Tired of prying eyes or unsightly views? Let climbing plants work their magic. These plants can quickly cover your trellis, fence, or pergola to create a beautiful, natural privacy screen.
With climbing plants, you can also give your garden a touch of vertical elegance, turning a plain fence into a floral masterpiece or a simple pergola or trellis into a leafy, shaded retreat.
There are many climbing plants suitable for every garden style, from fast-growing flowering vines and fragrant beauties to delicate, elegant climbers.
In this post, we’ll cover the 20 best climbing plants for trellises, pergolas, and fences.
20 Best Climbing Plants for Trellis, Pergola or Fence
1. Gorgeous Clematis
Clematis is a highly favored climbing plant is known for showy flowers that come in a multitude of colors, shapes, and sizes, including yellow, red, purple, white, blue, and pink. Use this pretty, lightweight plant to cover trellises, pergolas, or fences, creating a vertical garden full of color and texture.
Mix different clematis varieties for a prolonged flowering period and a dynamic display.
Hardiness zones: 4-9
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2. Fragrant Honeysuckle
This easy-care climber produces colorful, tubular flowers that hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies love. Honeysuckles are favored in country-style gardens. This hardy plant also emits a sweet, intoxicating scent, especially in the evening, turning your outdoor spaces super fragrant.
Train honeysuckle to cover your trellis, fence, or pergola for a lush, green backdrop. Beware that some honeysuckle varieties, especially Lonicera japonica, can be invasive.
Hardiness zones: 4-9
3. Whimsical Wisteria
Walking under a blooming wisteria is dreamy as its woody, thick vines cascade with purple, violet, blue, or white, highly fragrant flower clusters, giving off fairytale vibes. So, picture wisteria covering your trellis, pergola, or fence. Looks splendid, right?
This vigorous grower can reach impressive heights and lengths. Space your wisteria plants at least 10-15 feet apart to allow for their vigorous growth and spread.
Hardiness zones: 4-9
4. Romantic Climbing Roses
Technically, climbing roses aren’t vines, but you can train and tie their long, flexible branches to cover your structures for a touch of romance and graceful beauty. Train climbing roses horizontally along a trellis for more flowering shoots and a neat, tidy appearance.
Let climbing roses cascade over a pergola or train them to grow in a fan shape against a fence.
Hardiness zones: 4-11
5. Stunning Trumpet Vines
Whether you choose the lavender trumpet vine or red trumpet vine, you can’t go wrong with using this stunning plant to brighten and cover your fence, trellis, or pergola. Its lush foliage and vibrant flowers soften hard surfaces and invite hummingbirds and butterflies.
Prune your trumpet vine plants regularly to control their vigorous growth, prevent invasion, promote flowering, and maintain their shape.
Hardiness zones: 4-9
6. Beautiful Jasmine
Enjoy the intoxicating Jasmine fragrance as you spend time outdoors by training this plant to climb your fences, pergola, or trellis. Besides the pleasant smell, Jasmine will create vertical interest and provide shade.
Encourage lateral shoots for an even spread that leads to a lush, full appearance. This plant comes in shrub or bush varieties, so ensure you get the vine type.
Hardiness zones: 7-10
7. Dazzling Bougainvillea
Imagine your seating areas and fences looking showy and vibrant for most of the year—the bougainvillea blooms on and off in tropical climates. This flamboyant diva mesmerizes with its vibrant bracts in shades of fiery reds, bold pinks, electric oranges, and delicate purples.
You can transform your fences, trellises, and pergolas into cascading waterfalls of vibrant beauty by growing bougainvillea to cover these places.
Hardiness zones: 9-11
8. Delightful Morning Glory
Grow morning glory to quickly cover trellises, fences, and arbors with a cascade of colorful blooms. It’s especially perfect for fences. Per its name, this summer-long blooming annual vine’s purple, white, pink, blue, and red trumpet-like flowers open in the morning and then close at night or when cloudy.
Morning glory can grow quite long.
Hardiness zones: 2-11
9. Nectar-rich Sweet Pea
Plant sweet peas for a cottage-core-like appearance in your garden or yard. Combine this graceful, fragrant plant with other cottage gardens favorites like roses, lavender, and delphiniums to give your seating areas and fences a romantic, old-fashioned look.
Sweet peas also make excellent cut flowers. Some sweet pea varieties grow long, while others stay short, so choose a variety that best meets your garden needs.
Hardiness zones: 3-11
10. Foliage-Rich Boston Ivy
Next on our list is a plant commonly found at the side of buildings. Boston Ivy will also look great on your trellis and pergola, attaching itself efficiently to them with adhesive pads.
Once established, Boston ivy forms a dense, leafy canopy. Boston Ivy’s striking feature is its fall foliage when the leaves turn red, orange, or purple, creating a spectacular display.
Hardiness zones: 4-8
11. Exotic Passionflower
Are you looking for a unique, exotic plant to cover your fences, trellises, or pergolas? Pick the passionflower. With intricate, almost alien-looking flowers with radial filaments and vivid colors, passionflowers exhibit nature’s creativity.
Passionflowers’ deep green, lobed leaves provide a lush backdrop to the vibrant blooms that attract pollinators. Also, some species bear edible fruits, known as passion fruits or maracuja.
Hardiness zones: 6-11
12. Hardy Climbing Hydrangeas
Unlike the more common shrub hydrangeas, climbing hydrangea adorns walls, trellises, pergolas, fences, and arbors with sprawling vines. Climbing hydrangeas thrive in partial to full shade. So use them to brighten shady corners.
Climbing hydrangeas have glossy, dark green leaves that turn yellow in the fall and produce white or creamy white flowers in summer, forming a striking contrast against the green foliage.
Hardiness zones: 4-8
13. Aromatic Chocolate Vine
Chocolate vine is a fast-growing vine can sprout 40 feet in a single season. This makes the chocolate vine perfect for training it to climb and cover structures. When this plant blooms in spring, it emits a noticeable, enjoyable fragrance, often described as sweet and reminiscent of chocolate or vanilla.
Plant chocolate vines in partially shaded areas, where they can thrive away from direct afternoon sun.
Hardiness zones: 4-8
14. Showy Black-Eyed Susan Vine
Is your trellis, pergola, fence, or garden devoid of color and cheer? If so, plant the vining black-eyed Susan for its vibrant, long-lasting blooms and vigorous growth.
Its fast-growing nature (it reaches 6-8 feet or more with proper support) allows it to cover structures quickly with green, lush leaves and bright flowers. You can let black-eyed Susan vines trail from hanging baskets.
Hardiness zones: 10-11
15. Edible Climbing Nasturtium
The flowers of this excellent climber are both edible and visually stunning. Climbing Nasturtiums produce brightly colored flowers in shades of orange, red, yellow, and cream, funnel-shaped flowers with a distinctive, slightly spicy scent. Harvest the flowers and leaves to add to salads and garnishes.
Climbing Nasturtiums quickly cover structures, which makes them excellent ground covers and for covering structures like trellises, fences, and pergolas.
Hardiness zones: 9-11
16. The Tropical Beauty, Mandevilla
This plant, with its lush, glossy leaves and vibrant trumpet-shaped flowers ranging from pure white to vivid pinks and reds, is hard to resist. It’s perfect for framing your garden view, providing a lush privacy screen, and adding some tropical touch.
Mandevilla is easy to care for, drought-tolerant, and thrives in sunny spots. It continuously enchants with its beauty and attracts hummingbirds.
Hardiness zones: 5-11
17. The Unique Moonflower
Do you often hold nighttime entertainment outdoors? The moonflower would be a beautiful addition to your trellis, fence, or pergola. This magical plant will transform your garden or yard into a nocturnal wonderland.
As dusk falls, its large, fragrant white blooms unfurl, casting a luminous glow in the moonlight and filling the evening air with a sweet, intoxicating scent. Moonflower attracts nocturnal pollinators like moths.
Hardiness zones: 10-12
18. Dynamic Virginia Creeper
Try Virginia Creeper if you want to give your fence and seating areas a dynamic, leafy look. This vigorous climber boasts lush green foliage that turns into a breathtaking tapestry of fiery red and deep purple in the fall.
The five-leaf clusters create a dense, verdant cover, offering privacy and a natural backdrop. You can grow Virginia Creeper grows in full sun to shade.
Hardiness zones: 10-11
19. Evergreen Bower Vine
Blooming in shades of white, pink, and lavender, Bower Vines can turn any trellis, pergola, or fence into a lush, floral paradise with its delicate, trumpet-shaped flowers and glossy, evergreen leaves. This plant creates a romantic ambiance.
Bower vine creates a vibrant, living tapestry and grows in full sunlight and some shade. It also attracts hummingbirds.
Hardiness zones: 9-11
20. Dutchman’s Pipe
The distinctive heart-shaped leaves of Dutchman’s Pipe provide a verdant backdrop, while its curious, pipe-shaped flowers intrigue and captivate onlookers. As a magnet for butterflies and hummingbirds, Dutchman’s Pipe adds dynamic life to your garden, bustling with vibrant colors and graceful movements.
This low-maintenance plant can grow in partial to full sunlight.
Hardiness zones: 5-8
Conclusion
One type of climbing plant, whether you prefer the classic beauty of roses, bougainvillea’s vibrant colors, Jasmine’s fragrant blooms, or even Virginia creeper’s spectacular foliage, is enough to transform your fences, pergolas, or trellises. However, don’t limit yourself should you fall in love with multiple plants; go for it.
Hey there, I’m Derek Schew, a writer for Lawnholic.com, where we cover everything and anything related to lawns. As someone who’s spent countless hours tending to my own lawn, I’m passionate about sharing my knowledge and helping others achieve the perfect yard. From lawn care tips to product reviews, I’m committed to providing our readers with the most accurate and up-to-date information available. So whether you’re a seasoned lawn enthusiast or just getting started, I invite you to join our community and discover the joys of a lush, green lawn.