Garden Answers
Vines
Question: I live in Colorado Springs and would very much like to have
some potted vines with a pillar trellis for our front porch.
We get lots of afternoon sun and none in the morning. Do you
have any suggestions about what pots and plants I should buy?
I've read that clematis and trumpet vine might be good choices.
Are there any evergreen vines that winter well here and can
live successfully in a pot?
Answer: Clematis and Trumpet Vine would work well for you. The Clematis
prefer their roots to be cool, so if you can tuck the pot behind
something else that would shade the pot (not necessarily the
vine), that would be great. You're cooler than us here, so you
might even be able to get away with the Clematis even without
the pot shading. I'd cut the Clematis back to within eight or
twelve inches of the soil early each spring. Trumpet Vines are
fairly vigorous growers. You would have to cut them down very
hard each year to keep them in bounds. Regardless of which vine
you choose, be sure to put a 2" or 3" deep layer of
small bark chips on top of the soil to cool the soil and help
retain moisture within the potting soil.
English Ivy would almost surely burn on you over the winter.
It seems to take the summer sun okay, but it's the winter sun
that gets it. The plant survives this, but looks pretty ratty,
and you'll want to cut it back some each spring. Another option
would be Honeysuckle. They can get a little big like the Trumpet
Vine, but work well on pillar trellises. 'Hall's' Honeysuckle
is semi-evergreen here. The foliage is a dull medium green that
turns a bronzy purple green in the winter. In very cold weather
(say below 0°) the foliage will brown. Honeysuckles come
in several different varieties with different colored flowers.
Some of the best I like are Hall's (very fragrant, creamy yellow
flowers), Dropmore Scarlet (bright orange red flowers), Goldflame
(Showy deep rose pink flowers with a yellow throat), and Mandarin
(striking tangerine orange flowers). Check with a good local
independent nursery near you to see what they have to say about
them.
One last suggestion I can make is a vining Euonymus. Probably
the best for your purpose is Wintercreeper Euonymus. It's usually
used as a groundcover, but with some help from you (by tying
it up on the trellis) to point it in the right direction, it
will climb. It doesn't have a flower to speak of, but stays
reliably green all winter.
As for your pots, the bigger they are, the better your vines
will grow, and the easier they will be to maintain. Be careful
about using clay or ceramic pots. You're going to have to water
the plants through the winter occasionally. When it freezes,
the water in the potting soil will expand, and can often crack
clay pots. Better choices would be wood, plastic, or concrete.
I'd try to get a pot 18" in diameter or larger. And finally,
be sure to use a good quality potting soil to plant your vines
in. Whew! Hope this helps.
Question: I need a fast growing evergreen vine or climber that will grow at least 10' tall, planting in full sun.
Answer: About the only thing that will do what you want is Hall’s Honeysuckle. It’s a moderately fast growing vine (the really fast ones like Engleman Ivy and Silverlace Vine will drop their leaves in the fall) that is semi-evergreen. What that means is that most winters the foliage turns a purplish-bronzy-green color and hangs on the plant all winter. However, if the winter is particularly cold, the foliage can brown and fall off. That happens pretty rarely here in the Grand Valley. The foliage is a dull dark green. Hall’s Honeysuckle has pretty trumpet-shaped flowers in late spring into early summer that are pale-yellow to a creamy-white. The flowers are very fragrant (this is the plant that gives us that “Honeysuckle fragrance”) and attract Hummingbirds. It will grow 10’ tall provided you give it a trellis to grow on.
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