A Word On The Vine
Flowering vines can add a beautiful vertical element to the garden.
A plain fence, pergola column, or trellis can all be dressed with flowering vines. With the right support flowering vines can be trained to provide screening, add height to a planting, or simply adorn your garden with lots of extra flowers.
Here is a snapshot of some flowering vines that we love to work with:
Mandevilla:
Mandevilla, (Mandevilla spp.) is a summer garden staple. This annual vine is a powerhouse when it comes to flowering. It happily sends out shoots of oval glossy dark green leaves like mad, each sporting tons of large trumpet-like flowers.
Mandevilla is the Goldilocks of vines, it likes light, but likes it just right. Morning to afternoon is fine, with shading the rest of the day is ideal. Water to establish and then water only when the soil is dry. We use Mandevilla often as a vertical focal point in container plantings with a trellis or on a teepee in the garden. It never fails to provide a stunning show.
Morning Glory:
Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea), is an old fashioned garden favorite,
whose blooms unfurl in the morning and close up in the afternoon. It is an easy vine to grow and often used in a cottage -style garden planting.
Less fussy than Mandevilla, it's tolerant of a range of well drained soils. Water well especially during dry spells. Morning Glory will run right up and over a picket fence growing up to 10' tall. Sweet tubular flowers come in white to lavender to a lovely deep blue to pale blue and violet to pale pink.
Be sure to plant Morning Glory vines where their morning debut can be appreciated.
Moonflower:
From morning glory to midnight glory, Moonflower (Ipomoea alba) is essentially the opposite of Morning Glory vines. Large heart-shaped green leaves wend and wind up a provided support and can grow to 20' tall.
The absolute wonder of this vine is the huge, fragrant flowers that open in the late afternoon and remain open until sunrise. To take advantage of the beauty and sweet scent, Moonflower should be planted in full sun by the porch or patio, anywhere there is a garden chair to relax in the evening. Moonflower is an all night show stopper.
Passionflower:
Passionflower (Passiflora spp.) is the most exotic looking flowering vine available. The flowers have recurved petals, and filaments that resemble fringe which encircle a stem that holds the reproductive parts above the petals and filaments. They look like a cross between a flower and an under sea creature. Offering a tropical vibe it's a great vine to plant poolside.
These unusual fragrant flowers attract bees, butterflies and birds. This annual vine should be grown in full sun to part shade. It can grow to 30' tall so adequate support is necessary. Some species bear fruit in May.
Black Eyed Susan Vine:
Black-Eyed Susan Vine (Thunbergia alata ) is a wonderful flowering vine that grows to 6' tall with five petaled flowers and a dark eyed center. Upon closer inspection you will see that the dark eyed center is not a flat disk flower but like an optical illusion, is actually the center tube of the flower.
Easy to grow in full sun, Black-Eyed Susan Vine comes in bright orange, raspberry pink, red-orange and bright yellow. Native to South-eastern Africa, grown here as an annual it blooms mid-summer to frost. Grow it in full sun, with enriched soil and provide regular irrigation.
Clematis:
Clematis (Clematis ssp.) is one of the most popular perennial flowering vines. It's hardy to our zone and reliably returns year after year. There are over 500 species of Clemats and countless cultivars to choose from.
Their flowers come in a spectacular variety of shapes, colors, stripes, singles and double petalled flowers. Undoubtedly you can find the Clematis flower of your dreams.
Clematis prefers full sun, but requires it's roots to be cooler. It's best to plant Clematis so that its roots are shielded from the sun by other plants. Water consistently. Clematis falls into three pruning categories; each dependent on when it flowers.
Here's a small sampling of Clematis flowers available:
If you have a plain blank wall or a planting that could use an arbor topped with a bevy of flowers let us know. We have lots of ideas for you. Believe it or not this is just a small list of the vast variety of flowering vines to choose from.
