/brochure

<p>Here are just a few of the climbers you will find at Ashtead Park Garden Centre depending on the season and availability:</p>

<p>The ultimate in warp-speed gardening, annual climbers shoot up fences and walls like rockets, smothering&nbsp;them in brilliantly-coloured flowers. They're easy to grow from seed – choose from the wide selection in our&nbsp;garden centre in %locations%&nbsp;– and let you create a new display every year, each one more colourful than the last. Here are&nbsp;our favourites:</p>
<div><strong>Spanish flag (Ipomoea lobata):</strong> brilliantly tropical-looking relative of morning glory, but with pennants of&nbsp;tubular flowers in flaming shades from red through orange to yellow.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus):</strong> the easiest of all the annual climbers, sow pretty, fragrant sweet peas&nbsp;direct at the foot of a wigwam or in pots in October to overwinter for earlier flowers next season.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Purple bell vine (Rhodochiton atrosanguineus):</strong> heart shaped green leaves covered with large deep red-purple flowers all summer.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata):</strong> masses of simple, open flowers in all sorts of colours from brick red&nbsp;to bright orange, all with a perky black eye.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Cup and saucer vine (Cobaea scandens):</strong> large inky purple flowers like bells with a frill of green behind are&nbsp;held on stems long enough to cut for flower arranging</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about growing annual climbers in&nbsp;your garden.</div>


Annual climbers

<p>One of our best-loved climbers is the deliciously frothy clematis, at its best scrambling through roses or&nbsp;smothering a fence with an ocean of flowers. You'll find a clematis for every month of the year in our garden&nbsp;centre in %locations%, but there's often confusion over when to prune them.</p>
<p>Don't worry: it's actually quite simple. All you need to know is roughly when your clematis flowers, and then&nbsp;you can follow our straightforward guide.</p>
<p><strong>Don't prune:</strong>early-flowering clematis like C. alpina, C. armandii, C. cirrhosa, C. montana</p>
<p>If they're getting too big and need trimming back, do it just after they finish flowering in late spring:&nbsp;otherwise, don't touch</p>
<p><strong>Prune in February:</strong><br />
large-flowered clematis flowering in May and June, like 'Barbara Jackman' and 'Nelly Moser'&nbsp;light pruning to remove dead or weak stems down to a strong pair of healthy buds. If your plants are&nbsp;getting too big, cut them back harder late summer, after they've finished flowering&nbsp;and clematis that flower late, such as 'Etoile Violette', 'Gravetye Beauty' and C. viticella&nbsp;cut hard back to about 15cm above ground level, always cutting to just above a healthy bud.</p>
<p>Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about how to prune clematis.</p>


Clematis pruning made simple

<p>When space is tight, you'll want to use every inch you can to grow crops. And when you've run out of room&nbsp;on the ground, sometimes the only way is up.</p>
<p>Edible climbers do everything ornamental plants do - lush foliage, spectacular flowers, and often good&nbsp;autumn colour – but with the added bonus of a generous harvest. Here's a selection of the best from the&nbsp;range in our garden centre in %locations%.</p>
<p><strong>Runner beans</strong> are straightforward to grow and incredibly generous, producing several pounds of long beans&nbsp;from every plant. 'Painted Lady' has bicoloured red-and-white flowers.</p>
<p><strong>Loganberries</strong> are loose-stemmed shrubs, easily trained against a fence. The sweet, juicy berries look like&nbsp;oversized raspberries.</p>
<p><strong>Grapevines</strong> drip with fruit when trained over arches: 'Boskoop Glory' has sweet, smoky purple dessert&nbsp;grapes, and its leaves turn brilliant scarlet in autumn.</p>
<p><strong>Lablab beans</strong> are a recent arrival but are fast catching on for their handsome purple leaves and plum-&nbsp;coloured beans: sow from seed in May in a sunny spot.</p>
<p><strong>Kiwi fruit</strong> are very hardy, despite their exotic-looking fruit with brown fuzzy skins and succulent bright green&nbsp;flesh. Choose a self-fertile variety like 'Jenny' or 'Solo'.</p>
<p>Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about growing edible climbers.</p>


Edible climbers

<p>Grapevines make wonderful climbers to scramble over a wall or clothe a shed in green. In our garden centre&nbsp;you'll find varieties for sweet dessert grapes straight off the vine, and others for making deliciously fruity&nbsp;wine. Growing a grapevine outside in the garden isn't difficult: here's how.</p>
<p><strong>Planting:</strong> dig plenty of organic matter into the soil, as grapevines are vigorous plants. Plant 15cm from the&nbsp;wall, to avoid the dry area at the base, and tie in loosely to a stake. Backfill, adding a handful of slow-release&nbsp;fertiliser, and water in well.</p>
<p><strong>Pruning:</strong> grapes are pruned in December, when they're dormant, as they 'bleed' sap if pruned in summer.&nbsp;Leave your vine to grow for a year or two, then choose one shoot to train as the leader and snip back&nbsp;sideshoots to five or six leaves to encourage plenty of fruit.</p>
<p><strong>Problems:</strong> powdery mildew covers leaves and fruit with a white, dusty coating and is most common when&nbsp;grapes go short of water. Prevent it by keeping your grape well watered and mulching the ground thickly to&nbsp;lock water into the soil, and look out for resistant varieties like 'Phoenix'.</p>
<p>Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about growing grapevines.</p>


Growing grapevines

<p>When you've crammed every inch of space on the ground with plants, the only way is up. Clothe your walls&nbsp;in greenery and smother your sheds in flowers to double your planting space and turn your garden into a&nbsp;green sanctuary from the outside world in sunny %locations%.</p>
<div>Climbers are one of the most versatile groups of plants in our garden centre and we've got a great selection&nbsp;for you to choose from. Here are our favourites:</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Clematis</strong> come in all shapes and sizes, from the tiny starry flowers of 'Pixie' to big, blowsy 'Rouge Cardinal'.&nbsp;Winter-flowering clematis have pretty seedheads while Clematis montana is a froth of flowers in April.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Wisteria</strong> is the ultimate in show-off climbers with its head-turning racemes of headily scented flowers in early&nbsp;summer.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)</strong> covers the uprights of pergolas and arches with glossy&nbsp;evergreen leaves and scented white flowers and never outstays its welcome.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Honeysuckles</strong> are the perfect backdrop to a cottage garden, smothered in tubular flowers all summer and&nbsp;filling the garden with scent and punch-drunk bumblebees.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><strong>Passionflowers</strong> are far hardier than they look, especially the stop-you-in-your-tracks purple fringed&nbsp;whirligigs of Passiflora caerulea.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about growing climbers.</div>


<p>Of all the fruit you can grow in the garden, a grapevine is among the most productive and beautiful. All you need is a sunny wall, fence or pergola for it to scramble up and it'll cheerfully cover the whole thing with big elegant leaves turning brilliant colours in autumn, and of course fat clusters of fruit dripping with sweetness.</p>
<p>There are dozens of varieties of grapevine and we've got a great selection in our %locations% garden centre. For sweet fruit for the table, go for a dessert variety: 'Brandt' has small but very sweet dark-skinned grapes (and spectacular autumn colour) while 'Phoenix' is a reliable modern variety good for both eating and winemaking.</p>
<p>If it's a vineyard you're after, there's an even wider choice. 'Seyval' makes a light, fruity wine; while 'Pinot Noir' ripens well in a good summer for a classic deep red claret.</p>
<p>Here are our top tips for growing successful grapevines:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Choose a sunny site</strong>, ideally a south- or southwest facing wall and sheltered from the wind. Vines do best in free-draining soil like sand or chalk: if you're gardening on clay dig in a barrowload of grit before planting.</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Add well-rotted farmyard manure</strong> (found in our garden centre) to improve soil before planting, as grapevines are in the ground a long time.</p>
</li>
<li><strong>Add a handful of slow-release fertiliser</strong> like pelleted chicken manure or bonemeal to keep your plant happy all season.</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Plant when vines are dormant</strong> – from late autumn till early spring, as long as the ground isn't waterlogged or frozen.</p>
</li>
<li><strong>Put up a sturdy training system</strong> before you plant: stretch wires 30cm apart up a fence, or attach trellis. You'll find all you need in our garden centre.</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Water thoroughly</strong> in dry weather: if grapevines get parched at the roots they're more likely to suffer from mildew, ruining your crop.</p>
</li>
<li><strong>Prune each winter</strong> once the vine has dropped all its leaves and is completely dormant to remove some of the year's vigorous growth and keep the plant productive and healthy.</li>
</ul>
<p>Please ask the staff in our garden centre in %locations%&nbsp;for more information and advice about growing grapevines.</p>


<p>Natural planting using swathes of gently-swaying grasses shot through with drifts of tall, open perennials to mimic the wild look of the American prairie lands caught the imagination of gardeners across Europe in the 1990s, and it's been going strong ever since - you can see some fabulous examples at public gardens like Trentham in Staffordshire. It's a look you can adapt easily at home in %locations%&nbsp;for a gorgeous, contemporary design that's also very low maintenance.</p>
<p>You'll find all the plants you need in our garden centre: here's how to create your own back-garden prairie.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Choose the right spot:</strong> prairies need sunshine, so pick an open, bright area of your garden, preferably not too damp as most prairie-style plants prefer free-draining conditions.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>Restrict your varieties:</strong> prairie planting relies on repetition for its effect, so limit your range of plants to a handful of grass varieties and a few perennials or annuals - just plant lots of them.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>Start with the grasses:</strong> these form the backbone of your design, so choose carefully. Tall grasses move gracefully in the wind: good choices are Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster', Molinia caerulea 'Transparent' or evergreen Stipa gigantea. All have spectacular flowers which sparkle in the frosts of winter.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>Mix in the flowers:</strong> flat-headed or spherical flowers work best with grasses as contrasts in texture and shape. They often flower at the same height, too, giving that level prairie-like look. Go for achilleas, autumn-flowering asters, and other daisies: both echinacea and rudbeckias were made for prairie settings.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>Plant in drifts:</strong> design your planting not in blobby groups, but in drifts of the same plant meandering naturally in waves through the design. Plant seven, nine or eleven of the same plant together: be generous for maximum impact.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>Don't be too tidy:</strong> part of the charm of a prairie planting is the effect of frosty winter weather on seedheads and dead stems, so leave clearing up until February, when you can just chop everything back down to the ground and let it do it all over again.</li>
</ul>
<p>Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about designing prairie planting.</p>


Prairie planting

<p>Britain's best-loved flower, roses are found in almost every garden in the country especially in %locations%. And it's little wonder: they're elegant, stately plants that just take your breath away as soon as they flower, with those heartbreakingly beautiful petals and perfume to fill the garden and beyond.</p>
<p>They're also amazingly versatile. Among the roses you'll find in our garden centre are tiny patio roses for pots and ground-cover roses to scramble at the feet of your other shrubs. There are climbers and ramblers to smother fences, and species roses with sculptural autumn hips.</p>
<p>The way you grow your roses is limited only by your imagination. Here are a few ideas:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Over pergolas:</strong> Tie a rambling rose in to each upright of a pergola and it'll quickly scramble up and over the top, meeting the rose on the other side and forming a bower of flowers you'll love to wander through.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>Trained round an obelisk:</strong> Choose a moderate-vigour climber like the scarlet 'Dublin Bay' and tie it in at a 45° angle so it winds round the obelisk in a spiral to the top, clothing it in colour.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>In sinks and troughs:</strong> Patio roses like buttery 'Sweet Memories' are very happy in containers: plant two or three in a sink or trough, and they'll froth over the top in a riot of colour and perfume.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>On swags:</strong> Drill holes through tall, sturdy posts and thread with rope at least 24mm thick to make swags to hold climbing or rambling roses. Tie them in as they grow and they'll knit together into elegantly romantic garden dividers.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>As a hedge:</strong> Rose hedges are great for security, as the prickles keep would-be intruders well away, and they look wonderful in full flower. Hedging roses include the dog rose and Rosa rugosa 'Hansa', with fat reddish-orange hips.<br />
&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>Scrambling up into a tree:</strong> If you've got plenty of space, there's nothing more beautiful than a big tree exploding with the colour and scent of summer roses. Large ramblers like 'Rambling Rector' and 'Kiftsgate' are spectacular grown like this.</li>
</ul>
<p>Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about ways to grow roses.</p>


Climbers at Ashtead Park

A selection of Climbers at Ashtead Park

Plant Support

Climbers at Ashtead Park

A selection of Climbers at Ashtead Park

Clematis

Wisteria

Climbing Roses