I've found it helps to give the vine a bit of support system to get established. For
the climbing hydrangea growing up my Douglas fir, I wrapped a portion of the base of
the tree trunk with large gauge chicken wire and planted the hydrangea directly in
front, training the end tendrils up through the wire. Now the vine climbs about
15-18 feet upt the tree and you can see no trace of the wire, which is totally
obscured by the vine. Even in winter without foliage, all one sees is the tracery of
the vine stems against the tree. For a client's vine growing up a large concrete
retaining wall we used heavy test fishing line attached with eye hooks to get the
vine established and trained against the wall. The fishing line is virtually
invisible.

Once established and with a fairly flat surface to grow against, the vines are
self-supporting.

pam - gardengal



Alexander Pensky wrote:

Pam / Dave:

In your experience does climbing hydrangea need a porous wall surface
like brick, or real wood shingles, or can it grip a smooth surface, such
as siding? I am trying to grow it on the side of a garage which is made
from painted siding made of compressed wood pulp. This is the first
year and it's only gone a few inches up the siding, so I can't tell yet
if it is going to hold fast or not.

- Alex