...using the logic of ecology

climbing plants for Italian gardensItalian gardens are known for their symmetry but also for their romantic use of Mediterranean plants and colours. Italian climbing plants offer a wide range of colours and tones, from the brightest oranges and reds to the most subtle pastel ranges. Italian gardens offer clean lines and strong symmetry but this elegant structure can be softened by draping them in a whole host of Mediterranean climbing plants.
Solanums, Bouganvillias and Plumbagos are the first Italian climbing plants that spring to mind, as they can only survive in warm climates such as that of Italy. However, not all of the Italian Peninsula has the kind of climate suited for these more tender climbing plants and it is really only the coastal areas that offer the kind of climate required for growing this kind of truly Mediterranean climbing plant.
Therefore, garden designers in Italy have had to rely on many of the more hardy Italian climbing plants when designing Italian gardens inland from the coast. Nonetheless, these can offer some surprisingly romantic solutions when designing Italian gardens.
As a garden designer from the UK, working in Italy for the best part of 20 years, I take full advantage of this ‘Nordic’ romanticism by combining Italian garden symmetry with the soft pastels, so often used in English garden design. Climbing plants like the majestic Wisteria offer a dazzling yet soft colour tone, when planted against the timeless buffed whites of Travertino or marble and can evoke a truly Italian garden feel, if used intelligently and maintained well. Wisteria, when planted together with pastel coloured, antique roses can provide a spectacle second to none and is an ancient combination that has been used time and time again in Italian gardens with great success. Both wisterias and roses require a position in full sun, along with most Italian climbing plants, and pruning is an essential factor in ensuring good form and continued flowering in the Italian garden setting.
Wisteria and roses are clearly deciduous climbers and lose their leaves in winter, revealing their less attractive stems and branches. Nevertheless, by simply combining these with an evergreen climber like Rhynchospernum jasminoides, the ‘naked’ winter stems can de compensated by an evergreen foliage effect. Rhynchospernum, although not a true jasmine, is known in Italy as the ‘evergreen jasmine’ (‘Gelsomino sempreverde’) in Italy and is probably the most widely used Italian climbing plant. This particular Italian climbing plant is so loved by the Italian gardeners because it offers evergreen foliage, coupled with superbly scented white flowers against an elegant dark green backdrop and, unlike most Italian climbers, it will even tolerate light shade.
There are some great shade-tolerant climbing plants that have featured strongly in Italian garden design over the centuries, such as the climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris). This slow yet industrious Italian climber is self-clinging, using its strong tendrils to attach to sheer surfaces such as brick. Hydrangea petiolaris will thrive in the darkest of shady walls and, once it eventually gets going, provides an elegant and dainty floral display, set against a cheerful, light green foliage.
One cannot discuss Italian climbing plants without mentioning the king of Italian climbers- the humble grape vine. Vitis vinifera is by far the most famous of all Italian climbing plants and there can be few Italian plants that have had such an effect upon a nation’s culture and history. The vine is ‘The’ Italian climbing plant and has shaped both the land and the people of this wonderful peninsula over many centuries. Thriving in the sunniest position and with its attractive foliage, it is a superb shade providing plant for pergolas in Italian gardens. The effect of ripe grapes, hanging in bunches over a dining table al fresco on a summer’s evening in Italy can only evoke the very strongest of Italian nuances and this plant, more than any other, deserves to be used in the Italian garden.