Perhaps an unforgotten group of plans in terms of wildlife, pre blogging I never considered their value other than to add height, colour and interest to my garden. Vertical gardening is great for a small garden too, so the garden presenters and designers say and I’d agree.

This morning’s wander with a camera stopped me at the golden hop and then today’s topic for 30 Days Wild was decided. My contribution today is to celebrate climbing plants. Here’s three from my garden today…

Golden hop Humulus lupulus Aureus, a plant I added many years ago for its fantastic yellow-green colour. Little did I know then, that it’s a great Comma butterfly larvae foodplant. Now that’s a bonus to it and me as it has been moving further north to my parts in recent years. I’m delighted to report I’ve spotted garden visits back in September 2012 🙂

Hedera colchica Sulphur Heart (Persian Ivy) was a plant save from a search and rescue sales area at a garden centre many years ago. It was in a sorry state at the time but its rescue was a serious success for wildlife from nesting, flower nectar for pollinators, winter berries for thrushes and wood pigeons to homes for spiders and countless other insects. I guess I was creating a garden for wildlife before I knew it.

Chinese wisteria Wisteria sinensis f. alba was a plant that took many years to deliver its first flowers and still to this day the excitement of them opening is still there. Little did I know when I made this plant choice, purely for aesthetic reasons and the promise of scent that bees enjoy wisteria flowers as much as me. Again, I had planted for wildlife without knowing it at the time:-)

This post was published by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch in June 2018.