The bank holiday weekend allows us all a bit more time to spend on the garden, and the recent warmth and sunshine has drawn even the most fair weather gardeners outdoors. It’s that time of year when we want to start making our gardens look great for the summer. And a climbing wigwam is a practical project that can be undertaken over the course of a weekend.
It can introduce interest and provide a focal point in flat borders, creating a useful structure to grow climbing plants such as sweet pea and clematis. It can be created by using bamboo sticks, hazel, silver birch or willow branches and tying them together at the top. You can also buy them ready made and there are some beautiful iron work obelisks that can be very elegant.
A sunny spot will be the best choice for most flowering climbers. Prepare the area where you are going to place the structure by clearing weeds. If you don’t have borders, you can also do this in a large container filled with compost so this project is suitable for patios and balconies as well.
Bury each cane around five to six inches deep into the soil, spacing each one to create a circle. Gather the tops together and secure with twine or wire. You could place some chicken wire around the structure or wrap the twine around it in a spiral to create some supports for climbers to attach themselves.
Plant them at the base of each cane and gently secure them to each one as climbers grow with some string.
If you are looking for a temporary colourful display this summer, plant annual climbers. These can be grown from seed or purchased now as small seedlings or plug plants.
For example, nasturtiums are so easy to grow from seed and their bright orange, red and yellow flowers are very cheerful. Morning glory has vibrant purple flowers that open in morning time and it will grow quickly, and Rhodochiton is a beautiful climber from Mexico with eye-catching purple tubular flowers. These annuals are best planted out in June, and while they grow, give them a liquid feed once a week and deadhead to encourage more flowers.
Alternatively you could grow some veg – French runner beans look so pretty and will feed you too. These are tender so wait until the risk of frost is gone before planting these out. Sweet pea is always gorgeous for providing colour, scent and lots of cut flowers for indoors as well. These are hardy so could be planted straight away. Watch out for slugs and snails who are partial to fresh young growth.
For a longer-lasting display, you could grow a smaller growing clematis. For example, Clematis ‘Etoile de Malicorne’ has large lavender flowers from late spring to summer.
Climbing roses tend to reach for the sky so a smaller shrub rose would be better in this situation, its stems trained against the canes.
You can also create some interesting structural looks with evergreens such as ivy creating a green obelisk topiary.
For night time, you could finish the wigwam off with a string of battery-operated fairy lights to make it sparkle on those summer evenings ahead.
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