For climbers some support will be necessary and modern invention provides a richly varied choice. A well-made wooden trellis, plastic- covered mesh, vine eyes with wire stretched between, or a nail hammered in where required – there is something to suit every depth of pocket.

I use trellis or plastic-covered netting fitted to wooden bobbins 2 in. long, made by cutting up a broom shaft. This holds the plants out from the wall so that the air can circulate freely reducing the incidence of mildew and red spider mite. If wood is used anywhere as a support it should be treated with a good preservative first.

No matter what treasured climber is planted, the wall will provide a protection not enjoyed by the denizens of the open garden. Before attempting any planting examine the soil at the foot of an average house wall. Usually it consists of builders’ leavings, sub-soil, pot crocks and other aridities, possibly enriched by a few tea leaves. All this must be excavated and replaced with soil from a fertile part of the garden.

In a town garden or a shady site box could be pressed into service, but enough, I malign a plant which has done yeoman service. Regular feeding and clipping are essential or the bushes become bare and leggy.

Though a hedge around the outer periphery reduces the garden area still further, the desire for privacy is sufficient reason for most people to plant a screen of some sort. In common with most enthusiasts I love to invite people to see my plants yet I still feel justified in demanding a degree of seclusion to enjoy my flowers and the labour of growing them.

Opinions vary as to when pruning or clipping should commence and this does depend very much on the type of plant, exposure, and state of growth. Hawthorn is usually cut hard back after one year to almost soil level whereas I let beech run for five years at least, only trimming the sides but not the top. The subsequent cultivations include controlling weeds, watching for pests and diseases, an annual feed of a balanced fertiliser and renewal of the mulch as it is broken down into the soil.

Some climbers like ivy need no support other than that provided by their aerial roots whereas others, as for example the climbing roses, need tying in with string, plastic ribbon, webbing or a similar artificial aid.

Tradition has it that clematis produce their best efforts when the roots are shaded but the flowers are allowed to reach up into the sun. However, I believe a well-drained soil to be more important, otherwise losses in winter are liable to be heavy. A mulch of peat mixed with a handful of bone- meal is all the feed necessary.

I could till a book with a selection of climbing and wall plants but as before will restrict the choice to those which have been proven in the crucible of the garden. There are two species especially suitable for wall culture, butoboth need different treatment.

Actinidia chinensis will riot over an acre of wall in an undignified scramble. The large leaves, 6 to 8 in. across, and fragrant flowers are recompense enough if space can be provided, but really only a castle offers sufficient wall space and even then, should the drawbridge be left down, it could prove a liability for once inside it would take over the uppermost turret. A. kolomikta is a shrub of feminine complexity. It is incapable of deciding on a suitable leaf colour, the lower half remaining green while the upper half turns white and pink.

The form of L. japonica known as aureoreticulata has proved more resilient in my line of a millstone grit boulder in the rock garden. L. periclymenum is the woodbine and its variety belgica makes the perfect company planting. The first crop of yellow-flushed dark red flowers opens early in June to be followed in September by a late indulgence of the same quality if not the quantity. Softwood cuttings in July root rapidly in the sand frame. To prune shorten back the side shoots to 4 buds after flowering in September.

There is an old elm nearby clothed in ivy which confirms my regard for this climber. It makes a perfect sanctuary for nesting birds in summer, a column of polished green to lighten the dark days of winter. Some older buildings would be stark ruins without a softening mantle of ivy. No matter that the soil is dry to the point of aridity, or dark with the shade of forest trees, the ivy grows to mask the nakedness of inhospitable earth with quiet efficiency.

If a certain Dales cottage is any indication, Kerria japonica makes a good wall plant but needs careful pruning to avoid untidiness. Well-grown plants will fill a dark corner with rich yellow flowers.

Of the larger-flowered garden hybrids there must be a plant to suit every taste – large, medium or small flowers in pink, purple, blue or white. I only include a selection here for like legion they are many.

First Barbara Jackman (Patens) which I grow on a north-west wall, the petunia-pink flowers are better in partial shade. Comtesse de Bouchaud (Jackmanii) is profligate with her pink flowers from July to October. Ernest Markham (Viticella) is rather spoilt for me as I first saw the dark red velvety flowers against new brick; the gardener was at fault not the clematis. In vigour and length of flowering season, July to October, it cannot be faulted.

As I stand each spring under a 30-ft. high hawthorn through which has intertwined a Clematis montana Elizabeth I would be the last to disagree. The white of the hawthorn and pink of the clematis intermingle to make the complete floral curtain. Tradition has it that clematis produce their best efforts when the roots are shaded but the flowers are allowed to reach up into the sun. However, I believe a well-drained soil to be more important, otherwise losses in winter are liable to be heavy. A mulch of peat mixed with a handful of bone- meal is all the feed necessary.

Clethra alnifolia should be more widely grown. It is not fastidious except in the question of soil which must be free of any hint of lime. It associates contentedly with rhododendrons and in September, as the pulse of the garden slows, the cream-white spiked trusses open and fill the air for some distance with a delicate fragrance.

Avoid only the form listed as rosea, a villainous washed-out pink, hideous to behold and parsimonious in producing flowers.

Pruning is accepted with equanimity even when amateurishly performed by rabbits, cows and a very unpredictable rotary grass cutter. Propagation can be by cuttings or layering, whichever is more convenient.

Cornus alba has proved a worthy friend which when planted as a windbreak spreads, each branch rooting where it touches the ground, into a dense mass of shoots. For the connoisseur, C. alba sibirica, with brilliant scarlet shoots in winter, and less vigorous enthusiasm to colonise the whole garden, is better value. C. alba spaethii is the supreme champion because the golden variegated leaves spread cheer on the dampest day in summer and like the type plant it can really cover the ground, a veritable racehorse of a plant.

Buddleias should be planted in every garden where there are children for warm sunshine will bring out the honey scent of the flowers and youngsters can enjoy watching the rich collection of insects which make haste to the banquet.

Buddleia alternifolia from China makes a tall shrub with long arching branches, covered in July with lilac-purple, delicately fragrant flowers. A little judicious thinning of the branches improves the shape of the bush enormously. Cuttings taken in July or August root readily in a sandy compost.

Dress the soil liberally with peat or well-rotted organic matter, then plant deeply, to the extent of leaving only the tips of the shoots showing.

Donation is listed as a variety of C. x williamsii, but it has all the toughness of a full blooded japonica. This is decidedly my favourite camellia and the glorious peach-pink flowers nearly rival the best rhododendrons.

Fascinating and Charming are two which could be properly described as pink while White Bouquet and White Cloud, as the names imply, supply a patch of white to relieve the bolder colours. Cuttings, will root at any time during the growing season. The Orange Ball Tree, B. globosa, is altogether too gaunt and straggling to be pleasant. In June ,when covered with globose orange flowers it has a brief beauty but in my opinion it is not worth the 12 months ground rent needed.

These shrubs share with heathers their antipathy to an alkaline soil. They do, however, make splendid ground cover in shade for given a cool peaty soil they quickly colonise the available space with spreading underground stems. Gaultheria miqueliana from North America runs up the peat walls, hugging the ground with intimate affection. The white or pink, berries are conspicuous for only a brief period, due I believe to scrumping mice.

On first aquaintance H. armstrongii looks like a refined dwarf conifer until July when the branches are starred with white flowers. A deep shining gold foliage intensifies with the first frost to a glorious bronze. After 12 years on my rock garden it has reached a towering 12 in. and is a delightful dwarf shrublet which is full of personality. Autumn Glory I grow tangled with the pink Calluna Camla (County Wicklow) which gives it the protection so essential in inland districts. The violet spikes open from July until the first frost to mingle with the pink spikes of heather.

The ornamental vines have for a long time been favourites of mine. Their leaves turn the most thought-provoking colours in the autumn from rose to deep wine purple. All leaves have a characteristic fragrance; those of the vine are positively alcoholic.

All need deep fertile soil to develop the largest possible leaves. The tendril climbing species are suitable for retaining walls, pergolas or terraces whereas the self-clinging species will cover a sun- warmed wall very quickly. I keep the roots fenced in, for a vine runs riot unless restricted. Vitis coignetiae is the one I know better than any other having grown it for twenty odd years. The leaves are large, 10 in. across in some I measured, and they turn to orange and dull crimson in late September.

That beautiful plant V. inconstans must now because of a botanical whim be Parthenocissus tricuspidata veitchii. Vitis pulchra colours a warm red with the onset of winter and it is not unlike V. coignetiae.

There is a variety with double flowers called W. floribunda or the Japanese Wisteria which is variable in the matter of raceme length, and to be certain of a good display it is advisable to choose either the variety alba with white flowers, or macrobotrys, a beautiful variety with lilac flowers feathered l’urple in enormous pendant clusters, 24 in. long.

Cotoneaster microphyllus thymifolius is hard, ground hugging and rather like wire netting with leaves on. Planted in the rock garden it will follow and emphasise every rock and contour in a splendidly affectionate way.

One of the earliest to flower in April is C. x praecox, a lovely ghost of a plant when covered in pale cream flowers and excellent in association with the hybrid heaths. Cytisus purpureus atropurpureus is a fine prostrate dark purple broom for covering slopes in a rock garden. It is lovely on the sloping bank by a rock garden as is also the creamy-white C. x kewensis which flowers in May.

Tall and elegant, the matriarch to a tribe of hybrids, C. salicifolius has pendulous branches which are encrusted in autumn with a mass of scarlet berries in the manner of an oriental curtain. It makes a fine specimen for border or lawn.

C. salicifolius fructu-luteo berries furiously in my garden with big luscious fruits which are wax like in their creamy opaqueness – a gift to those who delight in the unusual. Last then to the queen, C. salicifoliusflocossus, narrowly columnar, the branches sweep the ground clothed in slender leaves which are hidden in October by masses of small red berries. If you grow floccosus then you must partner it with a cluster of Silver Queen pampas grass. Self-sown seedlings abound from cotoneaster, all are saved, then if found wanting, discarded.