Which Plants Need a Climbing Aid?

The Perfect Climbing Support for Your Plants

Blooming climbing plants are not just greatly admired amongst amateur gardeners and plant lovers, but are also a fantastic design tool to fill your home or garden with greenery. Climbing support frames are also great to help assist plants, such as tomatoes, peppers or beans, so that they can grow and provide you with soft, tasty and juicy crops.

Whether you're aiming for a wild jungle of flowering vines or a bountiful vegetable patch full of delicious treats, climbing aids not only provide your plants with stability and protection, but are also a real eye-catcher in your garden. In this issue, we want to share the many advantages of climbing supports and introduce you to our extensive catalogue of garden products. Here you are bound to find the right plant support to suit you and help you grow your favourite plants.

What is the Purpose of Plant Supporters and Climbing Aids?

The function of a plant support is to give shape and support the plant as it grows. Climbing plants specifically need this support, in order to grow to their potential height. In some cases, plants can become wildly overgrown without climbing support, for example ivy. Other vine plants, such as tomatoes, can snap or break without enough support due to the heavy fruit they bear.

More advantages of climbing aids include:

• Better ventilation and prevents damage from fungal infections
• Equal exposure to sunlight
• Protection from pests like slugs and snails
• Prevents the crop from touching the ground, which can cause them to rot quickly (for example with melons or pumpkins)
• Protection from wind, enabling the plants to grow
• Makes pruning and harvesting easier
• Better use of available planting space in gardens or flower beds

How Do I Find the Right Plant Support for My Plants?

Plant support frames and climbing aids are available in different materials, in numerous shapes and with different functions. Typically, they are made of lightweight, sturdy bamboo, plastic that prevents mould and splinters, flexible fiberglass or plastic-coated metal, which often comes in a variety of decorative colours.

As for the shape, there are also many options:

• Bamboo or metal poles are great for potted plants and flowers like monstera, philodendron, orchids, ficus or for crops like zucchini.
• Climbing pyramids are often used for planting tomatoes or cucumbers. However, you can also attach horizontal ropes to the legs of the frame in order to grow peas or beans.
• Tomato cages are another popular type of climbing support that include rings for additional fruit support.
• Tomato spiral rods can be used to support crops without the need to use fasteners.

However, if you are also concerned with ornamental plants and want to decorate your garden with vines and flowers such as ivy or jasmine, or plant edible plants such as raspberries and grapevines, there are also many options:

• Rose arches can be placed near the entrance to the house or to decorate paths.
• Espaliers and trellises look wonderful, when planted with clematis or climbing roses. There are models that can be mounted on the wall or stuck into the ground, as well as extendable trellises with a lattice design, the width of which can be flexibly adjusted. Others are even equipped with a planter, in which you can plant your green treasures directly.
• Similarly, you can use plant obelisks, often topped with decorative spikes, to bring elegance to your outdoor space.

Once you’ve found the right climbing aid for your plant, you shouldn’t forget about the correct mounting material. Wire is most commonly used because it is very flexible. However, you can also use string, plant clips or plant hooks. Remember, however, that you should not tie the plants too tightly on to the climbing aid, so that they can grow freely.

We hope that with this information we have sparked your garden fever and you are now ready to fill your garden or apartment with the most beautiful plants!