Vines And Climbers Can Serve Many Purposes

Just about every property, from an apartment with a balcony to a sprawling estate, has one or more spots where a climbing, clinging, rambling, curling vine can add interest. Some are annuals and therefore tender and have to be restarted every year, but several are perennial or shrubby and if properly cared for most provide great shows of color, attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and provide shade when appropriate.

The greatest show of vine culture can probably be seen in Italy where using these plants has developed into an art. Their use in California as fencing for privacy is as common as our local use of privet. In Manhattan, more than a few rooftop gardens are adorned with vine-covered structures providing shade from the summer sun.

There are incredible choices in vines with some being annuals like Rhodochiton or Mina lobata (Firecracker vine), passionflower and the black-eyed Susan vine. Some perennials such as Campsis radicans, the trumpet creeper, and some that are referred to as climbers such as climbing roses, the climbing Hydrangea, Hydrangea anomala, and there’s even a very rare climbing fern, Lygodium palmatum, which is endangered and rarely seen in the East.

There are traditional uses for vines, and you have no doubt seen pictures (or the real thing) of a white, rose-covered latticed arbor, pergola or a patio on the south or west side of a house where the sun makes it too hot for comfortable sitting until late evening. One answer for this setting would be a vine-covered arbor, and many vines are well adapted to this type of use.

Wisteria, one of the most cherished, is a rapid growing — though often slow to flower — rampant vine that can cover a large area in a few short years. And while it has its attractive clusters of lavender blue, white or bi-colored flowers hanging like clusters of grapes, two types can become invasive. And speaking of grapes, Vitus is also very well suited to training on structures with the sweet-smelling fruits being available for eating, preserving or other viniferous pursuits.

In the fall, the sweet autumn Clematis (Clematis paniculata) with its beautiful show of white and highly fragrant flowers can be trained and twined along a fence row, a stone wall or along an arbor frame giving both privacy and beauty. This vine is now considered invasive, but you can keep it controlled by pruning off the flowers when they fade, thus removing the seeds.

Other vines used for this purpose might include the Japanese or flame honeysuckle, but by all means, stay away from the invasive oriental bittersweet (Celasturs orbiculatus) and instead look for the native American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens). While the oriental type has beautiful berries that remain red right through the Christmas holidays and are favorites for wreath making, there are few other plants in the East that are so completely devastating to the landscape.

Also consider the trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans). Also slow to flower and somewhat rampant, this is still a great vine that provides some spectacular color with deep red or yellow flowers through the summer. Like wisteria, Campsis can take many years before it begins to flower but the Dutch cultivar “Indian Summer” not only flowers more quickly but its growth habit is not as rampant as the species.

Often, we find that some architectural feature in the landscape is too stark or overpowering. It may be a fence that is too prominent, a monotonous expanse of house wall that is uninterrupted by any sort of interesting feature or a stone or brick garden wall. Vines can remedy such situations whether they are used to hide or simply soften the offensive structure.

English ivy, Boston ivy or Virginia creeper would be good choices for such structures. When restrained by judicious pruning, English ivy and any of the many forms of Euonymus fortunei can be used to create a tracery of green for a softening effect.

Other potential candidates include the climbing Hydrangea, which has white, lacy flowers in mid to late summer; perennial sweet pea, which will produce various flower colors in early summer; and China fleece vine (Polygonum aubertii) which needs support but is good for screening, is fast growing and produces late-summer flowers. Also consider hops, which are flowering perennial vines long known to beer drinkers and a few gardeners. A dwarf variety of ornamental Humulus lupulus or hops was marketed in 2013, but it seems to have been a flop. The variety “Nugget” is a reliable perennial vine to 20 feet with yellow flowers. However, it can take four to five years for hops to establish so not unlike Wisteria but more versatile.

If you want to limit your efforts to fence posts or a trellis, then you should probably try some of the Clematis vines. Not easy to establish, these plants will provide magnificent flowers for years after planting, and hybridizers have come up with magnificent colors. Clematis are now available at most garden centers either in containers or as roots (in early spring). The containerized plants can be very expensive but several mail-order houses will provide you with spring and fall plantable stock. To this point, the quality clematis found in this country has come from only a couple of growers, but the changing market economies of Eastern Europe has resulted in a new source of previously unknown varieties hitting our shores.

Clematis needs a little special care. If not protected from early spring winds the vines can be easily broken, and once broken, the vines stop growing. It’s also important to know if the variety you’re growing will be flowering on new growth or last year’s stems. On the other hand this vine can be absolutely magnificent as unlike other vines the flowers can cover the color spectrum and give a nice touch to an otherwise boring downspout, trellis or stone wall or garden tripod or teepee.

There are some vines that have an ugly side, and you may want to consider their downside before you plant them. Many a gardener have been spellbound by the morning glory vine as it’s a rapid-growing annual vine with some breathtaking flower colors. It’s downside, though, is that the seeds can be very dangerous to children and pets, and overwintering seed can plague a garden when the feral plants begin to climb and strangle other garden plants the next year in unintended locations.

Climbing hydrangeas, ivies and the trumpet creeper can cause structural damage to masonry and their ever-extending tendrils can push themselves into homes through window cracks, foundation penetrations and loose door seals. Vines and climbers growing up the side of a house can also be nesting sanctuaries for birds and upper-story living ladders for squirrels who will seek winter quarters in your eaves and attic spaces while raccoons simply want to explore and seek out food and alternate travel routes on vines traveling up the side of a house.

Even the seemingly innocuous Virginia creeper, which can provide some spectacular fall color up the trunk of a tree or the side of a house, can get out of hand and overburden the limb or trunk it’s growing on, creating extra weight or wind resistance resulting in storm damage to its host.

There is also a biennial vine that I fell in love with several years ago called Adlumia fungosa. Also known as the Allegheny vine and climbing bleeding heart, it grows up to 12 feet long and flowers during the summer with light pink, heart-shaped flowers. It will self-seed and will return, but keep in mind it only flowers every other year since it’s a biennial. If you collect the seed, however, you can trick the plant into flowering every year. This is a rare and uncommon vine, but out of the blue it showed up in front of my house. Ask, and I’ll tell you more.

But the beauty, versatility and in some cases the aroma of vines and ramblers is just too much to resist. So don’t. Just know what you’re getting into and … keep growing.

Watch for end-of-season sales at local garden centers. The best deals are often on the largest plants including trees and shrubs. More on this next week, but keep your eyes open. The Hudson Valley Garlic Festival, one of the largest in the East, is being planned for October 2 and 3. Note the dates, and I’ll have more as the plans firm up.

It’s important for gardeners to keep up with their tetanus shots. Tetanus (aka lockjaw) is a bacterial infection you can pick up from wounds you receive in the garden. After your initial vaccination you’ll need a booster about every 10 years.

You should also have a first aid kit to handle gardening emergencies. This would include bandages, a topical antibiotic, a sterile medium to clean a wound, and if you are allergic to bee stings, an EpiPen or similar epinephrine. A tick removal kit is also important. This should include an appropriate tweezer, magnifying glass and a product to clean the bite spot. Consult with your doctor for more advice on what you may want to have available.