Vines make wonderful additions to gardens, providing vertical drama to otherwise horizontal landscapes. They can be used to cover unsightly fences, utility boxes or pipes, storage areas and more. They make great privacy screens too, shielding your yard from neighbours’ views. There are many things to consider when choosing a vine for any of these functions…
- size matters: consider the coverage you need. Some vines cover a small space, others need lots of room to sprawl
- invasive: some vines can be invasive and very hard to remove from places you don’t want them to grow
- damage: some vines can cause incredible damage, destroying eavestroughing, fences and even brick!
- color: some vines change colour in the fall, an added bonus to landscapes. Others are a bright, chartreuse green contrasting with other green plants in your yard. Some have flowers, others are grown just for the foliage.
- pruning/cutting back: some vines require more maintenance than others. Many die back to the ground when frost hits them making cleanup easy. Some have to severely cut back in the spring to prevent them from taking over your yard.
- annual or perennial: the vines I use are perennial meaning they come back each year on their own. Included in the perennial category are clematis, ivy, golden hops, hydrangea, bittersweet, honeysuckle and silver lace. There are also many annual varieties available such as morning glories, sweet peas, black-eyed susans and more.
- Here are a few I have in my gardens…
Choose a few vines to add vertical drama to your landscaping, just do your homework first so you will be pleased with the result. As always, if you have any questions, please contact me, I would be happy to research the perfect vine for your garden.
Beautiful 🙂