Flagstone patio abutting a large white sun facing wall

[vanillacinnamon]

Patio with very large thick flagstones abutting a large slightly "industrial" looking but whitewashed wall of a veranda. I want to look into the possibility of drilling a hole in one of the flagstones to plant a [very] hardy climber preferably with attractive flowers to grow up the wall. As mentioned the wall is sun facing and gets a lot of relentless sun during the summer. I don't know what exactly is under the flagstones although it will be a mixture of soil and maybe some builders debris (bricks stones etc) from when the patio was constructed. Am totally totally clueless about climbers, which are hardy, whether it is infact possible to do this and if it is will anything survive, how much watering would be required until the plant is established. The patio is set within mature gardens where there are lot of trees and flowers growing so the general soil of the garden is not bad. location of the garden in question is huddersfield. Any thoughts?

Climbing rose? Wisteria? Clematis?

You could also grow fruit - train an apple or pear up the wall as an espalier. They are easyto train - I promise!

You will need to put a frame of wires up first.

thanks melted for these great ideas. Which out of the rose wisteria and clematis is most likely to survive the bumbling attempts of a beginner and can you recommend any particularly hardy varieties? The fruit suggestion sounds great but i dont trust myself to get it right

Fig, or passion flower .. definitely something bold.

I envy your dilemma of a stark white, slightly industrial sunny wall - like a Chelsea Flower Show Garden.

Yes, but discussing it with my husband we now realise that the property in question is a little bit on a hill and the nearest watercourse is quite a bit down the hill in the valley so I am assuming anything we plant will require fairly regular and consistent watering, especially in a summer like this one. Not sure how practical this will be as we don't live there all the time

Now you've told us about the lack of water, a clematis wouldn't work, as it likes to have its feet in the shade, and if you start shading it, you're going to lose even more rain.

I wonder about a passion flower - how drought resistant are they? I agree they'd look good.

Personally, I'd buy or build a very very large container and plant a fig. That's what I had on a large white painted south facing wall, and it looked great, and we occasionally got figs.

I was also going to suggest a fig too.
We have one on a south facing wall with its roots contained (which they like, so a pot would be good) and it fruited the first year it was planted and there are loads on there now.
Lovely foliage too and seems pretty tough - I rarely water it, even in this heat.

My passion flower is rampant ,despite no rain and I've not watered it

brilliant thank you for your thoughts / experience and suggestions of fig or passion flower. this is really helpful - finally if anyone has a particular supplier of plants they buy from who they think is really good I would be glad to hear about it (assuming it supplies nationally) otherwise I will just enquire at my local supplier. Thanks

If you do want to order a Fig, this nursery is excellent
www.readsnursery.co.uk/

thanks pannacotta, I appreciate the link you posted