Climbing plants are an excellent choice for many gardens because they take up little ground space, and can quickly clothe a fence or wall.
But it can be disappointing if your climber fails to do the job of clothing the wall as well as expected. Careful training and pruning of the climber on first planting will help ensure that it grows attractively and healthily, cover the wall as efficiently as possible, and remain easy to maintain.
Good soil preparation and appropriate site selection are very important; site selection depends on the requirements of the plant in question.
Here we are planting Akebia quinata, which needs moist, but well-drained, fertile soil, in full sun or partial shade. We are planting it against the west-facing wall of the Walled Garden at Wisley.
Make sure you have put up support wires on the wall first. These are threaded through vine eyes, which are screwed or nailed into the fence, mortar, wooden wall plate, or a batten. The wires will allow you to tie in the climber, training it to achieve even coverage of the wall, easy management, and sufficient airflow around the stems to reduce the risk of fungal diseases.
Plant your climber to the appropriate depth, positioning it about 30cm (12in) from the base of the wall, so that it has room for root development. See plant establishment for more details.
Here, we have planted the Akebia, and are just taking off the rubber cap that holds the supporting bamboo canes in place.
Use scissors to cut off the plastic ties that hold the climber to its bamboo cane supports.
Untwine the climber from the bamboo canes sufficiently to allow you to spread out the stems, but leave them still attached to their cane supports. You can use the three bamboo canes to train the climber at an angle up to the wire supports on the wall.
Slip the bamboo canes under the wires to hold them in place, adjusting the positioning to create a fan shape.
If your climber came twined around only one bamboo cane, then you’ll have to untwine it completely and find another two canes to train the stems as in the picture above.
Tie the stems and canes to the wire supports. Garden twine is better than wire, which can damage the stems and leaves.
A reef knot is classically used, as it is secure and can be easily untied, but any secure tie will do. Snip off the excess twine with scissors.
After you have trained the main stems into a basic fan shape, you can use secateurs to prune off any weak or twiggy growth that doesn’t contribute to the main framework.
Some climbers require more formative pruning than others. Wall shrubs need even more; see growing Ceanothus as a wall shrub.
If your climber has spindly stems without many growth buds, you can shorten the main stems by about one-third, to encourage vigour and bushing out.
The end result is a well-planted climber, fan trained along bamboo canes that have been tied in to the wire supports on the wall.
New growth is tied in regularly, and the canes can be extended as necessary. You could fill out the fan shape with new rows of canes, to accommodate lengthening main stems and new sub-branches. Eventually, when the climber has formed thick woody stems, you can remove the canes, and the plant will hold its fan shape unaided.
Attention to training on first planting helps to avoid much remedial work later on. The last thing you want is to have to rescue strands of climber from next door’s garden, after it has grown up and over the fence without providing any screening on your side of the fence or wall!
Maya Albert
Pruning established climbers and wall shrubs
Pruning overgrown climbers and wall shrubs