Which climber for wooden arch

[alisondavies]

I am looking for a suitable climber for a wooden 'rose' arch in a north-east facing garden. I don't want anything thorny and would like something easy to care for with no highly complicated pruning techniques! I want something that will give lots of colour for as long as possible as my garden is very green at present and am thinking a different plant each side flowering at different times. Also something that will grow and flower fairly quickly. Would very much appreciate advice and suggestions. Thanks.

[gardening_guru]

Hello Alison,

The north-easy facing site rules out a number of possibilities, you will not get long periods of sunshine therefore reducing the flowering performance of most of the sun-loving flowering climbers.
I would suggest you consider the following plants, that I think will thrive despite the reduced light levels. The first two will provide leaf colour/interest rather than flower colour but I would always choose the former because it is usually on a larger scale and tends to last for a longer period:

Parthenocissus
Euonymus fortunei
Lathyrus latifolius

Any of the climbing honeysuckles would also be suitable, the reduced sunlight would limit aphid attack on these which can be a real problem in much warmer, sunnier sites.