The Climber Site Map links you to the Plant Index Pages - which contain the direct link to the relevant plant description with its photos for each of the 71 CLIMBERS detailed in the other Climber Galleries - IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.
The Sub Navigation Box in each Page also links you to these Plant Index Pages.
 

A Site Map can contain about 500 filenames before we run out of the page that is displayed. In order for this gallery to contain more than 500 plant names, I have created Plant Index Pages in Alphabetical Order to contain the Link to the relevant Climber Plant Description Page in another Photo Gallery (at this time it is the Climbers Gallery and the Clematis Gallery) and to its Flower Thumbnail in each of the Months that it flowers in this Gallery. New Climber Photo Galleries will be created as needed. This Gallery will contain a Flower Photo of every Climber from the other Climber Galleries in all the Flower Colour Comparison Pages for the months that it flowers.

Ramblers Scramblers & Twiners by Michael Jefferson-Brown (ISBN 0 - 7153 - 0942 - 0) describes how to choose, plant and nurture over 500 high-performance climbing plants and wall shrubs, so that more can be made of your garden if you think not just laterally on the ground but use the vertical support structures including the house as well.

Warning - Just as it is a mistake to try to keep a tiger in a dog's kennel, it can be a disaster to plant a rampant grower in a site that it will very quickly outgrow. Strong climbers, especially self-supporting ones (Ivy, Ampelopsis, Parthenocissus and Vitis), can quickly get to the eaves, where they may sabotage gutters, and if allowed to get onto the roof, distort or even dislodge tiling. Climbing roses must be supported by humans tying them to structures since the roses cannot do it themselves ( keep the top of the structures 3 feet below the eaves so that annual pruning can reduce the risk of the odd stem reaching the guttering!!).

There are 3 sectors on a house wall or high wall:-

• 0-3 feet in height - The Base. This gives the most sheltered conditions in the garden, with soil and air temperatures above those of the surrounding area. This area will suffer less buffeting from wind. Soil care will be ensuring a high humus content - to enrich the nutrient value and help to create reservoirs of moisture. Light intensity will depend on the aspect of the wall (North-facing will get very little sunlight) with the surrounding buildings and plants, including trees.
• 3-10 feet in height - The Prime Site. As the plant moves upwards to about 6 feet, conditions change: plants still benefit from the reflected heat and stored heat of walls warmed by the sun but have more light and air. Many climbers will have established a trunk below and now begin to spread themselves. This middle section is visually important, because it is at eye level and just below that that we should display those items to which we want to draw most attention. Most of the shrubs that are suitable for growing against walls are between 3 and 10 feet in height.
• Above 10 feet in height - The Higher Reaches. This is only likely to occur on house walls and other tall buildings with climbers and trained trees/shrubs covering all the way up to 3 feet from the guttering at roof level ( to prevent ingress to the internal roof space or blockage of the guttering).

The climbers in this gallery have been placed into one of these 3 heights with the Text Box Boundary in:-

• Blue for 0-3 feet
• Green for 3-10 feet
• Red for above 10 feet.

This Gallery splits the climbers into their following ways of climbing:-

• Ramblers/Scramblers - These climbers lean on other plants or need artificial supports to climb - Roses, Jasmine, Espalier-trained Fruit Tree/Fruit Ramblers. These are suitable for house or building walls where vine-eye and wire or 1 inch square timber trellis support structures can be erected up to 3 feet below the gutter for the climbers to be tied to with natural twine (not plastic or metal wire - stems grow sideways but plastic and metal contrict this, whereas natural twine will eventually rot or be broken by the expanding stem), or they can be trained on chainlink fences, trellis, pergolas or arbours.
• Self-Clingers: Aerial Roots - A series of roots are produced along the length of its stems. These attach themselves very strongly to the surfaces they find - Ivy (Hedera).
  Self-Clingers: Sucker Pads - Tendrils are produced along the young growing stems, opposite the leaves. The main tendril stem divides into a number of slender filaments, each of which has a scarcely perceivable pad at its tip.Once the tips have established contact, the tiny pad is much expanded and becomes a significant sucker, which fits so strongly to the surface that if the stem is pulled away the suckers are left behind- Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia).
  Self-Clingers: Twining - Many climbers find support simply by twining their stems around any object they find - Wisteria and Honeysuckle.
  Self-Clingers: Twining Leaf-Stem - Some climbers make do with sensitive leaf stalks which wrap themselves around objects for support - Clematis. Others establish themselves with thorns, hooks, spines and prickles.
  Self-Clingers: Twining Tendrils - A group of climbers climb by producing a series of tendrils. These are touch sensitive and will curl round any small object they come into contact with and thus enable the plant to climb securely on itself or other plants or manmade support structures - Chinese Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus henryana), Sweet Pea and the Pea Family (Leguminosae).
  These Self-Clingers are suitable for garden walls, chainlink fences, trellis, pergolas or fedges.

These are split into the following in the Comparison Pages:-

• Ramblers/Scramblers for the Ramblers/Scramblers
• Self-Clinging Climbers for the Self-Clingers: Aerial Roots and Self-Clingers: Sucker Pads.
• Twiners for the Self-Clingers: Twining, Self-Clingers: Twining Leaf-Stem and Self-Clingers: Twining Tendrils.

This plant gallery has thumbnail pictures of climber flowers in the following colours per month:-

• (o)Blue
• Orange
• (o)Other Colours
• (o)Pink
• (o)Red
• (o)White
• (o)Yellow

If you click on a thumbnail another window opens with 9 larger images (Flower, Foliage and Form - for Flower, Foliage and Form pages) and the following plant description:-

• Plant Name
• Common Name
• Soil
• Sun Aspect
• Soil Moisture
• Plant Type
• Height x Spread in feet
• Foliage
• Flower Colour in Month(s). Fruit.
• Comments - Form Type, Pruning Group, Native UK Plant. There are further details on pruning of climbers in the Pruning Page of the Plants Section.

Please close that window before clicking on another thumbnail.

The Site Map for Climber Plant Description Index pages and Flower Colour per Month Comparison pages with photo content gives you access to the above 9 larger images and plant description for all the plants detailed in the Plant Gallery in alphabetical order.

Together with the Plants, Companion Planting and Offbeat Glossary sections of this website, these photographs should aid your choice of plant for your garden.

These gallery photographs were provided by Christine Foord and they were photographed by Christine and Ron Foord.