Recommended for your garden in the south of Spain: Hoboellia angustifolia

This elegant climbing vine is native to China and Japan as well as the Himalayas and other areas of East Asia. It can reach up to eight metres tall with suitable support to twine around and is tolerant of most soil types.

It is a shade lover and needs full or partial shade and moist soil to thrive.

The leaves are dark-green, palmate and leathery and the graceful flowers form on short stems from the leaf axils. The RHS states that the smaller, pale yellow, bell-shaped blooms are male while the larger, purple blooms are female but this is often described the other way around in some catalogues and listings. However, whichever way round is correct, these pretty flowers are sweetly scented and attract bees and butterflies.

After flowering, large sausage-shaped, blue fruits may appear, up to 9cm long. They are edible but are said to have an insipid taste.

Once established, Holboellia will withstand quite harsh winters and, in the summer, it will survive some short periods of drought although it prefers to be kept moist.

It does not need pruning, only general maintenance to remove any dead or damaged stems. Pruning during the winter may remove the flower buds already formed for the following season.

Watering with a slow release fertiliser in spring will help to keep it healthy and promote lots of the fragrant flowers. Avoid high nitrogen fertilisers as they tend to increase the growth of foliage to the detriment of flowering.

In traditional herbal medicine the stems, roots and fruits are used to treat coughs, lumbago, nephritis and hernias.

A member of the Lardizabalaceae family, it is closely related and very similar to Akebia quinata, the chocolate vine, which has the same habit and similar fruits.