The Real Benefits of Flowering Vines in Landscaping
Flowering vines solve the problem of producing height‚ color‚ and privacy without taking up much ground space․ For example‚ one trumpet vine or wisteria could cover a 30-foot-long fence row‚ while taking up less than two square feet of ground space․ In other words‚ vertical impact from a small footprint is why you see vines grow on everything from pergolas to mailboxes to arbors to chain-link fences all over Middle and East Tennessee․
Not every vine sold as a landscape showpiece belongs in a southeast garden․ Many cold tender tropicals would die in a Knoxville winter‚ and others are so aggressive they would eat a shed in three seasons․ Here is the lowdown on what these plants will do for your yard‚ which ones might be a good fit for our area‚ and which ones you might want to avoid․
What Vines Actually Add to a Landscape
In addition to ““they climb and bloom‚”” flowering vines have some practical uses most homeowners overlook:
They soften hard structures․ A bare privacy fence or concrete retaining wall looks a lot less institutional once a vine has draped over it for a summer․
They extend your bloom season vertically․ Instead of the blooms being level with your eye in the bed‚ a flowering vine shows its color at 6‚ 10 or even 20 feet high‚ changing how a whole yard reads from the street․
They stabilize hillsides and slopes; plants like trumpet vine with aggressive root systems can hold soil in areas where mowing is impractical․
They feed pollinators when little else is blooming․ Many flowering vines feed hummingbirds and native bees with long tubular flowers‚ closing the divide between spring perennials and late summer aster flowers․
American Wisteria: The One to Plant Instead of Chinese Wisteria
To many people‚ wisteria is the purple flowering‚ cascading vine twining up the old porches of the South‚ and the two most common species (Chinese wisteria and Japanese wisteria) are both intrusive in Tennessee․ In fact‚ they both aggressively seed into woodlands‚ and girdle trees in Tennessee‚ and pull down structures not designed to withstand their weight․
A better bet would be the native American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens)․ This one blooms a little later in spring‚ doesn’t have to be pruned so much to be kept to a reasonable size (15 to 25 feet vs․ more than 40)‚ and is not so likely to escape gardens and become a serious intrusive․ But it still has those lavender blue flower clusters so many of us love․ It is hardy in zones 5-9‚ which includes the entire state of Tennessee․
Trumpet Vine: A Hummingbird Magnet With a Fuss
The trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is a native plant of the Southeast․ Three-inch‚ trumpet-shaped‚ orange blooms on this plant were just made for hummingbirds․ It is more tolerant of poor soil and drought than almost anything else on the list‚ and when established will grow quickly‚ often over 20 feet in a year․
““Grows fast”” is far too mild a description․ Because trumpet vine spreads by seed and root suckers‚ without any sort of separation (a mowed strip‚ root barrier‚ or container)‚ it can spread into adjacent beds in as little as two or three years․ It is a good choice for a fence line at the back of the property where some wandering will not be a problem‚ but not a good choice for a foundation bed or in contact with a neighbor’s property․
Chocolate Vine: The Fragrant‚ Fast-grower to Watch
Another plant named after chocolate is the chocolate vine (Akebia quinata)‚ whose maroon-and-white flowers have a chocolate-vanilla fragrance and are clustered in small groups in early spring․ In Tennessee it is a semi-evergreen‚ holding onto its leaves in mild winters․ It grows so quickly that‚ within one or two seasons‚ it can completely overrun an arbor‚ and mature vines may occasionally produce edible sausage-shaped fruit in late summer․
