Give Your Home the Creeps
When it comes to your home, planting vines that creep, crawl, twine or climb can make your garden more picturesque – and add privacy to your outdoor living space
When it comes to the great outdoors, things that creep and crawl usually aren’t pictured favorably. But when it comes to your home, planting vines that creep, crawl, twine or climb can make your garden more picturesque.
Vines can offer a variety of benefits, such as sweet-scented flowers, delectable fruit, plenty of privacy and a natural way to turn a blank, boring wall into a canvass of color. Most come in two different categories: climbing (or twining) and crawling (or creeping).
Climbing vines do just that: they can scale practically anything in your yard that takes them closer to sunlight: Fences, lampposts, trees and even walls. Crawling vines must be manually attached to whatever you want them to cover. As such, experts say each category carries their own perks and pitfalls.
“The big advantage to climbing vines is that they can take care of their own support,” says Marie Iannotti, Mid-Hudson Valley, N.Y., a 40-year-gardening veteran who serves as the “Gardening Guide” at About.com. “You don’t have to constantly tie them up or separate branches that have gotten tangled in each other. They can also seek out their own degree of sunlight.
“An obvious disadvantage of climbing vines is that they need something to climb on,” adds Iannotti. “If you don’t provide it, in the form of a trellis, tree or other structure, they will find one. Climbers can get away from you and go places you’d rather they didn’t, like up the side of your house.”
Likewise, crawling vines take more trial, trouble and time to attach to your preferred surface. “This can be tedious, especially when the vine gets full and lush and you can barely see the structure you are trying to tie it to,” says Iannotti.
On the other hand, Iannotti says a crawler is easier to dislodge than a climber if you need to paint, make a repair or relocate the plant.
Another difference, says Thomas Hecker, Director of Horticulture at Naples Botanical Garden, Naples, Fla., is where flowers bloom on the vines. Crawlers like the Black-eyed Susan Vine will bloom at a lower level, he says, while climbers bloom on top of the vine, where you may not be able to see them.
No matter which type of vine is best for you, Iannotti and Hecker say there are plenty of fantastic flowering and fruiting choices.
For beautiful climbing vines, Hecker prefers Pink Mandevilla, which is both beautiful and super-sweet smelling, and the Brazilian Flame vine, which has the unusual trait of bursting into bright orange blooms in the middle of winter. As for crawling vines, Hecker says, “Bougainvilleas are the most underrated plant because they bloom for months and months.”
When it comes to crawling vines, Iannotti says the Black-eyed Susan vine features delicate orange-ish flowers with chocolate centers, while Cathedral Bells or Cup and Saucer vine produces a pretty, dangling trumpet shaped flower. She also suggests Climbing Roses that offer a repeat bloomer with fragrance.
Climbing Hydrangea, Iannotti says, is slow to start but breathtaking when mature, while White Jasmine is a climber that is both delicate and fragrant.
For scent alone, Iannotti recommends Sweet Peas (a climber), roses and jasmine. There’s also Sweet Autumn clematis, Wisteria and Moon Vine – all climbers.
Hecker recommends the fragrance of climbing vine Confederate Jasmine as well as Moon Vine, which he says contains a “huge, sweet-smelling flower that opens at night.”
While most people know about grapevines, many are surprised to learn that both Kiwi and Passion Fruit are vines that can be grown in the U.S. Hecker adds that raspberries and blackberries are crawling varieties of fruit-bearing vine, as well.
Before you head out to your garden or local nursery, Hecker and Iannotti have a few final suggestions.
“The best tip for growing vines is to know what your particular type of vine likes and provide it,” Iannotti says. “Clematis like their feet, or roots, in the shade and their faces in the sun. Climbing roses like to have their canes stretched by pinning them down in the winter, to set more buds. Trumpet vines need heavy pruning to keep in check or they can crush themselves.”
And remember that while vines may be trained to grow where you want, it is not like training your dog.
“They’re not obedient plants,” says Hecker.
“If you put off pruning until it’s convenient for you,” adds Iannotti “They will quickly get out of control.”
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