Vines offer blossoms, fragrance and beauty

 “It has been said that vines are to bits of architecture what a dress is to a woman. It may serve to enhance beauty or to cover defects.”

-- Loring Underwood, American author and photographer

“A doctor can bury mistakes, the architect can only advise his client to plant vines.”

-- Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect

There has been a long, historical relationship between humans and vines. Our love affair with these rowdy ramblers goes down in history, and our frustration shows as many famous quotes can be found. But nothing fascinates more than dangling blossoms, heady fragrances and the romantic intertwining stems of beautiful vines.

The vision of the twining tendrils and clinging leaves will forever be in favor with gardeners. It’s our mission as growers to learn how to produce these plants so they look beautiful to retail customers, yet not drive us crazy in the meantime.

It can be extremely helpful for your customers to create display gardens and hang large color picture of plants in bloom. Growing vines is a challenge to say the least, so I based my selection on the ones I consider worth the trouble.

Must-have annual vines

Ipomoea alba (moon vine) has long been a favorite. Vigorous vines produce many fragrant white flowers that open in the early evening through the summer. We tell our customers to plant moon vines where they like to sit outside at night. My husband and I plant them on trellises that go over the double doors leading into our home, training the climbers as they grow. We sit with friends on our deck and enjoy the fabulous fragrance as sundown approaches in the summer. In late summer, large hawk moths visit the flowers to collect nectar.

Asarina scandens (climbing snapdragons) is a delicate-looking vine with dainty, small leaves and 1-inch-long tubular flowers that remind me of foxgloves. Flower colors include pink, white and blue. Plants are quickly produced from seed, reaching 6-10 feet depending on conditions. Plants perform well in hanging baskets, pots or in the garden and bloom reliably till frost. They grow well in sunny locations, but prefer a bit of shade in the South.

Thunbergia alata (black-eyed Susan vine) is also a good trailer or climber for sun or shade, growing quickly to 6-10 feet. It’s easily grown from seed but many propagators are producing cleaned, virus-free vegetative plants. Flowers colors are traditionally orange, yellow and white, but there are also pinks and terracotta.

Dolichos lablab (hyacinth bean) is among the largest annual vines, with one plant easily growing 10 feet. It can easily cover a garden arbor or a fence in good soil conditions. The plants are showy climbers with wine-colored stems and seedpods. The flowers resemble large sweet peas or runner beans, and are good cut flowers as well as being edible. Purple is the most common flower color, but a white form is available. It is slightly smaller and would be a good choice for a more formal garden.

Tropical trailers

Passiflora (passion vines) are handsome vines that can be tender perennials or tropical plants. All have beautiful flowers ranging from 2-5 inches wide.

P. caerulea is a Southern native with lavender flowers that is found in many perennial collections. After growing several kinds I’ve fallen for two real performers that grow well in containers and hanging baskets and produce flowers year-round if protected indoors. P. citrina and P. sanguinolenta are very similar in growth habit, having compact branching vines that produce a steady procession of 2-inch flowers of yellow or rosy-mauve, respectfully. They are seldom without flowers, and I keep specimens in my greenhouse year-round. Plants are propagated by cuttings and quickly flower as soon as the cuttings root.

Vigna caracalla (snail or corkscrew vine), a member of the pea family, has some of the most interesting flowers I’ve ever seen. The curled, circular flowers grow in clusters like grapes and are soft pastel and porcelain white with a shade of pink. Lavender veining outlines the curling flowers, which have a rich fragrance similar to orchids. This vigorous vine eluded production for a long time because of frustrating germination rates. However, we’ve found these plants root from cuttings very easily.

Perennial favorites

Clematis ‘Roguchi’ is a small-flowered variety known for its disease resistance and floriferous nature. It has cobalt blue, pendulous flowers that far outnumber larger-flowered varieties. ‘Roguchi’ is a repeat bloomer all summer and fall till frost. It’s the perfect choice for ironwork trellises or arbors. This hardy perennial vine grows well in most regions of the country and dies back each year.

Passionate gardeners have grown ornamental hops (Humulus lupulus) for years. These vines produce flowering bracts and their relatives are used primarily for flavoring beer. My personal favorite, Humulus japonicus ‘Variegatus,’ has strongly variegated green and white foliage, and it prefers shady conditions rather than it’s sun-loving relatives. It is a half-hardy perennial that regularly reseeds in a garden or large container. It easily clings to wood and other surfaces with its interesting, scratchy, bristled stems that have backward-facing scales.

Vines that attract hummingbirds are always popular with customers, and Manettia cordifolia ‘John Elsley’ is a long-lived, reliable bloomer. Glossy-green leaves and numerous small, rich-red trumpets hang from this twining vine. Manettia vines come in larger annual forms, but this perennial performer is hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 6b. It dies back each year and re-emerges in late spring. Plants rooted from cuttings are small but sturdy growers. They can easily be controlled in hanging baskets or pots with trellises.

For smaller applications or when a dwarf, slow-growing vine or trailer is needed, the rich blossoms of Lophospermum are lovely spilling out of pots or cascading over retaining walls and rocks. This relative to Asarina has larger, 2- to 3-inch succulent tubular flowers of rich rose-red and pink. It prefers sunny locations. These tender perennials are commonly grown from seed and cuttings and produce a tuberous root system that is perennial in Southern climates.

Foliage fanatics will love Parthenocissus ‘Variegata,’ a variegated Virginia creeper. It jokingly resembles a variegated poison ivy. This creeper will climb wooden fences, brick walls or be just as happy cascading out of large hanging baskets.

When I first saw the rambling succulent vine Dicentra scandens ‘Golden Tears,’ I couldn’t believe it was a Dicentra. ‘Golden Tears’ produces tender, fragile shoots that willingly cling to most anything they touch. Shortly after getting established in morning sun or dappled sunlight, it begins a procession of pendulous yellow flowers that are reminiscent of its bleeding-heart relatives. Although it looks frail and may bruise when planted or handled, it is an extremely fast grower and recovers quickly.

Wisteria has become a naughty word in a lot of areas because of its affiliation with the goings-on of “Desperate Housewives” and the characters who reside on Wisteria Lane. Many foreign varieties were introduced from Asia (along with kudzu) with horrible results. It surprises me how many gardeners aren’t aware of our wonderful native wisterias, including Wisteria fructescens and another Kentucky vine called W. macrostachys.

W. fructescens ‘ Amethyst Falls’ is the one I’ve grown and find the most popular with customers. They have the same lavender flowers as their invasive cousins, but with more compact growth. They have a tendency to rebloom all summer until frost.

We favor hanging baskets

This year, we produced most of our annual vines and tropical varieties in hanging baskets. This allowed us to separate them from each other from the start so they didn’t entangle. We clipped or wrapped runners weekly so that they would cascade in the direction we wanted them to go. We didn’t use hoops and pots because they tended to wobble, were simply too small and weak to hold up to vigorous runners and they took up precious space. We also grow an early crop and then a later one, sometimes in smaller containers, for those customers who do not want a mature basket.

Generally, annual and tropical vines don’t require a lot of nitrogen fertilizer. Too much nitrogen produces an overabundance of foliage and fewer flowers. We found that organic fertilizers such as Espoma Plant Tone or Flower Tone are better. We incorporate the fertilizer into our potting medium and top-dress if needed later on in the season.

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- Rita Randolph

Rita Randolph is co-owner of Randolph’s Greenhouses, (731) 422-2768; www.randolphsgreenhouses.com.