Why do the climbing plants in my garden all twine anticlockwise?

If they twine anticlockwise, these plants are probably bindweed - and good luck getting rid of that, say our readers, many of whom are keen to reference the old Flanders and Swann song about a bindweed and honeysuckle that fell in love

13 March 2024

Kudzu ( Pueraria lobata ) flowers. Fabbaceae perennial vine. Dark blue-purple fragrant butterfly-shaped flowers bloom in racemes from July to September. The roots are edible and medicinal.; Shutterstock ID 2360739029; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: - — Tamu1500/Shutterstock

All the climbing plants and weeds in my garden twine anticlockwise. Is there an evolutionary advantage to this? And do any twine clockwise?

Penelope Reid
Loggerheads, Staffordshire, UK

I am sure I will be among many of your older readers who recall the tragic ballad of doomed lovers, Misalliance, sung by Flanders and Swann.

In the song, a honeysuckle and a bindweed fall in love and intertwine. Sadly, the honeysuckle’s parents disapprove because the superior honeysuckles twine to the right and the plebeian bindweeds to the left, leaving any prospective offshoots of the match to be directionless and fall flat…