Gardeners’ Question Time
Humaira Ikram
Humaira has worked as a garden designer for over 10 years and runs a garden design course.
Matt Biggs
Matt trained at Kew and has been gardening professionally for more than 30 years.
Pippa Greenwood
Pippa is one of the foremost experts on pests and diseases. She gardens using organic methods.
Q Which evergreen climbers would cover my tall fence?
Stephen Rickwood, by email
A HUMAIRA SAYS A fail-safe choice is fragrant-flowered star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). Most say it likes full sun, but it’s pretty resilient and can cope with part shade, and pretty much any type of soil. It may have a few less flowers, but will still get big enough for your trellis-topped fence, eventually up to 10m.
Another classic evergreen climber is pink-tinged Clematis ‘Apple Blossom’. I have it in my garden and I always know warmer days are coming when I catch its fragrance on the breeze.
Plant either of these in spring or autumn, and no pruning is necessary apart from to shape them or keep them within bounds.
For something a bit different, try Holboellia brachyandra, a woody twining evergreen climber that needs a sheltered spot and frost protection. In March it bears highly scented white to pale-blush flowers. If pollinated, these are followed by purple sausage-shaped edible fruit.
A Your choice‘Halliana’ or the stunning red-flowered, semi-evergreen (but less impressive on the perfume front) ‘Dropmore Scarlet’. Or an early flowering evergreen clematis, such as white ‘Snowdrift’ or pink-speckled ‘Advent Bells’.
