Manual of Climbers and Wall Plants

Our gardens contain an ever-increasing abundance of plants which require accurate identification and understanding as keys to successful cultivation. This volume, based on the definitive New RHS Dictionary of Gardening, defines and describes a fascinating group of plants through a unique fusion of what is current and best in botany and proven and practical in horticulture.
Climbers are as adaptable as they are varied: a space can always be found for one a tree enlivened, a wall dressed with vibrant colour or luxuriant foliage. Gardeners use the word 'climber' loosely – and with justification. Many thousands of plants have evolved a climbing habit, whether twining, clambering, or attaching themselves with tendrils and suckers. They include annuals and sKort-lived perennials from the familiar Morning Glory and Black-eyed Susan to the striking Rhodochiton in tones of rose and velvety black. Among the perennials are some of the 'great' gardener's plants, the jasmines, clematis, the honeysuckles and passion flowers, the Virginia Creepers, Boston Ivies, true ivies and vines.
In warmer places we find a dazzling proliferation of creepers and lianes: Hoya, Purple Wreath, Pagoda Flower and sinister Aristolochia barely hint at the profusion of possibilities for gardeners.
Then there are those plants which, in colder places or for ornament's sake, we treat as wall plants species we have made 'climbers' including Ceanothus, Fremontodendron, flowering quinces and so on.
In this book, all categories of climbing plants are described and illustrated, furnishing the fullest picture yet of this fascinating aspect of gardening.