10 Of The Best Climbers For Wildlife

Sep

Climbers provide shelter and food for wildlife as well as adding interest to your garden. Here are some of the best climbers.

Climbers are great for wildlife as birds can nest and eat the bugs that live in them, butterflies can hibernate, and bees can take cover from rain within them. One single plant can host many different species of wildlife.

Climbers can cover bare walls, fences and buildings while taking up very little space but adding great value to nature. And as they take up little soil space you can squeeze more plants in.

There are plants that naturally climb, or plants that can be used as a climber but need attaching to where you want them to grow.

10 Of the best climbers for wildlife

1. Passion Flower

These have a beautiful exotic looking flowers, with dark evergreen leaves. They provide general shelter for insects and birds, as well as nectar for some pollinators.

2. Honeysuckle

The honeysuckles I have in my garden have self sown, they come in a range of colours, from dark red to yellow.

They provide shelter for nesting birds, nectar for a number of pollinators (including moths). The 20-plume moth caterpillars with love munching on the leaves, as well as birds liking the berries.

If you prefer native when wildlife gardening, 'Lonicera Periclymenum' is the honeysuckle for you. If you don't mind cultivated then 'Graham Thomas' is supposed to be the closes cultivar to the UK's native species.

3. Hops

Humulus lupulus, common hop, provides shelter for insects and leaves for caterpillars, the comma butterfly being one of the butterflies that likes this plant.

4. Ivy

As I live near a wooded area, ivy is everywhere so I don't feel the need to add this to my garden. However, one of the many self sown ivy I have removed from my flower beds has been placed in a pot, and I'm growing it over an old wooden chair. I'm interested to see if I can create an ivy structure that will look like a chair, which should give great cover for the birds.

Common ivy (Hedera Helix) provides long-lasting, evergreen cover. Birds will nest, shelter and hunt in it. Ladybirds, butterflies, spiders and many other wildlife hibernate in ivy. The flowers attract hundreds of bees, and the birds enjoy eating the berries. The holly blue butterfly's caterpillars like eating the leaves.

5. Star Jasmine

I love jasmines they look pretty and have a beautiful scent. I don't know the name of my jasmine but it is a woody evergreen climber with dark leaves and yellow flowers. The birds enjoy sheltering in it, so do insects and the nectar attracts lots of bees.

6. Wisteria

It is a stunning woody climber with clusters of lightly fragrant lilac flowers which appear in spring. It is great for nesting birds and insects to shelter in.

7. Clematis

Clematis provide nesting shelter and hunting grounds for birds. I have a Montana around my office window so I get to see all the blue tits flying into it looking for bugs. Many clematises provide nectar for bees. Birds also like to use the seed heads for nesting material.

8.Climbing hydrangea

Like all climbers it provides shelter for a variety of different species, including nesting birds. It can tolerate shade and is a useful plant for north-facing walls. If you grow it on a south-facing wall, it's flowers will attract lots of pollinating hoverflies and other insects.

I haven't been lucky with hydrangeas, they need lots more water than my garden can provide naturally, the hot weather in 2022 managed to finished mine off.

9. Climbing Rose

There are some great climbing and rambling roses for wildlife, but not all are created equal, so check before you buy. Nesting birds like them, and the single petal varieties will feed pollinators, followed by hips for the birds. My local area has lots of dog roses, this is a plant that is great for wildlife but as it is in abundance here, I don't feel the need to add this to my garden.

10. Pyracantha

I have pyracantha under all my windows, I can watch the birds sitting on top of them eating the beautiful berries during Autumn. The berries come in yellow, orange or red and the birds seem to go for the orange ones first, then the red and only eat some of the yellow. They are covered in hundreds of white flowers in spring which attracts lots of bees. I've found they produce more flowers and fruit in the following year after they have had a good pruning.

Rain Shadow

When planting you need to be aware of rain shadow, there is an area beneath a wall or fence where the rain doesn't fall and conditions can be very dry for most plants to grow successfully. It's best practice to plant climbers at least 45cm away from the wall, angling the plant toward the wall you wish it to climb.