PUSHING THE BORDERS

These Mandevilla hybrids they sell as house plants make fabulous climbers shame they are not tough enough to go out.

mandevilla hybrid 002 by charliepridham, on Flickr
Many years ago I had discovered Mandevilla laxa (or suaveolens as it was then) growing on a wall in Devon, after noticing large plants outside at Hestercombe and Kew I decided it had to worth a go, especially as the scent is wonderful, this is mine this year under glass, outside its months away from flowers, it realy didn't like the two cold winters and was killed to near the ground only reappearing in late May and not making enough growth for flowers. So in a cool climate like Cornwall not 100% succesful I would have thought those of you with City gardens may find this a good end of season scented climber.

mandevilla laxa 001 by charliepridham, on Flickr
If you just want the white flowers and don't care about the scent you could try Pandorea jasminoides Alba

pandorea jasminoides alba 003 by charliepridham, on Flickr

All of which waffle was just an excuse to put some pictures up ;) but I would be interested in who does well with what climbers :)

Lidl sell them as dipladenia, only the bog standard type but for £1.79 worth every penny. I'm just getting buds now as I had to repot them to stop them falling over from being top heavy. Prefer to keep them root bound, seems to make them flower better.

I think that's all the red one is, someone gave me the big pot full some years back after it grew too big. Under glass it even copes with occasional -1 and -2's so doesn't need any heat. £1.75 is ridiculously cheap :o

Totally agree with you Charlie about M. Laxa (suaveolens) but I would not say it was a late season flowerer for me though. At the old house it was planted against a west facing wall which was very warm in the afternoon. The first flowers normally appeared around early July but it then continued to flower until October (a good 3-4 months worth of those fragrant flowers).
I brought it with me to the new house and it will be planted on a S/SW facing wall so hopefully it will get going a bit earlier by getting more sun.

charlie wrote:I think that's all the red one is, someone gave me the big pot full some years back after it grew too big. Under glass it even copes with occasional -1 and -2's so doesn't need any heat. £1.75 is ridiculously cheap :o

£1.75 would be 'ridiculously' cheap, but these were just cheap at £1.79 ;)