Perennial Climbers to Start Growing Now
By Ava Green
Great garden design plays with height, and vines are among nature’s most elegant solutions. They transform a bare wall, a plain fence or an open pergola into something that feels alive and intentional. And because these are perennial climbers, they come back every year, a little fuller and more beautiful than the season before.
Start growing one of these beauties now, and you’ll be enjoying them for years to come!
Clematis
Clematis has earned its place as one of the most loved climbers in the garden, and once you discover the extraordinary range of flower shapes, sizes and colours available, you will understand why.
For a look that feels straight out of an English cottage garden, pair a Clematis with a climbing rose. The two intertwine beautifully, flowering together in a spectacular combination.
Honeysuckle
The sweet, heady scent of Honeysuckle wafting through the air on a warm summer evening is a good reason to include this climber in your garden. But its tubular or trumpet-shaped blossoms are also irresistible to hummingbirds, bees and butterflies, making it valuable to your local ecosystem too. Few vines reward you quite so generously for so little effort.
Climbing Hydrangea
It may be slow to start, but once it’s established, Climbing Hydrangea grows with remarkable vigour, covering walls, fences and structures in lush, deep green foliage. No trellis is needed; it produces its own aerial rootlets that allow it to cling independently to almost any hard surface. In summer, the entire plant is blanketed in elegant white lacecap flowers! It tolerates shade better than most climbers, making it an exceptional choice for a north-facing wall or a shady spot in the garden.
Porcelain Vine
This fast-growing climber is a treasure for its extraordinary ornamental berries. Clusters of small, jewel-like fruits that ripen through a stunning progression of colours, from pale pink and lilac to a rich purple and a remarkable, almost iridescent turquoise blue, all appearing at the same time in fall. Train it up a fence, trellis or structure to let it climb, or allow it to trail gracefully down a slope or over a retaining wall for beautiful low-maintenance ground coverage. Please note: the berries are strictly ornamental, and not for eating.
Graceful, Useful and Very Worthwhile
Vines provide something that few other plants can; they add height, softness, privacy, and beauty all at once. They can disguise an unsightly fence, cool a sun-baked wall with natural shade, frame a garden entrance, or simply bring a sense of lushness to a space that feels too bare or flat.
Find Your Perfect Vine at Eising Garden Centre
Not sure which vine is right for your space? Bring us your questions and, if you have them, a photo of your wall, fence, or structure. Our team will help you find the perfect climber for your light conditions, your soil, and your vision. We’d love to help you get growing your perfect vine!
Expert Picks You Can Plant Right Now
By Ava Green
Looking for a flowering shrub that delivers season after season? We asked our experts at Eising Garden Centre to share their top picks, the ones that customers and staff love most, and they delivered. Whether you’re looking for spring blooms, fall colour, wildlife and pollinator value, or a shrub to suit your space, there’s something on this list for every garden.
Fuji Cherry ‘Little Twist’, Prunus incisa ‘CarltonLT’
As an accent in a small garden, or planted in a grouping in a larger garden, this multi-stemmed shrub is a gem!
In early spring, crimson buds emerge before the leaves appear. Little Twist then produces clusters of lightly scented white, bell-shaped flowers with soft pink centres that grow along its stems, a stunning early-season display. It is a deciduous shrub, and leaves begin as green before shifting to coppery-bronze, then deepen to a rich burgundy in fall. Smooth, dark red bark adds interest in the winter once the leaves are gone.
This slow-growing, multi-stemmed shrub makes a striking feature in your garden.
Best for: Small gardens, accent planting, four-season interest. | Sun: Full sun | Mature size: 6 ft. tall × 6 ft. wide
Downy Serviceberry, Amelanchier canadensis
One of the most rewarding native shrubs you can plant, Downy Serviceberry earns its place in the garden from spring right through to fall. Showy clusters of fragrant white flowers in early spring, followed by small, sweet, edible purple-blue berries in early summer that are wonderful for making jam and an absolute favourite for birds. Come fall, the foliage puts on a spectacular show in shades of yellow, red, and orange.
As a bonus, choosing a native plant like Serviceberry supports local pollinators and wildlife, making it as ecologically valuable as it is beautiful. It works well as a specimen plant on it’s own, in a grouping or hedge, or naturalized in a larger landscape.
Best for: Wildlife gardens, naturalized areas, multi-season interest | Sun: Full sun to part shade | Mature size: 20 ft. tall × 10 ft. wide
Amur Privet, Ligustrum Amurense
Amur Privet
When fast growth and privacy matter, Amur Privet is one of the best choices available. This dense, dark green shrub produces white flower panicles in late spring and small black berries in fall. It responds exceptionally well to pruning after it blooms, making it an ideal candidate for a formal or informal hedge. If you need to fill a space quickly and create structure in your garden, this is a reliable, low-maintenance option.
Best for: Hedging, screening, fast coverage | Sun: Full sun to part shade | Mature size: 12–15 ft. tall × 8–15 ft. wide
Viburnum ‘Fragrant Snowball’, Viburnum Opulus ‘Roseum’
Few shrubs stop people in their tracks quite like Fragrant Snowball Viburnum in full bloom. Large, rounded clusters of sweetly scented white flowers cover the plant in spring, creating a display that’s hard to match. While it doesn’t produce fruit, it earns its place again in the fall when the foliage transitions to rich shades of purple.
Pruning after it blooms will help to keep it a manageable size and encourage healthy new growth. It’s also available as a standard, or tree form, which matures to a more compact 6 to 8 feet tall.
Sun or part shade are best for this deciduous shrub, a beautiful, solitary accent plant for the garden growing 12 feet high and 10 feet wide. As a standard, it is smaller, maturing at 6 to 8 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide.
Best for: Specimen planting, cottage gardens, fragrance | Sun: Full sun to part shade | Mature size: 12 ft. tall × 10 ft. wide (shrub); 6–8 ft. tall (standard)
Snowbelle Mockorange, Philadelphus ‘Snowbelle’
Don’t let its compact size fool you; when Snowbelle Mockorange blooms in early summer, it puts on a big show. This dense, mounded shrub is blanketed in sweetly fragrant double white blooms that are absolutely irresistible to bees and butterflies. Once the flowers fade, its rich, dark-green deciduous foliage makes it a lovely backdrop for other blooming plants in the border.
Growing just four feet tall and wide, it’s one of the best choices for smaller beds, borders and foundation plantings. It prefers full sun but handles part shade as well.
Best for: Small borders, foundation planting, fragrance | Sun: Full sun to part shade | Mature size: 4 ft. tall × 4 ft. wide
More Flowering Shrubs Worth Exploring
This is just the beginning! At Eising Garden Centre, we also carry a wonderful selection of Azalea, Eastern Redbud, Kwanzan Flowering Cherry, Hydrangea, Dogwood, Butterfly Bush, Beauty Bush, Lilac, Rose of Sharon, Forsythia, and Potentilla, to name a few.
The best way to find the right flowering shrub for your garden is to come in and see them in person, and right now is the perfect time to plant. Stop by and chat with Zach or Donna, who are always happy to help you find exactly what you’re looking for, based on your space, soil, and vision. We’re here to help you make the most of every corner of your garden!
If you’re looking for blooms that come back each Spring with a burst of colour, here are ten of our favourite flowering perennials and ground covers.
Plant These for a Spring Show!
Bleeding Heart (Dicentra)
Height: 30-120 cm, Spread: 45-90 cm
Flower Colour: white, pink, red, purple
Blooms: spring, summer
Growing: While Bleeding Hearts will tolerate full sun or full shade, they prefer the protection of light shade. This perennial is fairly drought tolerant, but it will thrive in evenly moist soil, and blooms will last much longer if the soil is moist.
Hellebore Christmas Rose (Helleborus)
Height: 30-45 cm, Spread: 30-45 cm
Flower Colour: white, green, pink, purple, yellow
Blooms: late winter to mid-spring
Growing: Moist, humus-rich, well-drained soil in lightly dappled shade is where hellebores do best.
Primrose (Primula)
Height: 15-60 cm, Spread: 15-45 cm
Flower Colour: blue, red, orange, white, pink, purple, yellow
Blooms: spring, early summer
Growing: Full sun or partial shade and moist, well-drained, humus-rich soil.
Anemone Windflower (Anemone)
Height: 8-150 cm, Spread: 15-60 cm
Flower Colour: white, yellow, pink, blue
Blooms: spring, summer or fall
Growing: Anemone does best in moist soil and partial or light shade, but they will tolerate full sun. While Anemone can take a while to become established, they’re worth the wait!
Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Height: 45-90 cm, Spread: 30-60 cm
Flower Colour: white, red, yellow, pink, blue, purple (The colour of the spurs is often different than the petals)
Blooms: spring, summer
Growing: Columbines love full sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil. This plant will self-seed and seedlings can be transplanted.
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
Height: 30-60 cm, Spread: forms groupings
Flower Colour: blue, pink, purple
Blooms: spring
Growing: Plant in partial to full shade with humus-rich, moist, well-drained soil. This woodland plant has blooms that are attractive to Hummingbirds and pollinators. Foliage dies back right after it blooms.
Moss Phlox or Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata)
Height: 10-15 cm, Spread: 60 cm
Flower Colour: white, red, lavender, pink, bluish purple
Blooms: early spring
Growing: Plant in sun to partial shade with humus-rich, moist, well-drained soil. Spreads horizontally as it grows and creates new roots where the stems touch the ground. Do not prune in the fall as Spring’s flowers will already be forming on these plants.
Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
Height: 20-60 cm, Spread: 20-90 cm
Flower Colour: white, red, pink, blue
Blooms: spring
Growing: To avoid root rot, grow Lungwort in moist, humus-rich soil that’s well drained. They prefer partial shade to full shade.
Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla)
Height: 10-30 cm, Spread: 20-30 cm
Flower Colour: white, red, purple, blue
Blooms: early to mid-spring
Growing: Very well drained soil is important for Pasque Flower, which does not like to sit in wet soil. It will grow well in full sun or partial shade.
Peony (Paeonia)
Height: 60-80 cm, Spread: 60-80 cm
Flower Colour: yellow, pink, red, purple, and shades of white
Blooms: spring, early summer
Growing: Humus-rich, moist and well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade is where peonies do best. Adding lots of compost and planting at the proper depth is very important for peonies to bloom. Be sure to plant potted peonies at the same level as the soil around them, not higher.
