Vines and Climbers to Grow in Australia
Vines make use of vertical space, but their weight and growth rate vary greatly. Choose the support and planting position for the mature plant, not for the small vine in its nursery pot.
Vine
Arrowhead plant
Arrowhead plant is a tropical climber grown for its patterned arrow-shaped juvenile leaves. It is especially good in pots, hanging baskets and bright indoor positions where you can let it trail or give it support to climb.
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Veggie
Beans
Common garden beans include bush and climbing types grown for fresh pods or mature beans. Climbing types need support and regular picking keeps fresh-pod varieties productive.
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Ornamental
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea is a thorny scrambling shrub or climber grown for brilliant coloured bracts. Heat, sun and fairly lean soil bring the strongest display.
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Veggie
Chilacayote
Chilacayote is a vigorous squash grown for large green-and-white fruit with pale stringy flesh and black or cream seed. The mature fruit stores exceptionally well.
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Vine
Climbing frangipani
Climbing frangipani is a vigorous tropical vine with large glossy leaves and strongly scented white flowers. It needs a sturdy support and plenty of room.
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Vine
Cucamelon
Cucamelon is a fine-stemmed warm-season climber that produces grape-sized green fruit patterned like tiny watermelons. The fruit is crisp and cucumber-like with a tart edge. Grow it up a trellis, keep the root zone evenly moist and pick regularly once fruiting starts.
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Veggie
Cucumber
Cucumbers grow quickly in warm weather and need steady water. A trellis keeps climbing varieties off the ground and makes fruit easier to harvest.
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Fruit & berry
Dragon fruit
Dragon fruit is a climbing cactus that needs a strong support, warmth, sun and good drainage. Regular pruning keeps mature plants manageable.
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Vine
Garlic vine
Garlic vine is a woody tropical climber with lavender flowers that fade almost white. Crush the leaves and they smell strongly of garlic.
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Fruit & berry
Grape
Grapes are vigorous deciduous vines that need a strong support and annual pruning. Winter pruning sets the crop and light summer trimming improves airflow around fruit.
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Vine
Heartleaf philodendron
Heartleaf philodendron is an easy trailing or climbing aroid with glossy heart-shaped leaves. It suits shelves and hanging pots, or it can be trained up a support for larger leaves. It handles moderate indoor light well, although brighter filtered light gives denser growth.
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Ornamental
Hoya australis
Hoya australis is an Australian native climber with thick leaves and fragrant white flowers. An airy mix, bright filtered light and a slightly snug pot suit it better than a big pot of wet soil.
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Ornamental
Hoya carnosa
Hoya carnosa is the classic wax plant, grown for its thick leaves and clusters of fragrant, waxy flowers. It suits a hanging pot or small trellis indoors, on a veranda or outside in a warm sheltered garden.
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Vine
Kiwifruit
Kiwifruit is a vigorous deciduous vine that needs a strong support, steady moisture and usually both male and female plants for reliable fruit.
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Veggie
Lablab
Lablab is a vigorous climbing bean that can cover a fence in a single warm season. It produces purple flowers and handles hot weather better than many common beans. Prepare it properly before eating, and read the safety notes before you cook it.
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Vine
Loofah
Loofah is a vigorous warm-season vine grown for tender young fruits and the fibrous sponge inside mature fruits. Luffa aegyptiaca needs a long warm growing season, plenty of sun and a strong support for its large vines and hanging fruit.
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Veggie
Malabar spinach
Malabar spinach gives you leafy greens right through the summer heat, when English spinach has long gone to seed. It climbs, so it takes up almost no bed space.
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Vine
Monstera
Monstera is a tropical climber with large split and perforated leaves. Give it a sturdy support and bright filtered light and the leaves become much larger as the plant matures.
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Herb & spice
Nasturtium
Nasturtium is one of the easiest edible flowers to grow, and it does most of the work itself. Round leaves, peppery flowers, and seed that keeps coming up in the same bed year after year.
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Vine
Passionfruit
Passionfruit is a fast-growing vine that needs a strong support, good drainage, regular water and feeding. Most vines are productive for only a few years.
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Vine
Pink jasmine
Pink jasmine is a fast twining climber with strongly scented white flowers opening from pink buds. It can cover a trellis quickly and flowers heavily in mild to warm weather, making it useful where you want fragrance as well as dense seasonal cover.
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Ornamental
Pothos
Pothos is a tropical climber grown for glossy heart-shaped leaves. It can trail from a shelf or climb a support, where the leaves can become much larger.
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Veggie
Pumpkin
Pumpkins are warm-season vines that need sun, fertile soil, room to spread and enough frost-free weather to mature fruit.
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Vine
Rangoon creeper
Rangoon creeper is a vigorous woody climber with strongly scented flowers that open pale and deepen through pink to red. Give an existing vine a strong support and enough room for long arching growth.
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Veggie
Rice bean
Rice bean is a warm-season climbing legume grown mainly for its small dry beans. The yellow flowers are distinctive, and a vigorous plant can cover a trellis quickly in warm weather. It is still unusual in Australian home gardens, but it suits gardeners who like useful vines and less-common pulse crops.
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Vine
Running postman
Running postman is a low Australian native groundcover with vivid scarlet pea flowers in spring. Unlike many kennedias, it stays prostrate rather than climbing, so it can spill over banks, rocks, retaining walls and hanging baskets without adding much height.
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Build a Support That Suits the Vine
Annual beans and peas can use netting or a light trellis. Grapes, passionfruit and other long-lived vines need a solid frame that can carry mature growth, wind load and a crop.
Keep the main growth within reach if the vine needs regular pruning, training or picking. A vine over a high roof may provide shade, but fruit and maintenance can become difficult to reach.
Check Spread and Local Suitability
Some climbers stay manageable with seasonal pruning, while others spread by runners, seed or vigorous stems. Check local weed advice before planting a fast-growing species near bushland or waterways.
Position dense vines where airflow and shade are helpful rather than harmful. Heavy growth against timber, gutters or fences can trap moisture and make repairs harder.
Common questions
- What support does a climbing plant need?
- Match the support to mature weight and climbing method. Twining stems, tendrils and scrambling branches attach differently, and permanent fruiting vines need stronger structures than annual vegetables.
- Can vines grow in pots?
- Compact vines can grow in large pots with reliable water, feeding and a stable support. Vigorous permanent vines may soon outgrow a pot or become top-heavy.
- When should vines be pruned?
- Timing depends on the species and whether it flowers or fruits on old or new growth. Check the individual plant guide before hard pruning, particularly for grapes and flowering climbers.