Climbing Plants
Climbers let you grow vertically on fences, trellises, arches and walls, so they are useful when ground space is limited. The important part is matching the support to the plant. A light twining vine and a large woody climber need very different structures and very different amounts of room. 26 plants in the library.
26 plants
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ornamental
Pitcher plant
Nepenthes make their own insect traps, but the roots still need air. Keep the mix consistently moist rather than swampy, give them humidity and choose a hybrid or species that matches your temperatures.
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.
Veggie
Pumpkin
Pumpkins are warm-season vines that need sun, fertile soil, room to spread and enough frost-free weather to mature fruit.
Before You Choose
Before planting a climber, check how it climbs. Twining stems need something narrow enough to wrap around. Tendrils need wires, mesh or small supports to grab. Scrambling plants often need tying in, while self-clinging climbers can attach directly to a surface. That climbing method tells you what sort of trellis or frame will work.
Then look at mature weight and spread. A vigorous perennial climber can become surprisingly heavy after several years, especially when wet or loaded with fruit. Use a strong permanent support for large vines and keep them away from gutters, light structures and places where maintenance will be difficult.
Sunlight affects flowering and fruiting. Many edible and flowering climbers perform best with good light on the canopy, even if the root area stays cooler. In hot climates, mulch and regular watering through establishment can help the plant build a strong root system before the top growth takes off.
Pruning is easier when you decide the framework early. Guide a few main stems where you want them, then remove tangled or unwanted growth before it becomes a dense mass. For fruiting climbers, pruning timing can affect the crop, so check the individual guide and profile before cutting.
If the climber will grow near a house, leave enough separation to inspect paint, gutters, screens and roof edges. A freestanding trellis a short distance from the wall is often easier to manage than growth fixed directly against the building. It also improves airflow and gives you access to both sides of the vine for tying, pruning and harvesting.