Vigorous climbers - ideally evergreen - safe for dogs

SarahLou

Hi everyone,

I've searched this forum for something similar and have come up with all sorts of suggestions for vigorous evergreen climbers but alas I can't find any post about the safety of the plants around dogs (if eaten).

We have two dogs which occasionally do have a "go" at garden plants when our backs are turned so I need something that is safe for them if they did have a quick "snack" on something.

I've seen suggestions for clematis armandii with it being evergreen (of the "apple blossom" variety especially being of interest as its nicely scented too - something handy with dogs!) However, the blurb I've found on the plant seem to indicate its not massively hardy in cold climates. (We had snow on the ground for 6 weeks solid '09/early '10) - does anyone know if this plant ever can survive hard frosts/snow and/or is it safe with dogs?

If the answer is "no" to either of the above questions, can anyone else suggest a plant that fits these specifications:

Vigorous climber
Evergreen
Ideally nicely scented
Safe with dogs
Hardy perennial

(Must be a perennial - we want to get something trained up our fence/trellis in the back garden - south east facing, quite sheltered from wind but will be open to frost and snow - size not an issue as have a large area to cover).

bromsgrovebarry

The evergreen honeysuckle Lonicera japonica is evergreen (or semi evergreen), tough as nails and fast growing. It can be a bit invasive and so needs to be controlled by pruning in spring.
Hope it helps

elsien

Have a look at this on the dog front. There's a link within it for more info once you've narrowed things down a bit.
http://www.dfordog.com/didyouknow_toxic_plants.htm

peter_the_piper

Trachelospermum Jasminoides would tick most of your boxes, good scent, evergreen, reasonably vigorous.

SarahLou

Thanks everyone :-D