Leafy plants to help cool your house (yes, it really works)

As well as beautifying the house and providing for wildlife, leafy plants offer the benefit of cooling the interior of a home in summer and conserving warmth in winter. They might include climbing plants grown against a building or trees planted close by. Research by the RHS and the University of Reading found that a cover of plants cools buildings in summer and reduces interior humidity in winter, with ivy the most effective of the green-wall climbers trialled.

Houses, apartments, and outdoor offices that face south or west can feel like saunas in a heatwave. Plants dramatically reduce the temperature of the building, in turn allowing you to have the windows open during extreme heat.

CLIMBING ROSES thrive in a sun-drenched aspect and look beautiful, so they are the perfect plants for a façade. Rosa 'Climbing Cécile Brünner' can scale 7 metres and bee-friendly The Generous Gardener grows to 4.5 metres; both have soft-pink blooms and mid-green leaves. When choosing roses, check the foliage is the colour you want because their leaves range from apple green to burgundy.

WISTERIAS boast a mass of light-green pinnate leaves and dreamy dangling racemes of purple or white flowers that feed bees. Most are extremely vigorous, so a large house is required. The Chinese varieties, such as Wisteria sinensis 'Prolific', are best for façades (whilst Japanese W. floribunda is better across a pergola because its very long racemes get swallowed by foliage when trained vertically).

CLEMATIS come in all sizes, offering something for every building. Where there is the luxury of space, Clematis montana (such as 'Elizabeth' or 'Mayleen') has pastel-pink flowers that smell of vanilla and cloves in May and June and C. armandi (such as 'Apple Blossom') produces marzipan-scented white or pink blooms in early spring. The latter has long, dark evergreen leaves, whilst the montanas' bronze-green foliage falls in autumn, leaving an enchanting knot of stems that wrens love to hop about in.

JASMINES offer a leafy mass of foliage and incredible fragrance. The common jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is excellent, with 'Clotted Cream' one of the best cultivars. Whilst star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) coats buildings in a stylish curtain of glossy leaves and waxy tea-scented blooms. Both have mid-green leaves.

CHOCOLATE VINES (Akebia quinata) are not widely grown, but ought to be, having spicily scented port-wine flowers in spring above an attractive mass of bright-green obovate semi-evergreen leaves. The plant sometimes produces purple fruit, and the cream-flowered form is adorable.

All of these gorgeous climbers thrive in full sun, which helps to release the scent of their flowers, so that it floats through the open windows of the house.

Aspects that are not receiving the full impact of the sun can still benefit hugely from a cladding of leaves.

EVERGREEN CLIMBERS ON NORTH OR EAST-FACING HOMES are a born in winter, when their foliage aids in preserving the warmth of the interior and reducing humidity. In this respect, ivies are excellent. Once mature, English ivy (Hedera helix) has large, glossy emerald leaves, bee-friendly flowers, and berries that feed birds; the Persian ivy 'Sulphur Heart' has large heart-shaped green and gold leaves. Both are self-clinging and provide habitat for small birds. Evergreen honeysuckles (including Lonicera japonica 'Hall's Prolific') are another option for north or east-facing homes and fill the air with scent in summer.

DECIDUOUS CLIMBERS ON NORTH OR EAST-FACING HOMES should not be discounted, since many are stunning and will shield the interior from the intense temperatures of a heatwave. Some of the best include the richly scented, long-flowering rose'Madame Alfred Carrière' and glossy-leaved Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), which is self-clinging and blushes red in autumn. There are also fabulous climbing hydrangeas for low-light positions, including elegant lacy Hydrangea petiolaris and wildlife-friendly Pileostegia viburnoides. Both are self-clinging.

On the south or west-facing side of the house, opt for climbing plants that thrive in full sun, but choose climbers that prefer semi-shade for north or east-facing aspects. Select an appropriate vigour for the height of your building, and consider how much pruning up ladders you are prepared to do – for example, roses need tying in in autumn and pruning in late winter, and both wisteria and Boston ivy also need two stints of annual attention. Most of the other climbers mentioned here are much lower maintenance, especially ivy, although it will need chopping before it reaches windows and roof tiles.

If you have a lot of wall space, select a mixture of plants with different leaf shapes, colours, and sizes to create an attractive tapestry, and be warned that a lot of dark-green leaf can look rather dour on a small property.

Several bushy plants fare well when grown as wall shrubs, either because they have a lax habit or because they enjoy the warmth and shelter of a sun-baked wall.

FOR EVERGREEN VIGOUR - The height and density of some low-maintenance shrubs means they could be used in place of climbers – for instance, beautifully scented Camellia sasanqua (including'Narumigata'), firethorns (such as Pyracantha Saphyr Orange), and cotoneasters (such as Cotoneaster franchetii). All are evergreen, offering winter cosiness, and the latter two provide blossom for bees and berries for birds.

FOR SCENT - Figs (such as Ficus carica 'Brown Turkey') are made for sun-drenched walls. Their architectural leaves shield the interior from summer heat and fill the air with a wonderful aroma. At Sissinghurst, the wall figs' stems are coiled and tied in to resemble a carpet beater, so that – when the plant is leafless in winter – it has a stark beauty. Another excellent wall shrub for scent is the pineapple broom (Argyrocytisus battandieri), which has deciduous silver leaves and big yellow flowerheads that smell deliciously of pineapple.

FOR LOW WALLS - If you have top-heavy climbers on a façade, shorter wall shrubs that reach 1 to 1.5 metres are the perfect gap fillers. The flowering quince Chaenomeles x superba 'Pink Lady' and almond-scented Abeliophyllum distichum are deciduous, whilst Euonymus fortunei is a foliage evergreen.

Two of the best plants to drape over a porch are winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), which doesn't smell, but has vivid yellow flowers during the cruelest months, and the fabulous thornless rambling rose 'Veilchenblau', which will grow on any aspect and has bee-friendly purple flowers that smell of citrus.

Choose a tree that is a suitable size for your garden and plant it a decent distance from the building (this is only a major concern if your house is old or if you're on clay soil). The distance required will depend on the eventual size of the tree; three-quarters of the height should do – so, if a tree can scale 8 metres, it should be 6 metres away; the roots will spread much further than the tree's height, but they will mostly be deep. Avoid planting trees with very shallow roots, such as cherries and acers, close to driveways.

A deciduous tree in a front garden or adjacent to the sunny side of the house will help to preserve the interior cool of the home in summer, yet let light flood through the windows during winter. The tree will keep you company for decades, so choose something with character that has all the qualities you seek. For instance, if you love wildlife, a rowan (such as 'Pink Pagoda'), thorn, or crab apple offers blossom for bees and berries for birds, as well as fiery autumn leaves. For interest during the bleak winter months, twisted hazels (such as Corylus avellana 'Contorta') have curly branches and birches offer beautiful silver, pink, or white bark. To shield a north or east-facing building from the winter cold, opt for an evergreen, such as the excellent wildlife-friendly Cotoneaster cornubia. If you live in a low-rainfall or high-rainfall area, select a tree that is robust in drought or flooding.

Yes, significantly. A tree with a spreading crown will even, eventually, help to keep the heat off a south-facing roof, in turn dramatically reducing the temperature of the interior; however, ensure that solar panels are not covered. If you intend to coat a south or west-facing building with climbers, but also plan to grow a heat barrier of trees, opt for climbing plants that are happy in sun or semi-shade (such as the shade-tolerant roses 'Madame Alfred Carrière', The Generous Gardener, Claire Austin, or Wollerton Old Hall), since the light level will gradually change.

A green roof is another fantastic way to cool a home in summer and keep it warm in winter.