Wall covering plants: Best plants for covering walls and fences

Wall covering plants: Are you looking for easy and practical ideas to brighten your home’s facade, or decorate your garden walls or fences? This can be possible just by using some climbing plants with colorful and fragrant flowers and various graphical foliage. Find out in this article, the most beautiful and easy ideas for covering a garden wall. Then, the easy-to-grow plants that cover walls and fences for both sunny and shady positions.

Wall covering plants for sunny places

1- Passion flower (Passiflora caerulea)

Passiflora caerulea or the blue passionflower is a flowering plant native to South America and belonging to the Passifloraceae family. It is among the best climbing plants for fences with its long stems and evergreen foliage that can exceed 5 meters in height. Attractive blooms appear and last from May to October in colored summer pictures, with bluish or pinkish whites, mauves, and garnet colors. To use this plant in your garden, choose the variety according to your climate. After choosing your variety, install it in the sun, sheltered from the burning rays, in moist, fertile and well-drained soil.

2- Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans)

Campsis radicans, also named the trumpet vine, is a flowering plant in the family Bignoniaceae, native to the eastern United States. This plant has beautiful foliage and orange, reddish or yellow trumpet-shaped flowers that do well in the sun and in well-drained soil. Its covering power makes it the ideal plant to hide an old wall, or a tree trunk or simply to embellish a garden shed.

3- Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is a thorny climbing shrub or vine belonging to the Nyctaginaceae family. This Mediterranean climber likes and thrives in sunny atmospheres. This plant will cover your facades and walls with its solid thorny branches that can reach 8 meters and generous flowering, with a palette of pink and mauve, and also white, yellow, orange or even red. Furthermore, Bougainvillea is not very hardy and needs a southern plantation in a mild climate. However, it supports all the soils, the most ordinary, the poorest, but well-drained.

4- Clematis as wall covering plants

Clematis is a genus of about 300 species in the Ranunculaceae family. There are a large number of different varieties of clematis, evergreen or deciduous, with large and beautiful white, pink, red, purple or blue flowers. They bloom from spring to mid-summer and some come up again in the fall. All these wall covering plants have in common twining stems that wrap around their support without damaging it. Moreover, all clematis plants can be grown in full sun, and with so many clematis cultivars, which means more attraction and ornamentation. So, to enjoy your garden and hide a low wall all year round, choose an evergreen variety adapted to your region. 

5- Grapevines (Vitis vinifera)

Vitis vinifera, known as the grapevine, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the Vitaceae family. This vigorous vine is covered in large, waffle leaves. When young, they are tender green but take on a wine red color in the fall for several weeks before turning scarlet. This vine is fast-growing, hardy and last for many years. The inconspicuous flowering does not present a real decorative interest, but it is very melliferous. So, if you are looking for an attractive climbing plant that grows quickly, then the grapevine is ideal. In addition, know that this plant is one of the very easy to care for and pest free plants.

Wall covering plants for shady places

6- Climbing Ivy (Hereda sp.) 

This plant is known for the elegance and diversity of its foliage and also for its insulating qualities. Its evergreen foliage and delicious berries also serve as shelter for small fauna and birds. Moreover, it is very covering and well insulating and can therefore be perfectly used to cover a wall, protecting it against cold, heat and humidity. Among the common varieties, you can choose the most vigorous ones. The “Green Ripple” variety for its large and shiny leaves or “Sagittifolia” for covering lanceolate leaves. You can also choose more original species such as a Colchis ivy, with its large heart-shaped leaves, or an Irish ivy, in a dark green or variegated version.

7- Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)

Tropaeolum majus or the garden Nasturtium is an annual climbing plant belonging to the Tropaeolaceae family. Climbing Nasturtiums produce beautiful masses of very colorful plants that easily cover corners to hide in the garden. It is also very known for its magnificent flowering, rapid growth and easy care. 

8- Spindle (Euonymus fortunei)

Euonymus fortunei, also named the spindle or Fortune’s spindle, is a  flowering plant in the Celastraceae family, native to East Asia. This climbing species is known for its bright and attractive leaves densely arranged on branches. There are wide Euonymus varieties, especially popular as garden plants and used to cover garden walls. Moreover, These plants are known to tolerate a broad range of environmental conditions ranging from full sun to deep shade, and acidic to basic and low nutrient soils. 

9- Rockspray Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis)

Cotoneaster horizontalis, commonly called rockspray cotoneaster, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the Rosaceae family. This spreading, deciduous shrub is popular for the characteristic pattern of its stems and horizontally spreading branches which develop into a decorative basketwork across the ground or on a wall. Furthermore, it is a very attractive plant for bees and birds, thanks to its nectar-rich flowers and its delicious berries. 

10- Hydrangeas as wall covering plants

Hydrangea or Hortensia is a flowering shrub native to Japan and North America, belonging to the Hydrangeaceae family. To embellish facades and walls, choose specifically climbing varieties such as Hydrangea anomala (Hydrangea petiolaris) or Hydrangea semiola. The roots-studs of these Hydrangeas allow them to cling to any support (tree, wall, fence). On the other hand, they also form an excellent ground cover. Moreover, they will add a magical touch when they bloom from May to July. Don’t forget to plant them in light and fresh soil.