climbing plants that like wet areas

Sorry - but I have tried looking for you, both in my gardening books and on the web, and I can't find a single climber that likes its roots in wet soil. The only idea I could come up with is to place large pots each side of the arch and grow your climbers in them.

Thanks Spritzhenry, it may well come to that!

Fatshedra Lizei - or Fat Headed Lizzie. This is am cross between Fatsia Japonica and Hedra (ivy). The leaves are a bright green and larger than most ivies. It does prefer shade but give it a go!! I'm not too sure if it flowers, I've looked at the internet and can't see any images with flowers

Sorry to disagree, Andrea, but my RHS book says 'moist but well-drained soil' and 'water sparingly in winter'. I can't imagine it enjoying wet roots all the time, I reckon they'd rot! BTW, it gets small clusters of greeny-white flowers in the autumn.

I can't think of any climbers for wet soils either but you might be able to try this idea. A couple of dogwoods with coloured stems (such as cornus alba or cornus sanguineum which both reach ten feet)) have flexible stems when young. These could be tied to the arch as they grow. In spring, cut down half the old stems, leaving the other half trained over the arch. The new ones could be tied in to replace them the following year.

Putting the pots each side of the arch sounds great and you could conceal them with damp loving ferns.

I don't know about the "scientific" answer but my old stream bed of a garden supports two climbing hydrangea - one of which goes over the shed and the other over an arch. Ground is not actually boggy but is certainly consistently damp even in summer.