Consider adding vines and climbers to your garden

Looking for a new twist to your garden? How about adding a plant or two that climbs, rambles or descends? Vines will add a new twist and using them in different ways could be fun. A climber can cover a wall, will soften or hide a chain-link fence, or decorate a tree. It can provide shade when over a pergola or privacy to a screen porch. Ramblers add a wonderful vertical element to any garden.

You can choose an annual, a perennial or an evergreen vine. Growing vertically will give you more growing space since they take up very little ground area, something that is precious in many yards. They can give you a spectacular show of flowers that will delight any visitor to your garden with the clever ways to get these plants to grow.

Annual vines grow quickly and cover an area rapidly if planted properly and given some fertilizer. You can have a climber scurry up any vertical object you want as long as you provide some support. Some climbers have tendrils the plant uses to self attach and some vines you will have to attach to the support. You can also have an annual vine scamper over top of shrubs in a perennial border.

Black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia) is a fast growing vine that will twine around the support that is provided. It has charming, dainty daisy-like flowers that are about an inch and a half in size and they come in shades of white, yellow and orange. The dark centers make them resemble the garden perennial black-eyed Susan, hence the name. They can be grown in the ground or in a container. They are touted as doing better in a container because they like to be pot-bound, which encourages more flowers.

Morning glories are an easy vine to grow and an old favorite of mine. The clear blue color of the ones that decorated a mailbox down the street where I grew up, reminds me of my childhood. Morning glories need little care and come in various colors. I would recommend growing them on a structure where the dead vines can be easily removed in the fall. I grew them on a chain-linked fence for several years and they were great.

Passion flowers (Passiflora incarnata), another vine from my childhood have the more delicate, tantalizing bloom. I used to go on walks to find them growing wild in the open areas around our pond. Moonflower, which is usually grown from seed, is another great climber that has a lovely fragrance at night. Mandevilla, a popular vine that most garden centers sell, come in a lovely shade of pink or white. I grow mine in a pot, which I keep in the garage over the winter, but it is an annual in most areas.

Then there are perennial vines like clematis, which are long lived and have beautiful flowers. There are many different kinds of clematis that will fit about any situation. Some clematis bloom in spring, while others flower at different times during the summer months. Sweet Autumn clematis is the last clematis to bloom in our garden and grows up a tree by our patio. Most clematis are deciduous, but there is one evergreen variety. Clematis take a year or two to get established and are worth the wait.

I have seen some wonderful rambling roses growing up in trees and making the tree look like they had flowers. The English are an old hand at putting climbing roses near a fruit tree and letting the rose climb up through the tree, coming out the limbs, making the tree look like it is a big rose bush.

If you are looking for an evergreen vine, there are several that will work if you live in a warmer area. Clematis armandii, Carolina jasmine, Confederate jasmine and smilax are choices to consider. These evergreen vines do well in zones 7, but I’m not sure they will go farther north without a very protected place to grow. I do not recommend ivy because it is invasive where I live.

These are things you need to know before you go shopping for the right vine for your location. What is the purpose? You also must decide if you want an annual, perennial or evergreen vine. Is the vine going to get full sun or a good bit of shade. Do you want something that will grow fast or are you willing to plant for the long term. Do you want the plant to support itself? Some climbers like passion flowers, use tendrils to wrap themselves around a nearby support, some are self-clingers like a climbing hydrangea that adhere unaided to walls or trees and there are ramblers like roses, that need some support to continue climbing.

One more thing to keep in mind is that the annual vine has a possible drawback depending on where it is growing. An annual vine will weave itself in and out. If you let an annual vine like morning glories attach to a chain-linked fence, when they die, it will take some time to get the dead vine out of the fence. Removing them from a pole or letting them climb in a bush would make less work after they have faded away.

You can see that there are lots of options. Figure out where you want a vine to grow and have fun at your local garden shop choosing just the right one. Vines will be a great addition to any spot and add a wonderful vertical element to any garden.

Betty Montgomery is a master gardener and author of “Hydrangeas: How To Grow, Cultivate & Enjoy,” and “A Four-Season Southern Garden.” She can be reached at bmontgomery40@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Consider adding vines and climbers to your garden