Top-notch vegetation for enhancing your pergola with vertical growth
Pergolas serve as striking garden focal points, supporting a variety of plants. They offer versatility in function, creating a pathway ambiance, offering shaded seating areas, or dividing garden spaces. A long pergola can even partition the garden into distinct 'rooms'.
For additional plant growth support, trellis panels can be attached. These provide extra structure for climbing plants, enhancing their ascent up the pergola. For additional shade, consider installing screening, like curtains or a canvas cover, on top of the pergola.
Here are some reliable plants to cultivate on pergolas:
- Honeysuckles: Known for their attractive twining growth, honeysuckles (Lonicera) are perfect for pergolas. The native, wildlife-friendly honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) features delightful fragrance, while cultivars like 'Serotina' or 'Mandarin' offer more color.
- Passion Flowers: With their bee-attracting blooms and exotic appearance, passion flowers deliver striking display and plump orange fruits, extending their interest. Ideal growth conditions are in full sun or partial shade with moist, well-drained soil.
- Potato Vines (Solanum laxum, Solanum crispum): Curate evergreen color by opting for these hardy plants, which flourish best in a sunny, sheltered location and produce summer blooms. The varieties 'Glasnevin' and 'Album' have received the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).
- Grapevines: These plants usually fruit from midsummer to early autumn, offering pendulous fruits that hang from the pergola canopy, providing shade. Check out our guide on how to plant a grapevine outdoors.
- Clematis: Choose the right clematis for color throughout the year. Our spring-flowering clematis and summer-flowering clematis lists will inspire you. For autumn and winter color, peruse our evergreen clematis recommendations.
- Climbing and Rambling Roses: For a classic cottage garden aesthetic, grow these roses up and over your pergola. Take inspiration from the Rose Pergola at Kew Gardens. Get all the advice you need in our climbing rose grow guide and rambling rose grow guide.
- Wisteria: Like grapevines, wisteria is sure to impress with its fragrant, pendulous flowers, usually appearing in May and June. The leafy canopy is perfect for creating shade. Learn how to grow wisteria.
- Trumpet Vine (Campsis): For a taste of the exotic, consider trumpet vines. In summer and autumn, they produce a profusion of showy blooms in rich reds and oranges. Best grown in full sun or partial shade, with moist, well-drained soil.
- Crimson Glory Vine (Vitis coignetiae): Its fantastic autumn color makes this vine stand out. It grows rapidly and produces a lush, leafy canopy, ideal for covering a pergola.
To avoid a bare-looking pergola base, plant bushy plants like hardy geraniums, lady's mantle, or hostas around the posts or pillars. These plants will provide year-round interest and enhance the overall aesthetic of the structure.
When planning your home-and-garden lifestyle, consider cultivating honeysuckles, passion flowers, potato vines, grapes, clematis, climbing and rambling roses, wisteria, trumpet vines, or Crimson Glory vines on your pergola for a vibrant, flowering display. For a more complete look, surround the posts or pillars with bushy plants like hardy geraniums, lady's mantle, or hostas.
