By Ellen Presley
Special to the Record
Look up, look way up…
Most gardeners focus on trees, shrubs and flower beds when designing their garden, and seem to overlook the beauty of vines.
You can add them to fences, pergolas, containers or arbours and create amazing curtains of interesting foliage and masses of fragrant blooms.
Wisteria are fast-growing vigorous deciduous vines that produce masses of pendulous fragrant flowers (racemes) in late spring and summer. They need full to part sun, a strong sturdy support and to be regularly cut back to maintain shape and size. As it matures the attractive gnarled trunks and twisted branches make it one of the more interesting vines in every season.
Although there are nine species of wisteria, the two most popular groups are the Japanese (wisteria floribunda) and Chinese (wisteria sinensis) because they are prolific bloomers, come in a variety of colours, bloom longer and have larger racemes. Wisteria are drought tolerant, deer- and rabbit-resistant and attract birds, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Three unusual floribundas: the award of merit, Pink Ice (20-25’) which has almost translucent rose pink blooms with purple tips; Black Dragon which has double blooms of the darkest purple and Golden Dragon which has golden yellow foliage and contrasting lavender flowers. All stunning and perfect for pergolas where their long racemes can hang free of branches and foliage.
American varieties are hardier than Asian varieties but have smaller blooms, which are ideal for walls. They flower later, need less space and a mature plant will bloom in the spring and twice in the summer. Try Longwood Purple frutescens (American wisteria) (8-20’) which has masses of fragrant purple flowers or the hardy Blue Moon macrostachya (Kentucky wisteria) which has lovely lavender blue racemes and can survive Zone 4. Note: an interesting fact, Asian wisteria have tendrils that grip clockwise and American varieties grip counterclockwise.
If you don’t have much space, a honeysuckle may be ideal. ‘Dropmore Scarlet’ (6-8’) is semi-evergreen and has flaming scarlet tubular flowers with orange throats. It’s not fragrant but its vibrant color is sensational blooming from early summer to fall and attracts hummingbirds. A new variety this year is ‘Candy Swirl’ (8-10’), which has evergreen foliage and fragrant orange and pink flowers that bloom throughout the summer attracting bees and butterflies.
A climbing hydrangea is great for rock walls or espalier along a fence line. They are slow growing, have lovely lacy fragrant white flowers from May to early summer and aerial rootlets that cling to walls. The bushy informal habit adds a charming romantic look to the garden. They bloom on last year’s growth, so prune lightly, and can be grown in sun or part shade.
For splashes of hot colours, try Campsis (Trumpet vine)(15-20’) radians ‘Flava’ which has bright yellow/orange trumpet-shaped flowers, or ‘Flamenco‘ with its bold orange/red trumpets. Both are deer resistant, drought tolerant, attract hummingbirds, and need full to part sun.
There are hundreds of varieties of clematis that bloom in the spring and summer, but the evergreen clematis ‘Armandii Snowdrift’ has stunning foliage all year round, great for a shady area and has lovely fragrant white blooms in the spring.
You can’t beat jasmine for its absolutely intoxicating fragrance. Although the pink and white varieties are tender in our area (Zone 7), it’s worthwhile to grow them in containers and treat them like an annual. Enjoy the heavenly scent throughout the summer. The winter jasmine is hardy but not fragrant but it does provide wonderful yellow flowers in January before the rest of the garden awakens.
For the children’s garden grow scarlet runner beans because you can eat them, sweet peas because you can pick them and Akebia (chocolate vine) because it gives off a subtle scent of chocolate.
There are so many vines to choose from that it is easy to find one or more that is perfect for your garden. Happy gardening!
Ellen Presley is the owner of Anderton Nursery, at 2012 Anderton Rd., Comox. Visit andertonnursery.ca