Plants To Cover Sunny Walls

Plants for walls fall into two categories: climbers and wall shrubs. Being specially adapted to cling or twine, climbers are an obvious solution for a vertical surface. Many wall shrubs lend themselves to being trained upwards and tender wall shrubs, as well as climbers, benefit from the shelter offered by a wall that faces the sun most of the day. Its warmth is absorbed by the wall during daytime and given off at night.


Solanum crispum 'Glasnewin'
Chilean potato vine


This vigorous shrub is ideal for covering a wall, to which it can be loosely trained. Try it with Abutilon x suntense, so they provide a mass of purple together, though the solanum opens its starry, yellow-centred blooms all summer, continuing long after the abutilon has finished.


Plant in well-drained soil and prune after flowering if necessary.


Cytisus battandieri
Pineapple broom/ Moroccan broom

This delightful shrub is easy to train against a high wall or fence. Tie in the long stems that bear handsome, silvery trifoliate leaves, pruning out any that are unwanted after flowering. Within a year or two, young plants should produce showy, upright candles of yellow, pea-like, pineapple-scented flowers from early to midsummer.

Plant in poor,well-drained soil and avoid disturbance.



Actinidia kolomikta

Picture showing Actinidia kolomikta growing on wall

Related to the kiwi fruit, this twining climber is grown for its large, heart-shaped leaves, which take on bizarre colours when young. Their tips become coloured with white and pink as if paint had been splashed on them. Small white flowers are borne during early summer, but they are inconspicuous.


Picture showing small white flowers of Actinidia kolomikta
Prune back to restrict size if necessary after teh colours have faded; new shoots are prone to frost damage.