Training a flowering vine or leafy ivy to climb a trellis is a great way to add another visual layer to your garden and pull more colors and textures up to eye-level and above. Here, we share some of our favorite climbing tropical vines, annuals, and landscape plants that quickly and easily cover a trellis – whether it’s for height in a container or as an eye-catching addition to your landscape.
Climbing Tropical Plants
Mandevilla is an excellent plant for covering a trellis. Its long, twining stems can be tied or easily encouraged to twist around supports that it will cover with trumpet-shaped blooms all summer long. Right now, we have a gorgeous mandevilla that blooms in a rich, magenta pink. For incredible fragrance in addition to visual appeal, try either sambac jasmine or star jasmine. Both of these sprawling tropical shrubs can be trained to climb a trellis or other support too – you’ll be rewarded with loads of white and sweetly fragrant blooms. Tropical plumbago is another shrub-like, but flexible plant whose long branches take well to vertical supports. Its abundant lavender-blue blooms are a popular draw too. Algerian ivy is another great option for covering a small trellis too. It may not bloom, but the variegated variety provides interesting pops of white throughout its lush, heart-shaped foliage.
Vining Annuals
In the greenhouse, you’ll find several beautiful annual plants that also vine and climb. Morning glory is a popular choice, as is thunbergia – or Black-eyed Susan vine. Both produce bright, trumpet-shaped blooms with deep, colorful throats. Moon vine (Ipomoea alba) is a fast-growing, annual climber whose fragrant blooms open in the evening and seem to glow in the moonlight. The tiny, tubular flowers on candy corn vine may not be as extravagant as others, but their shape is certainly interesting – especially to kids. But for a truly show-stopping bloom, try passion flower. Its twining vines may be wirey, but its intricate, multi-layered blooms look like something from a coral reef.
Hardy Climbers for the Landscape
For your winter-hardy landscape, choose from even more options for covering trellises, arbors, and other vertical displays. In the Nursery Yard, you’ll find over a dozen different varieties of clematis, including popular choices like the purple ‘Jackmanii,’ the vibrantly pink-shaded ‘Kilian Donahue’, and the star-like ‘Venosa Violacea’. Other vigorous and beautiful blooming vines include honeysuckle, wisteria, and trumpet vine. We also have several climbing roses whose long, flexible branches can be encouraged to grow along a support too. Nursery Yard team member Nancy Hoffman likes silver lace vine – a fast-grower producing a cloud-like abundance of tiny, white, and fragrant blooms that attract important pollinators. Most of these flowering climbers like a full day of sun, but if you have partial shade, you can try climbing hydrangea instead. And, if you’re more interested in foliage than flowers, try Boston ivy, Virginia creeper, or the glowing yellow and chartreuse golden hops.
Go Vertical
In containers and landscapes, these beautiful climbing plants will quickly cover a trellis and fill those vertical spaces with more layers of living beauty. Not sure which one to choose? Just ask our team in the greenhouse or Nursery Yard – we’ll be happy to help you find the perfect one for your next planting project.
