called Star Jasmine. Their sweetly scented flowers are blooming all summer long making them a great value climber. Trachelospermum are an easy-to-look-after climber, needing no pruning and being pest and disease free. Trachelospermum chilli and vanilla gets its name from the seed pods that start out looking like green vanilla pods before turning red to resemble chillies. The glossy leaves take on a pinkish shade in winter. Why not add an exotic touch to your garden?

Jasminum Fiona Sunrise

Jasminum Fiona Sunrise has sunrise bright yellow leaves and ivory white richly scented flowers from May to September. In a sunny spot it will scent your whole garden. Add double the impact by growing a clematis up through it. Jasminum get their name from the Persian jasmin meaning gift from god, and no one could disagree when looking at a flowering Jasminum Fiona Sunrise. These are just two of our favourite climbers and we have many more in the garden centre. Think about using climbers in your garden, you don’t need walls or fences! 

Clematis Pruning Groups

Group 1:

These are the spring and early-flowering varieties which rarely need pruning, unless they are growing too large and out of control, "if they flower before June, don't prune".

Group 2:

These just need the long stems trimmed back to a pair of buds on each stem, tidying up plants to keep them neat and well shaped. Cutting stems back encourages new growth from lower down on the plant and hence brings the flowering height down.

Group 3:

These include the later flowering varieties, which benefit from an annual prune in late winter or early spring. To minimise the effect of clematis wilt, plant deeply so that at least two live buds are buried. If the disease does strike, killing off growth above ground, new shoots should develop from below soil level.