Climbers that keep their leaves in winter: an evergreen vine selection

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Glossy leaves that hold through winter, then cup-shaped clematis flowers freckled with violet or white stars that scent a whole terrace: evergreen climbing vines turn a deck or balcony into a cocoon of greenery. Match each one to its hardiness and its light, and the screen stays furnished all year.

Read also:

• Create a vertical garden with climbing plants
• Fragrant climbing vines

Evergreen climbers at a glance: flowering, hardiness and light

All the vines below keep their foliage, but they part company on when they flower, how much cold they take and how much sun they want. Use the table to narrow the list before reading each portrait.

Between them, these eight cover every month of flowering and every aspect of a wall.

‘Freckles’ Clematis

• Name: Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckels’
  

  

  Ornamental assets:

  its cup-shaped flowers are remarkable with their creamy beige hue mottled with violet spots. Petals of this clematis stand out particularly well against the bright yellow stamens. Foliage is ornate, shiny, semi-evergreen to evergreen depending on the climate.

• Blooming period: February, March
• Hardiness: 14°F (-10°C)
• Exposure: full sun
• Soil: rich and draining

• Petiole-twining climbers such as clematis climb by coiling their leaf stalks around slender supports, so train them on wires, netting or mesh, since they cannot grip bare brick.
• For clematis, gardeners traditionally follow the maxim “head in the sun, feet in the shade,” shading the root zone with mulch or a flat stone while the stems climb into full sun.

Star jasmine

• Name: Trachelospermum jasminoides
  

  

  Ornamental value:

  The oval leaves of star jasmine are a shiny, dark green color. They’re covered with white starry flowers for a long time during the blooming. This abundant bloomer is a beautiful climbing vine that spreads a delicious scent around it.

• Blooming period: May to September
• Hardiness: 14°F (-10°C)
• Exposure: sun, part sun
• Soil: rich and draining

Star jasmine twines rather than clings, so fit wires or a trellis before planting.

Ivy

• Name: Hedera helix
• Caution: INVASIVE in the Americas (native to Europe)
  

  

  Ornamental value:

  this famous vine unfurls five-lobed leaves that are more or less variegated and veined, depending on the variety. Ivy is a versatile plant: it’ll settle in perfectly indoors, in a pot, as it will outdoors along a trellis. Its thick, fleshy leaves display a fresh green hue at first, and turn a deeper and deeper green as they grow older.

• Blooming period: September, October
• Hardiness: -4°F (-20°C)
• Exposure: part shade, shade
• Soil: any type of soil, must drain normally

Climbing hydrangea

• Name: Hydrangea semanii
  

  

  Ornamental assets:

  this type of climbing hydrangea offers beautiful shiny average green foliage, each leaf is oval and veins are well marked. As is typical of certain types of hydrangea, it grows beautiful creamy-white flower umbels in summer.

• Blooming period: June to September
• Hardiness: 14°F (-10°C)
• Exposure: part shade, shade
• Soil: deep, rich and cool

• Hydrangea seemannii clings by itself with aerial roots, so it needs no trellis, though a rough brick or stone surface gives the roots a better hold than smooth render.
• Self-clinging climbers such as ivy and climbing hydrangea attach by adhesive aerial rootlets, which leave marks on paintwork and can loosen weak mortar, so keep them off painted or freshly pointed walls.
• Mulch the base with leaf mould or composted bark, since hydrangeas generally grow best with a cool, moist root run and benefit from the steady moisture and insulation such organic mulches provide.
• Many newly transplanted perennials, shrubs and trees devote their first season largely to root development, so gardeners should generally expect limited above-ground growth until the plant is established.

Araujua sericifera

• Name: Araujia sericifera
  

  

  Ornamental value:

  its blue-green foliage with silvery undersides is accompanied by charming pink and white flowers. These are bell-shaped and have white petals with pink stripes.

• Blooming period: August to November
• Hardiness: 23°F (-5°C)
• Exposure: full sun
• Soil: any type of soil

Give vigorous twiners such as wisteria or honeysuckle their own wires or trellis, because otherwise they can wind tightly around neighbouring shrubs and constrict or girdle their stems as both thicken.

Japanese honeysuckle ‘Sweet Isabel’

• Name: Lonicera japonica ‘Sweet Isabel’
  

  

  Appeal:

  bicolor white and cream-yellow flowers that appeal to all. Its clusters of tubular flowers release divine scents throughout the garden. Compact bearing and dense foliage make it the perfect pick for container growing.

• Blooming period: June to September
• Hardiness: -4°F (-20°C)
• Exposure: part shade
• Soil: rich and cool

• Japanese honeysuckle is listed as invasive across much of North America, so check local restrictions before planting one outdoors.
• Twining climbers such as honeysuckle, wisteria and runner beans wind their stems around a support rather than clinging by tendrils or adhesive pads, so give them wires, a trellis or an obelisk.
• For many shrubs that bloom on the previous season’s growth, cutting back the longest shoots soon after flowering finishes is a widely recommended way to maintain a compact shape.
• Check the soft shoot tips and flower buds for aphids, which cluster on that tender new growth in dense colonies and feed on the sap, leaving shoots curled, stunted, and distorted.

Stauntonia hexaphylla

• Name: Stauntonia hexaphylla
  

  

  Ornamental appeal:

  beautiful leafage forming oval lobes, tender and shiny green. From this mass of foliage, small pinkish-white bell-flowers emerge. Memorable fragrance and quick growth are two advantages of this original vine.

• Blooming period: April May
• Hardiness: 14°F (-10°C)
• Exposure: part shade, shade
• Soil: acidic and cool

• Morning glory (Ipomoea) climbs by twining its stems, so give it wires or a trellis to wrap around; unlike ivy, it has no adhesive pads or aerial roots for gripping flat walls.
• Site wind-sensitive broadleaf evergreens such as Mahonia x media out of cold, drying winds, which can desiccate the leaflets and leave brown, scorched margins that persist on the screen all winter.
• For shrubs that bloom on old wood, prune immediately after the flowers fade, because the buds for next year’s display form on growth made during the current season.
• Purple passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) bears fragrant flowers followed by egg-shaped purple fruits with sweet edible pulp, and transferring pollen between flowers with a soft brush improves fruit set.

Holboellia latifolia

• Name: Holboellia latifolia
  

  

  Appeal:

  this plant bears both male (light green) and female (pastel pink) flowers on the same stems, forming small bells. We find its abundant and lush foliage amazing, oval with a pointed tip, dark green in color.

• Flowering dates: March and April
• Hardiness: 14°F (-10°C)
• Exposure: sun, part sun
• Soil: fertile and well-draining

Read also:

• Create a vertical garden with climbing plants
• Fragrant climbing vines

• In Akebia quinata, hand-pollinating with a soft brush helps set the fleshy, sausage-shaped purple fruits, but because the vine is largely self-sterile, the pollen must come from a second, genetically distinct plant.
• Shelter broadleaved evergreens such as rhododendrons, camellias and cherry laurel from cold drying winter winds, which desiccate the foliage and cause browning or scorch even on plants whose roots tolerate the cold.
• Pieris japonica carries its urn-shaped bells on buds set the previous summer, so prune it immediately after the March-to-April display fades, before next season’s flower buds are formed.
• Mulching the base of a climber helps keep its roots cool and moist, which matters because many vigorous climbers, clematis among them, grow poorly in soil that repeatedly dries out completely.