Climbers - Day 14: 21 Days of Garden Fatigue

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The beauty of growing climbers is that they add vertical dimension to your garden without taking up precious groundspace. Climbers can hide unsightly walls, soften areas with sharp corners, shade lifestyle zones of your garden and add something spectacular as they traverse their way up trees.

They can, however, become quite menacing when left untendered and can even cause irreparable damage to your house or other constructed projects. Read on for how to look after them....

Well Maintained Support often gardeners misjudge the impact of climbers over the support they have provided for it. A full-grown wisteria could be in excess of a tonne when in flower and if it's not supported well enough will damage the support and the climber. Ensure that there are no signs of stress on the supporting frame and if possible replace the supporting frame if you've assessed that it's not capable of holding future growth.
Pruning most climbers do well to be pruned after flowering. Usually this is only for shape as you direct it's growing tendrils against the supporting frame. You also need to prune to keep most climbers compact.
Choosing the Right Climber if you don't choose your climber correctly it may end up biting you in the future. For instance, it is well known that Philodendrons can bring down trees they're allowed to grow on, and some ivy's can remove mortar from between bricks when they allowed to grow against your house. If you have a climber that's beginning to cause problems with the object that's supporting it remove the climber while you can and replace it with something that will have less detriment on its surroundings.

Posted by Stuart on January 24, 2006 5:10 AM | Permalink | Check to Subscribe to this Comment:

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