Like an elegant piece of jewelry or a silk scarf tossed casually over a shoulder, vines add the finishing touch to well-dressed gardens. Versatility and classic styling make them the perfect garden accessory.
Vines are practical, too, filling vertical voids without taking up space on the ground. A gardener can plant one to soften the edge of a wall, provide shade and privacy or serve as a backdrop for a flower or shrub border.
Annual vines deliver high garden fashion at costume jewelry prices. They cover a trellis in a hurry and bloom lavishly all summer for very little effort.
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Grow tender annual vines such as morning glory and sweet pea from seeds or transplants each spring. A long season of color and fragrance awaits. These fast-growing annuals are a clever way to make young gardens look more mature.
With their decorative edible pods, scarlet runner beans and hyacinth beans double as vegetables. Evening visitors will enjoy the drama of the moonflower as it unfurls its saucer-size blooms at dusk.
Purchase tropical vines like Mandevilla and passionflower as rooted cuttings or potted plants. They’re more expensive than seeds, but the pots can be overwintered indoors and set out on a deck or patio each spring.
Durable perennials
Perennial vines are durable and long-lasting garden sophisticates. Foliage, form and function are all more important than blooms.
Perennial vines take longer than annual vines to grow up. There’s more than a kernel of truth to the old saying about perennial vines: “The first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap.” Climbing hydrangea is a notoriously slow starter.
Clematis is the undisputed queen of the permanent vines. Colors in large-flowered, summer-blooming hybrids range from pure white to deep velvety purple. Sweet autumn clematis bursts into a cloud of ivory in September. For two seasons of bloom, plant one of each.
The distinction of longest bloomer goes to the gold-flame honeysuckle. The first flush of pink and yellow flowers appears in spring, followed by continuous blooms at the ends of the branches all summer until frost. Flame honeysuckle is not fragrant, but hummingbirds find it irresistible.
Plant named varieties of perennial vines as sturdy potted plants in spring or fall. They’re a bit more of an investment than their annual counterparts, but perennial vines generously reward the patient gardener.
Most annual vines are sun lovers by nature, scrambling toward a spot in the sun by climbing on top of their neighbors. Shade gardeners will fare better with perennial vines. Climbing hydrangea, wintercreeper, ivy, five-leaf akebia, porcelain berry and sweet autumn clematis will all perform satisfactorily in the shade.
Vines climb in one of three ways. Support must match the vine’s abilities or the plant will end up as a tangled heap on the ground.
A clematis vine and a smooth round lamppost, for instance, are mismatched. Clematis can’t clamber up something as stout as a lamppost without a helping hand.
Clingers to twiners
Vines are either clingers, grabbers or twiners. Boston ivy and climbing hydrangea are clinging vines. They gratefully attach themselves to any solid vertical surface.
Clingers are self-sufficient, hanging on tightly with rootlets or miniature suction cups, called “holdfasts,” that grow along their stems.
If given a piece of wooden lattice to climb on, ivy won’t be happy until it locates the solid surface behind it.
Grabbers, such as clematis, depend on tendrils. In nature, they climb on other shrubs, using the twigs of their hosts as handles.
To get a clematis to the top of a lamppost, a gardener must provide a “ladder.” A simple support made from black vinyl-coated wire will give the vine something to curl its tendrils around.
Twiners, like wisteria and trumpet vine, wrap their entire stems around a support. A thick round pole, square fence post or sturdy piece of lattice all provide suitable props.
A twiner must be able to get its stems around its support system, so make sure a lattice panel has some space behind it if attaching the woods to a building or fence.
Most annual vines such as scarlet runner bean and black-eyed Susan vine are twiners; a few use tendrils to climb.
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A word about climbing roses: Because climbing, or rambler, roses have no built-in means of attachment, they’re not considered true vines. The canes must be trained to upright supports or climbing roses will sprawl on the ground.