How to bring your house to life by growing climbing plants 

Wouldn't it be wonderful if houses disappeared behind a colourful cloak of climbing plants, cooling our interiors in summer?

What if our homes came with roses, vines, clematis, jasmines and honeysuckles? Picture: iStock

I'd planned to write about something entirely different for this week’s column, but on the way up to my study, I saw out of the window a robin with a beak full of food darting into the climbing hydrangea that covers the side of my house. 

It took everything not to spend the day glued to the window, watching this new family nest.