Decorate your garden with vines

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/03/2024 (556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There is so much opportunity in early spring for gardeners to create year-round beauty with vines and climbers. While the bare bones of the garden are still leafless and without flowers, look closely at its framework and structure. Where could you add instant height and year-round architectural interest with a garden arch, pergola, trellis, or obelisk? There are several distinct types of plants to choose from that will climb up wooden or metal structures, scramble across exterior walls, frame entrances, enhance privacy, and decorate your outdoor rooms with vibrant flowers, intriguing foliage, and delicate perfume.

Clematis, one of the most popular garden plants, climbs by twining. It makes an impressive statement whether you choose large-flowered hybrids or species with smaller, nodding flowers. Remember to plant clematis in a full-sun location that has well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Shade the roots with a mulch layer of compost. Planting a groundcover will help to keep the roots cool, too. I love this example by John Leperre, a Winnipeg gardener, who plants a carpet of portulaca around the base of his clematis. Portulaca is a creeping flowering annual that self-seeds and often comes back the following year.

Clematis Jackmanii, introduced by English horticulturalist George Jackman more than 160 years ago, is beloved by gardeners around the world for its violet-purple flowers. In Susan Billinkoff’s garden in South Winnipeg, Jackmanii clematis grows on a sturdy wooden trellis next to the outer wall of her garage. She has juxtaposed it with the large leaves of Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) which frame her garden’s unique wood and stainless-steel gate. Virginia creeper also requires a sturdy support and climbs by tendrils. Adaptable, it grows in full sun to full shade. Together, the clematis and Virginia creeper create a picturesque leafy backdrop in Billinkoff’s exquisite garden.

In autumn, the large leaves of Virginia creeper turn a stunning shade of red and decorative silky seed heads adorn Jackmanii clematis. Jackmanii Superba is an improved version, but a protected location will provide the best results. It’s not possible to list here all the varieties of clematis that can be grown but two exceptionally hardy clematis varieties are Blue Boy and Blue Bird which were bred by Frank Leith Skinner, renowned Canadian plantsman who lived in Dropmore, Manitoba.

As for Virginia creeper, it is indestructible and will grow practically anywhere. In a shade garden that I visited over the years, a wooden arch or arbor covered in lush layers of Virginia creeper made an enchanting scene.

Val Thomson makes the most of vertical accents in her spacious 5-acre garden in Birtle. On a visit to Spain in 2001, she was inspired by the ornamental use of grape vines. “I saw grape vines trained up the walls of houses and along upper-story verandas – thick ropes of woody trunks and fruit hanging down. That’s a look I’ve tried to recreate,” says Thomson.

Thomson selected two varieties of grape, one of which is Valiant. As a climbing vine, many hardy varieties of grape will grow to two or more metres tall at maturity with a spread of more than one metre. She dug deep holes spaced 10 feet (3 metres) apart and filled the holes with cement. Tall 4×4 wooden posts were inserted (“they will never come out,” she says) and cross pieces were attached. “I wrapped bird netting around each pole and across the top to support the vines,” says Thomson. A grape plant was installed at the base of each pole except for one of the poles which was planted with Clematis Bill MacKenzie, a vigorous climber with bell-shaped nodding flowers.

Thomson ruthlessly prunes any side shoots that appear along the vines to keep the growth at the top of the trellis. The grape trellis creates an inspired backdrop to what she calls her hot garden which features other strong vertical accents such as verbascums (mullein), a prolific spreading plant if ever there was one. But in Thomson’s garden, the architectural stalks are prevented from dispersing their seeds to assist her in achieving the inimitable, luxuriantly layered look that she seeks to achieve in her garden design.

Arctic Beauty (Actinidia kolomikta) is a kiwi vine that is hardy to minus 40 Celsius. Despite its ornamental beauty and suitability for our climate with its short summers, hardy kiwi is a mostly underrated plant. Rod Kueneman, co-founder of Sustainable South Osborne Community Co-operative and a senior scholar, Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba, grows Arctic Beauty on the chain link fence between his yard and his neighbour’s yard. For proper pollination, he purchased female plants and a male plant. Two female plants and one male plant are the norm, but Kueneman purchased three female plants and one male plant. That was 10 years ago. Kiwi vines are slow to start but in each of the last two years, Kueneman was able to harvest three gallons of kiwi fruit.

“The fruit has a football shape with elongated ends, it is twice the size of a haskap fruit, and has a sweet taste similar to kiwi fruit at the grocery store,” says Kueneman. The fruits have small seeds and need to be harvested when they are ripe, otherwise they fall to the ground. “The neighbour’s dog loves how the fruit tastes,” says Kueneman.

Arctic Beauty kiwi vine grows more than three metres tall and has stunning foliage – green with pink and white. Kueneman has observed that the more fruit the vine produces, the whiter the pointy leaf tips become. In winter, Kueneman admires the gnarly, peeling bark and the way that it rambles along the chain-link fence. “The vines remind me of climbing beans in the way that they wrap around each other to get elevation. They work to fill the fence on their own. I don’t do any training. I don’t fertilize the plants but have always ensured that they are watered in dry conditions.”

Would you like a vine that does not grow tall? Bush clematis is a non-vining herbaceous clematis that restarts from the ground each year and grows no taller than 42 inches or 106 cm. New for 2024 from Proven Winners is Stand by Me Pink bush clematis with pink downward-facing bell-shaped flowers. There is also the original Stand by Me clematis with blue bell-shaped flowers as well as Rain Dance bush clematis with large outward-facing indigo blue flowers. I would not be without bush clematis in my garden. Bush clematis does require support and looks outstanding when it is grown on multiple obelisks placed throughout the centre of the garden.

Keep in mind that the materials you use for plant supports are hugely important if the overall effect is to be one that is long lasting and beautiful. Quality structures made of weathering steel or built from wood will outperform flimsy plastic. Provide a solid foundation for supporting structures by anchoring them securely to the ground.

colleenizacharias@gmail.com

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