Everyone has something that they’d rather have covered up. For some, it’s a big nose. For others, a big secret. Others still, simply an ugly wall.

If you’ve got a big nose, wake up and smell the coffee. With the size of your beak, you ought to be good at that. If you’ve got secrets, then we don’t know about them. So the only thing we can help with is an ugly wall. Or indeed any wall. There are literally hundreds of different climbing plants that can make a very attractive wall covering, so we’ve picked our top ten:

1. Clematis: There are more than 780 varieties of clematis, such as armand clematis; we’ve suggested some of our favourites in this clematis board.
2. Aristolochia macrophylla is a large climbing vine that can be trained up a wall or used to disguise a drainpipe. It has small oddly shaped fruits and brownish seed pods that look like cucumbers.
3. Trumpet honeysuckle has vivacious trumpet-shaped flowers in bright shades of red and orange, and entices butterflies and birds.
4. Russian vine is an easy to grow climber with a plethora of attractive fragrant white funnel-shaped flowers that bloom in summer.
5. The Kiwi or Chinese gooseberry has attractive heart-shaped flowers and pretty cream-white flowers, as well as its fruit of course. Best planted in a sheltered location in the sun.
6. The common grapevine is a surprisingly hardy plant which can be used as an attractive climbing plant (although for best yield, it’s advisable to grow it in a greenhouse).
7. Climbing roses like New Dawn provide an attractive and nicely scented flower. They are not difficult to grow but do need pruning.
8. The climbing hydrangea  can be grown up a wall or trellis and is capable of growing up to 50ft high and 6ft wide. Tie it to the trellis with twine to prevent wind damage.
9. Orange clockvine is a striking plant with saucer-shaped deep orange flowers. It grows well on walls and trellises and in hanging baskets.
10. Virginia creeper is green in the summer, with warm and enticing orange and red foliage during the autumn, followed by bluish berries.

Of course, your choice of plants will depend on a number of factors – evergreen foliage, tolerance of shade, pretty flowers, maintenance requirements, time of flowering, fragrance, or flowers large enough to hide your big nose.

For a more detailed search, use the 99roots plant finder.

Image Source: Christoffer Greiss (some rights reserved)