Blooming Times: Sociable Climbers

There’s a group of plants that’s often overlooked – annual climbers. These fast-growing characters are easy to propagate from seed. Give them a sunny, sheltered spot and they’ll perform all summer long, says Flo Whitaker 

Cobea scandens bears large, exotic-looking flowers in lilac and mauve. Its common name, ‘Cathedral Bells’ is apt, as the long stamens give the blooms a distinctive bell-like quality. The pale form, C. alba, offers white/cream flowers with green-ish highlights. Cobea can potentially scale great heights, (8 metres!) but a severe haircut does them no harm.

If Victorian gothic hues appeal, look no further than Rhodochiton atrosanguineus. The unusual dangling flowers come in a moody combination of mauve and purple/black. In its Mexican homeland, Rhodochiton is perennial, but in the UK, it’s best treated as an annual. However, if planted in a sheltered spot, (for instance; against a south-facing wall) it may survive a mild winter.

Eccremocarpus is a South American native with curious tube-like flowers in spicy orange, red and gold shades. Like Rhodochiton, it’s technically perennial, but is usually grown as an annual here. With frost-tender plants, we assume cold is their biggest enemy, when, in fact, many die from waterlogging. I kept a potted eccremocarpus, (variety ‘Tresco’) for years in an unheated polytunnel, so you may be pleasantly surprised to find ‘exotic’ types persisting if conditions are right.

A mixed packet of Thunbergia alata seed will mostly produce orange, red and yellow blooms. Variations of alata offer white and peachy-pink shades. Thunbergia flowers have dark-coloured centres, giving them a striking, stand-out quality in the border. 

Ipomoea is known as the ‘Morning Glory’ flower because its trumpet-shaped blooms unfurl early in the day and have usually withered by mid-afternoon. Although individual flowers are short-lived, they are produced in great numbers, so don’t be deterred by their early-bird habit. Never (ever!) feed them, otherwise they’ll produce masses of foliage and few blooms. ‘Star of Yelta’ has striking bright purple flowers highlighted with burgundy veining. 

‘Grandpa Ott’ is a darker character, bearing hypnotic, deep velvety-purple blooms. ‘Heavenly Blue’ is well-named, with glorious sky-blue trumpets - a rare colour in the plant kingdom. Ipomoea lobata, known as ‘Spanish Flag’ is a real eye-catcher; with sprays of small-petalled flowers that open in red/orangey hues, fading to golden yellow as they age. It makes a surprisingly robust cut flower and its fiery tones perfectly compliment late-season dahlias.

The ipomoea family includes that notorious thug, common bindweed. Fear not - the garden varieties mentioned do not share the robustness of their wild bindweed cousin and will politely die at the first frost. You may find some self-made seedlings the following spring, but they will be a serendipitous addition to your garden - not a troublesome legacy.

Finally; don’t forget that many climbing plants will also cascade, so try them in hanging baskets and window boxes. Creeping nasturtiums are brilliant for containers. When given some light twiggy supports, they’ll obligingly scramble in any direction.