After building a pergola to create an outdoor living space, the next step should be adding greenery and flowers to improve its aesthetic appeal. Besides, vines and climbing plants add shade and act as a focal point in your backyard.
Additionally, these plants are easy to grow, drought-tolerant, and require little maintenance. This means that you can have them even if you have a busy schedule.
Here are the eight best climbing plants for pergola.
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea is a perfect choice if you want a vine that brightens your backyardcolour. The plant, native to tropical South America, can grow in containers. It tends to flourish in summer, though it can withstand the cold winter temperatures.
This plant proliferates, especially if you find a variety that suits your location’s soil profile. Ensure that you support bougainvillea’s shoots if growing the plant in an outdoor space.
Passion Flower
Passionflower is renowned for its hardiness and fast-growing rate. Moreover, its flowers are colourful and have a pleasant fragrance, and its fruit is edible. These features make it one of the most desirable plants to grow in your pergola.
Wisteria
The lavender-blue hue of wisteria flowers is as fascinating as the plant’s sweet fragrance. Although it is drought resistant, Wisteria takes time to mature and start producing flowers. Its ideal growing environments are areas that experience a tropical or subtropical climate. More importantly, Wisteria needs regular pruning to control its growth.
Clematis
Clematis is a beautiful vining plant that is ideal for areas that receive a lot of sunlight. This is because the plant needs the sun to bloom and produces its attractive white and pale pink flowers. It also requires regular pruning since overgrown leaves inhibit blooming of buds and flowers.
Climbing Hydrangea
Planting climbing hydrangea on your pergola is a rewarding experience because it has heart-shaped leaves with a glossy feel and fragrant white flowers that become more prominent in the period between spring and summer. On the downside, this climbing plant grows slowly.
Grapes
If your backyard is unoccupied by any vegetation, consider growing grapes. Although the ideal growing conditions for grapes are around the Mediterranean, these plants can thrive in many other regions worldwide.
The only requirement for growing grapes is support since its stems are susceptible to strong winds. On the positive side, grapes are edible.
Honeysuckle
Although it needs support, honeysuckle can make your pergola attractive and inviting. Its leaves are green, oval-shaped and glossy; while its flowers are either yellow or orange.The flowers bloom during summer and have a pleasant smell.
The good thing about honeysuckle that it covers a vast area when grown – a single plant can easily cover an entire pergola. It is also available in 180 different species.
Jasmine
This evergreen climbing plant is known for its sweet-scented flowers that are white inside and rosy outside. You can grow jasmine either in pots or train them in your pergola. Flowers can appear throughout the year in most parts worldwide, except for areas that experience warmer climates. In such locations, the plant blooms in late winter through spring.
Conclusion
Climbing plants add life to your outdoor living space. More importantly, they make it beautiful and improve its air quality. If your pergola has no vegetation, start growing them because most do not require a lot of maintenance.
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