Privacy-preserving climbers

With temperatures rising as summer advances, an increasing number of horticultural enthusiasts will no doubt be thinking about using their garden as a space to relax and entertain.

As such, sector commentator Emma Townshend recommends a range of different climbing plants that can not only look and smell attractive, but also provide privacy.

Writing in the online pages of the Independent, she suggests that good-quality ivy will last all year round but will require "constant pruning" to keep it in check.

For those people eager to incorporate some blooms into their climbers, they could try a combination of a climbing rose and a clematis, she suggests, recommending Gertrude Jekyll and Clematis Madame Julia Correvon as a colourful pairing.

"On the downside, though, Madame is a viticella hybrid, which means you have to be brave and cut the whole thing back to two-foot high in the dead of winter, leaving a pair of buds," she concludes.

The BBC suggests that clematis may well be the most popular type of climbing plants in the UK.