Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Suggestions for a Good Flowering Vine in Seattle?
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June 28, 2012 at 4:21 pm #603773
WorldCitizenParticipantI have a masonry wall in my backyard which receives decent indirect south-eastern light throughout most of the year. I would love to plant a vine to grow and cover it for purely aesthetic reasons.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what would be a good candidate for such an endeavor? Ideally it would be a flowering vine which can take the cold of winter and needs little to no maintenance (just attention a couple times per year). The wall isn’t very tall (about 7 feet tall x 15 feet wide).
Does Confederate Jasmine fare well for any of you around here?
June 28, 2012 at 4:42 pm #762122
wsmama3ParticipantWe have a clemantus (sorry – no idea on spelling!) from the WS Nursery that took a year – but has covered our front stoop. Pretty all year and thick. I’d go ask them – they have not once steered me wrong.
June 28, 2012 at 4:58 pm #762123
KatherineLParticipantwsmama3’s suggestion is a good one. But if you’d like to think about more possibilities than the WS Nursery’s stock (not that I’m running down one of my favorite places to shop,) you could call or email the Elizabeth Miller Horticultural Library. They’ll look things up and get back to you if they don’t have an immediate answer.
depts.washington.edu/hortlib/collections/pal.shtml
Or google Elizabeth Miller library.
June 28, 2012 at 5:14 pm #762124
kellymParticipantI have clematis, wisteria, honeysuckle(smells divine right now), a jasmine and akebia. All have thrived…some might say ahem taken over my garden.
June 28, 2012 at 6:22 pm #762125
WorldCitizenParticipantThank you all! Clematis Armandii seem to be the preferred vine for evergreen cover according to many. Good to hear that echoed here as well.
June 28, 2012 at 9:26 pm #762126
BLhappypetsParticipantPassion flower (also has inedible root). It didn’t work for our garden plan, but the previous owners had it and it was heavenly. So beautiful! It was on our south-facing wall with sun exposure all day.
June 29, 2012 at 4:03 am #762127
waterworldParticipantThere are many kinds of clematis, as you probably already know. Clematis armandii has the benefits of being evergreen and blooming at a time when lots of other things aren’t. But it can be quite vigorous and get pretty big — 20 ft tall and 15 ft wide. Pruning after the bloom will help you control it.
If you are open to any of the deciduous clematis, there are many that have long bloom times and are very pretty. Personally, I like the leaf shapes of some of the deciduous clematis better than the armandii, but that’s just personal taste.
I have a viticella clematis called Etoile Violette that produces stunning deep violet flowers in the summer on a vine that’s quite easy to manage. Another viticella I have is called Polish Spirit. The flowers are also purple but not quite as huge. It consistently blooms from June to late August for me. Every three or four years, I cut these guys way back, and they smother my fence by mid-summer the same year.
Another standard for this area are clematis montana. Mine is pink and I think most of them are, but I don’t know for sure. These bloom in the spring, before most of my perennials have really gotten going. The leaves are lovely through the rest of the season, and it’s not fussy about how you treat it.
I’m also a fan of climbing hydrangea. There are two plants out there that are commonly called climbing hydrangea — the one I love is hydrangea anomala ssp petiolaris. It produces white lacey hydrangea flowers in the summer. But what’s really amazing is the way it naturally climbs up a fence or wall. Not to say you won’t need to support it as it gets big, but it really does the rest by itself. When the leaves drop in the fall, it exposes red, peeling, papery bark that is beautiful, especially with a dusting of snow in the winter. There is a variegated form as well. It’s really one of the most lovely, low maintenance plants in my garden.
June 29, 2012 at 5:48 am #762128
kayoParticipantI have a gorgeous climbing hydrangea that is several years old now but has filled in a 6 foot chain link fence and is really beautiful year round (drops leaves, but bark is beautiful in the winter). I also have evergreen clematis, but I have to hack it back every year because it gets so jungly. The hydrangea is much better behaved and much more interesting year round that the clematis. Both are easy to grow and great choices though.
June 29, 2012 at 3:41 pm #762129
The Velvet BulldogParticipantWondering if anyone has tried growing the China blue vine (Holbellia coriacea) around here? I’ve been intrigued by it for a while and am considering giving it a whirl in the back yard.
June 29, 2012 at 4:04 pm #762130
BLhappypetsParticipantSorry, I meant to say inedible FRUIT, not root.
June 29, 2012 at 6:09 pm #762131
sacatoshParticipantI have 4 akebia vines: 2 female and 2 male that need a new home. You want them? They’re coming out this weekend. They’re beautiful but they grow too fast for the location they’re currently planted. Gorgeous flowers that smell delicious, and a very strange fruit that some love and others hate. I am in the latter club.
June 29, 2012 at 6:35 pm #762132
tom kelleyParticipantYou might consider kiwi. I planted three (one male) of them some years ago and get so many kiwi that I created, “kiwi fest” a neighborhood event to help harvest. It includes a parade with a royal float, harvest, and cookout.
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