The Upward Garden: Perennial Vines

Suggestions on choosing and planting vines for your landscape.

Vinca major
Item # 98250 		Vinca major
Big Leaf Periwinkle

each $4.99
3 or more $4.79
Vinca major 'Variegata'
Item # 98255 		Vinca major 'Variegata'
Variegated Big Leaf Periwinkle

each $4.99
3 to 6 $4.79
7 or more $4.59
  • Topic: Vines
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: vines, clematis, honeysuckle, virginia creeper, trumpet vine, Lonicera sempervirens
  • Date: May 2008

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Vines help establish the backbone of many landscapes. They’re often more permanent than the herbaceous, non-woody ornamentals. And like trees, vines add that vertical dimension that keeps things interesting.

But what is it about climbing plants that make a garden feel like a garden? Over fences, along walls, cascading from arbors—vines have a way of turning gardens into magical places.

Ways How to Use Vines in Your Yard

  • screen unwanted views—roads, neighbors, outbuildings
  • get quick shade over a patio—vines like to crawl over lath structures
  • use arbors and create alluring entrances to pathways and sections of a garden
  • use as a windbreak

The Ease of Vines

Flexible and long limbed, vines quickly attach their little tendrils to whatever is around. They’re easily trained—place a dangling tendril here or there and it’ll happily take off.

  • train them up trellises along walls
  • guide them around trees and posts
  • encourage them to grow up or out, on flat or vertical surfaces

Vines need to creep and climb. If you don’t already have a post or tree for a vine to adhere to, get a trellis. Our Garden Center has a variety of trellises in redwood, plastic, metal and bamboo.

Choosing Vines

Some vine varieties like full sun, others like partial shade. Some are evergreen, others are deciduous. Ask our staff for help in deciding which ones to get.

A selection

  • Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), zone 4
  • Clematis, many varieties, zones 3-5
  • Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), zone 4
  • English ivy (Hedera helix), zone 5
  • Thorndale English ivy, zone 4
  • Grapes, many varieties, zones 3-6
  • Pink Lemonade Honeysuckle (Lonicera heckrotti), zone 4
  • Hall’s Japanese Honeysuckle, zones 4-11
  • Silver Lace (Polygonum aubertii), zone 4
  • Silk Vine (Periploca graeca), zone 5
  • Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), zone 4
  • Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), zones 4-9
  • Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis), zone 4

Preparing to Plant Vines

  • Dig a hole twice as deep and twice as wide as the pot.
  • For heavy clay soils, fill the bottom with a layer of small rocks or gravel for drainage.
  • Mix excavated soil with Soil Mender Blend Plus (1/3 Blend with 2/3 soil)
  • Then add a bucket of compost and mix
  • Water the hole

Planting

  • water plant still in the pot thoroughly
  • remove plant from the pot; gently loosen the roots
  • set plant in the hole; lightly pack the amended soil around the plant
  • water; then top with two inches of mulch.

Because vines grow so quickly-and leaf out in the summer-once they are established, you can almost sit back and watch them grab for places to hook onto. They are a treat to any garden.