Transform your Pergola with Climbing Plants
Pergolas are a popular choice for adding a focal point to your garden, as well as for their practical applications. If you want to add something a little different to your garden, add interest and add height, covering your pergola with climbing plants is the perfect way to achieve this.
Growing climbing plants around your pergola will help you to create a peaceful, cosy lounge area or a dining space you can enjoy with family and friends during the warmer months. It will also help to add colour, fragrance and life to your garden and help you to feel even more connected to the outdoors.
Read our blog for more information on the best climbing plants for your pergola and the benefits of growing plants around your pergola.
Why add climbing plants to your pergola?
Even on its own, a pergola is a great garden feature. However, when you combine it with climbing plants, you can really transform it into something special.
Here are just some of the reasons to choose climbing plants:
Enjoy beauty throughout every season: Mixing plants with varying flowering seasons will allow you to enjoy your pergola throughout the seasons, maximising your enjoyment of your garden.
Encourages wildlife: Plants such as honeysuckle and clematis are perfect for attracting bees, butterflies and even birds so, while you relax in your garden you can enjoy the sights and sounds of nature too.
Natural shade: A leafy roof helps to provide a cooler, shaded and more inviting seating or dining area. It provides somewhere to escape the heat of the summer sun.
Adds a focal point to your garden: A flowering pergola is a focal point that will enhance your garden design.
Top climbing plants for your pergola
Ideally, it would be great to have a pergola covered in flowering climbing plants all year. Unfortunately, there are no climbing plants that bloom year-round, but you can combine different varieties so you can have a pergola covered in flowering plants from spring through to the autumn.
A popular combination for pergola climbing plants is wisteria and grapevine.
Wisteria is known for its cascades of purple, white or blue blossoms that appear in spring. This plant is long lived and provides a dramatic effect for your pergola.
Climbing grapevines produce lush green leaves and grapes in autumn so you can enjoy greenery and colour throughout the seasons.
We recommend choosing plants in larger starter sizes to help speed up coverage and use ties to help train your plants upwards quickly. It may take a few years to get the coverage you want but you can enjoy watching your plants transform through each season and year.
Special and unusual climbing plants
If you’re looking for something a little different and more distinctive, why not try different plants?
Clematis is a climbing plant available in a range of different varieties so you can find the colour and style that complements the rest of your garden. We particularly like the Clematis Alpina which blooms in a beautiful dark blue colour in April. White varieties such as the White Moth or the red Clematis Ruby also provide striking colours that will really stand out in your garden.
If you want a plant that you can also enjoy tasting, why not consider a kiwi plant? This beautiful climber blooms in late spring and will provide fruit by mid-August so you can enjoy both looking at the plant and eating the fruits of your labour at the end of the season. Remember that you’ll only get kiwis if the plant is pollinated!
To help your kiwi plant thrive, give it a sunny spot and nutrient rich soil.
Finally, if you want to enjoy flowers and colour for a long period of time, choose a long-flowering climber such as Honeysuckle which blooms all summer.
Roses for your pergola
Roses are also great climbers for your pergola. Available in a wide range of colours, they provide a great fragrance and charm. Most climbing roses bloom in May and June so you can enjoy the flowers early in the season. You can combine them with other climbers such as clematis to provide balance.
Remember that roses have thorns so avoid planting them near children’s play areas.
How to create a pergola with a green roof
If you want to create a pergola with a green roof, it can take some patience but the results are stunning. It can take three to five years for your pergola to develop into a fully covered green roof that provides both shade and privacy. There are a few ways to speed up the process and ensure long-term success:
Choose the right structure
A green roof can add weight as the plants mature, especially when they’re wet. So, to ensure the longevity of your pergola, make sure you choose something that’s durable and can withstand the growth of plants. At Tuin, our pergolas are built with durable timber that’s designed to be durable and can stand up to UK weather conditions.
Select fast growing climbing plants
Some climbers take years to establish so if you want to see results quickly, avoid these and choose vigorous varieties such as wisteria, climbing grapevines, clematis or honeysuckle.
Provide plants with something to climb
Climbers need support to grow in the right direction so you can help them cover the roof faster by installing trellis panels, bamboo mats or steel or plastic coated wire to help train the plants to go where you want them.
Add temporary shade
If you want immediate shade while you wait for your plants to fill out, think about adding either bamboo mats or a shade sail over your pergola to provide a comfortable and usable pergola straight away.
Care and maintenance
Healthy, well looked after plants will cover your structure faster and will last longer. Make sure you water your plants regularly in the first year, especially during dry spells, mulch around the base and fertilise annually to encourage growth and enable your plants to cover your pergola.
Remember that after a number of years, your fully grown roof will be very heavy. So make sure your pergola or structure is built using thick concrete foundation posts, preferably 120 x 120mm, to support this weight.
Pruning your climbing plants
To ensure your climbing plants grow the way you want them to, make sure you prune them at least once a year. Grow the branches that grow vertically above the roof to create the perfect pergola or canopy with a green roof.
Pruning is recommended in spring or autumn for the best results.
What are the benefits of a green pergola?
Although it can take time for your plants to grow and for your pergola to be fully covered in plants, it’s definitely worth the wait! It’s an inexpensive way to provide a focal point and beauty in your garden as well as added functionality. A green roof will protect you from the sun and even keep you dry during light showers.
It’s a relatively inexpensive solution and has lower environmental impact than plastic, glass or wood roofs.
Other uses of climbing plants
Climbing plants are most popular for their use with pergolas and trellising but they can be used in a variety of places in your garden.
For example, why not cover your carport or use climbing plants to create a green roof on your gazebo or patio cover?
Ready to transform your pergola?
Want to get started by creating a feature in your garden? A pergola covered with plants is a living feature that will evolve with your garden and the seasons. From the beauty of wisteria to the fragrance of roses and fruiting of grapevines, the possibilities are endless.
With the right care, pruning and structural support, your pergola will become the centrepiece of your garden, providing a cool, relaxing retreat that you can enjoy for years to come.
Browse our range of timber and ready-made pergolas to get started today.