Sunday, October 19, 2008

Lets Talk About Vines Today


As our gardening skills have progressed, Jamie and I have become fond of vines. We’ve started to get a pretty good collection. There is still a lot of trial and error going on in our garden and we are learning as we go along. Some of the vines we decided to grow this year we will keep and some of them we will remove.

This first vine is a Purple Hyacinth. I’m sure everyone out there has seen this one before. We started this vine from seed and to begin with it was a major disappointment. We petted and pampered it all summer and it just sat there pretty much doing nothing. August came along and I was just about ready to snatch them all up and put them into the trash and just as if they had heard those very words they hit a growth spurt. They’ve been blooming like crazy ever since. The Purple Hyacinth Vine will most definitely be a keeper next year.

Purple Hyacinth Vine

PurpleHyacinthC at Zoomonga.com


This next flower is a bloom from a Cypress Vine. This vine is easy to grow and the humming birds absolutely love it. They are so easy to grow, as a matter of fact; I’ve been trying to get rid of this vine for over ten years. If I am fortunate enough to get rid of it, never again will it be purposely planted in our garden. A very, very pretty vine, but not one I care to have any longer.

Cypress Vine

CypressVineC at Zoomonga.com


The next photo is a picture of a Cardinal Vine bloom or at least that’s what I’ve been told. I haven’t been able to find a single picture of this vine online. The leaves are trident shaped and do not look like the other pictures I’ve seen. You can barely make them out in the back ground of the photo. The only reason this vine is still in the garden is because it grew while my back was injured and I wasn’t able to pull it up. Now that Jamie has seen it, he refuses to let me get rid of it or the cypress vine. The ones that have grown can stay, but I will remove everyone that I can next year. Beautiful flowers, but this one gets the thumbs down from me.

Cardinal Vine

CardinalC at Zoomonga.com


This is clematis ‘Galore’. It’s a wonderful shade of purple and I love it! It is one of five very sick clematis that Jamie and I bought on clearance. We chopped it down to the base and it has rewarded us with new growth and blooms. It and the other four we bought are still in the pots we bought them in. It is a definite keeper, but the big question is where are we going to put it?

'Galore'

GaloreC at Zoomonga.com


‘Sugar Candy’ is another one the lovely clematis we purchased that seems to benefit well from a good haircut. Alas, it has yet to find a home either. That sounds like a good project for this coming weekend. It’s not that we don’t have plenty of fences to plant them on, but if we do that they may fall victim to the weed whacker or a careless push with the lawn mower. They need to be in a bed somewhere.

'Sugar Candy'

SugarCandyC at Zoomonga.com


‘Tangerine Beauty’ cross vine is another addition to the mix this year. We have two of these planted on each side of one of the arbors. It hasn’t bloomed yet, but it is filling in very nicely.

'Tangerine Beauty'

TangerineBeautyC at Zoomonga.com


This sky vine, or Blue Orchid vine as it is sometimes called, was a gift from our friend Carol. She dug it up from her yard and gave it to us the same weekend we also bought one from a flea market. It has beautiful bluish/purple colored blooms. This is most certainly a keeper. The one we bought from the lady at the flea market has slightly larger leaves that are a different color of green. It’s very possible we have two different kinds, but I will not know for certain until the other one blooms.

Blue Orchid Vine

Sky Vine


To me, the buds are equally as beautiful as the actual blooms.

Sky Vine Bud


We recently started to work on a new bed by the driveway this past weekend. It was my original intentions to have that bed competed by now. The past eight weeks I’ve been unable to do anything in the yard so we are falling behind schedule. ‘Mardi Gras’ is one of two honey suckle vines to planted on a split rail fence that will go to the rear of that bed. It has a nice frilly flower that reminds me of the ones that use to grow wild in my parent’s back yard.

'Mardi Gras'

Mardi Gras


‘Magnifica’ is the second vine to be planted on the fence I just mentioned. That is, if it survives. It has some type of disease and it is still in intensive care. It’s starting to put out new growth so I think it’s going to be okay. It just needs to be put in the ground in the new bed so it can start absorbing all those delicious minerals from the soil. No one can do a better job than Mother Nature when it comes to taking care of her ailing babies.

'Magnifica'

Magnifica2


This Snail Vine is a super fast grower with really pretty flowers. I’m not certain it will stay in the garden next year though. It grows way too large for the area we planted it in and I’m not sure where we can put it. Jamie came up with an idea that I really liked. I’m not going to share it with you just yet, but I’ll be certain to post about it when we make it a reality. The Snail Vine gets a two thumbs up from me, just make certain you put it somewhere it has enough room to spread its little tendrils and grow.

Snail Vine

Snail Vine


Ahhhhhhhh, the scent of ‘Confederate Jasmine’, we planted some on an arbor this year and the fragrance was so incredible in the evening, that we planted a twenty-three foot wall of it at the entrance to our garden. Need I say more about this vine?

Confederate Jasmine

Jasmine


In addition to the vines I’ve shown here, we also have Dutchman’s Pipe Vine, Hyacinth Bean ‘Alba’, ‘Sweet Autumn’ clematis and Climbing Hydrangea. I really wanted to have some Scarlett Runner Beans to plant this summer too, but it just didn’t happen. Maybe next year we will find some. Vines are a great way to add height your garden and create privacy. If your garden isn’t already filled with them, there is no better time than the present to get started.

12 comments:

tina said...

Those are all awesome vines and they look ever so happy at your place.

Randy said...

Tina,
It's a learning experience when it comes to us and plants. We try to take make them all happy when we plant them. :-)-Randy

Anonymous said...

Hey, that's right! Whenever we purchase a plant, we try to ensure we know where it's going to go in the ground. However, when you find a great deal on a clearance markdown, you can't just pass it up! We have many, many ideas and thoughts as to what we'll do with these other vines we have sitting around and I'm sure it'll blend well with our garden wherever we may decide they will be planted. Our garden is an ever evolving "work in progress" and thus far, it has become something quite wonderful! ;0)

Roses and Lilacs said...

I like vines and I'm always interested in other people's opinions. Besides my clematis, I only grew on Grandpa Ott morning glory this season. The snailvine is pretty and unusual. I've heard it's aggressive but in my climate it is probably fairly easy to control. I'd give a lot if I could grow jasmine here.
Marnie

Phillip Oliver said...

Awesome photos, especially the clematis "Galore" and the honeysuckle shot - they look like they are about to pop off the screen. I love vines!

Randy said...

Marnie,
I love the snail vine. It just needs some where it can spread out a little. The blooms are gorgeous.

Phillip,
You are actually the one that got me interested in climber. :-)

Wayne said...

I'm amazed you can find room for all those!

Anonymous said...

You seem to have a very nice selection of vines in your garden. You and my sister seem to have the same dislike for cypress vine. I love it, though it has not been the reseeder it seems to be for you. My grandmother grew it in her garden, and I guess that is why I like it in mine.

Jan
Always Growing

Anonymous said...

Speaking of fragrance, no Carolina jessamine? I'd also recommend gallinita, or butterfly vine, for the pretty butterfly-shaped seedheads and yellow flowers.

I love the sky vine but have never tried it, though it grows well here. Do you cut yours to the ground each winter?

Great selection of vines!

Randy said...

Wayne, we aren't done yet. As long as I see grass, we still have a place to plants something! :-)

Jan,
Cypress vine is one of the most beautiful plants I have ever seen. I don’t think I mind the reseeding as much as I hate having to clean it up off the chain link fence. It’s so difficult to get it off, those little vines are tough. There is an eight inch gap between my fence and the neighbor’s wooden privacy fence and it is impossible to get in there and keep the sprouts under control.


Pam,
There is actually a large Carolina Jessamine on the back fence that was planted by the couple that built the house forty years ago. She sold it two years back and it is rental property now. The current tenants have no interest in gardening, so I water and fertilize it thru the fence or it would have been long dead at this point.

*Gasp* I just looked up the Gallinita vine! Now you’ve done it, Pam. Yellow is my favorite color in the garden and I must have one! This is our first year with the sky vine, our friend Carol has one that grows to the top of her windmill every year and dies back in the winter. I’m sure ours will do the same thing.

Annie in Austin said...

I'm glad Jan asked why you didn't like Cypress Vine since it's one of my favorites in spite of the way it seeds around. But I forgot about your Chain Link Fence! That would be a deal breaker!

Do the leaves on your Cardinal Vine look like these? I had some kind of Cardinal Vine once but they had the "fringe" leaves so I guess they were Quamoclit sloteri.

You have so many lovely vines, Randy & Jamie! Every time I see the sky vine I want one. The color is so wonderful. Maybe next year!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Randy said...

Annie,
That Scarlett Creeper is very close, but still not it. I'll have to get some better pictures of the leaves.

On the Cypress vine, if I could find somewhere to put it where is wasn't so difficult to clean up in the Winter I would love to keep it. In the past I have spent HOURS cleaning them off that chain link fence. Oh! You know what? I think I just had a brainstorm!I need to think about this some more.