They certainly require the most maintenance of all the plants I’ve ever grown, trying as I do to avoid high-maintenance plants altogether.
Hardy Kiwi
But let me make my case. On the left in this photo the bright green foliage is just a hint of the vigor to come from three hardy kiwis that I struggle to keep from eating my house. Over the course of the summer I’ll fill 8 to 10 full-size trash cans with the trimmings, and that’s a lot of trimming. No wonder the standard advice is to prune it back HARD in early spring – which I don’t do because I’d have to retrain it to where I want it every year. After eight years it began producing flowers, but so far, no fruits have appeared. Yes, I supposedly have at least one male and one female – if tags are to be believed – so I still have hope after 12 years growing the stuff. It’s the most commented-on plant in my garden, hands down.
English ivy
And what’s that ugly brown stuff on the trellis but good old (ugh) English ivy, the ground cover/climber that blankets the land in large parts of my county, including the wooded valley my garden is part of. Seeking to cover the crappy metal wall of my tool shed, the walls with the ever-peeling paint no matter how what type is used, I added a trellis and trained some of my existing ivy up it. You know how mistakes can look fine the first season and bite your ass the second? That’s the story of this mistake, and now the vines have covered the window and are quickly covering the roof, too, and there’s no way to trim it coz it’s out of reach.
So last fall I removed what I could reach and just let the unreachable parts die over the winter – but LOOK at it! Now I’ll be seeing those dead leaves all season, at least. When I did the same cut-and-let-die trick on the ivy covering my trees it took at least a year for the stuff to fall off. Though finally there was a pay-off when birds made good use of the dead stems for their nests. So, a happy ending, I guess.
Crossvine/bignonia
Now look above the tool shed over to my neighbors’ trellis and you see a vine I’ve been coveting for its huge orange tubular flowers, its green leaves all winter, and the fact that it’s native. (It’s always nice to find another native that does well in the garden to add to the great sustainable nonnatives I’ve collected over the decades.) I’ve already bought one, in fact, and it’s now at the base of the trellis, getting settled in its new home. But I’m leery of even this seemingly perfect vine. Will it, too, become a headache, a chore, an unruly mess? You know, like the trumpet vine I just bought – also a native – is predicted to become?
But enough of my plant rant. What’s YOUR most demanding plant or plant group?
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m definitely developing vine phobia.
My most demanding plant group is also vines, not even mine. Mostly they’re clients’ vines, but there’s a neighbor’s vine that wanders over here far too much, and I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to keep it under control.
What would be your opinion on vines for a free-standing trellis?
We have a community garden plot and were thinking of creating some division between us and our neighbors by putting up trellises and planting either wisteria or begonia vines…
Would love your opinion.
Thank you!
Ugh, vines really are demanding. I battle the wisteria which grows wild all over here. I’ve made some headway, in my yard at least. Your kiwi vine sounds like the battle I had at my last home with Virginia Creeper. It looked real pretty climbing up the brick but my poor husband had to get on a tall ladder to keep it from growing on the roof. Last time I saw our old house the creeper was gone.
We also grew bignonia and it was pleasant and well mannered. Not so the trumpet vine that grew between us and a neighbor way back when. It took two young strong men to get it under control enough so we could back out of the driveway!
Yanic, I’d avoid wisteria, unless it’s the less vigorous American type. Bignonia (crossvine) would be great, though – it’s even evergreen. You could combine it with morning glory or sweet pea or other lightweight annuals.
The only vine that I find high maintenance is the Dutchman’s Pipe which seems to be taking over a portion of my world. It is a great host plant for butterflies but…..it comes up hither and yon from suckers and requires a bit of diligence to keep it in check.
Yes, be careful with the Trumpet vine. These can get carried away. They multiply by the root system and also self seed. Also note that they are poisonous to pets.
Do NOT plant wisteria! Not unless you really like sending large parts of the summer digging out the vines which seem to arrive from nowhere.
My biggest cross to bear is English ivy, which as an innocent young gardener I planted myself. Yesterday I actually paid someone to come in and clear out a big patch of it — paid real money! I never do that, but this was just out of hand. Now it’s gone, and I plan to leave the space bare except for mulch until fall so that I can pull out the leftovers which are lurking
Bignonia sounds lovely, but the bit about “50 feet up a tree” gives me pause.
Maybe an annual vine is what you are looking for on the garage. The big flowered moonvines will reseed, yes, both a boon and a bane – but they will cover and you can yank them down every fall.
If it’s a shaded area, you might try the slow growing hydrangea vine – but that one won’t like full sun.
Oh, and bignonia will bolt. I bought a vine this winter (I’m in Phoenix) and it’s going gangbusters, even as the temps climb and the humidity drops. While in a pot, with erratic watering. Ware!
But it is green and glossy and stays that way all year. In the desert, that’s the green I crave!
Recently bought a house here in central florida the fence between me and the neighbors has been taken over by virginia creeper and some other vine that I still need to get I.D.’d . I chopped backed all that I could from my side but the roots originate from theirs. Since this is a war I know I will lose I recently planted a Mandevilla, Sun parasol Crimson in hopes (lol ..trying to fight fire with fire) that it will grow and maybe over take the creeper but so far no growth yet but the darn thing is blooming like crazy (very bright red flowers) I’m thinking that I may have to move it tho because the sun bleaches the flowers as fast as they bloom.
Vines are romantic! Worth the trouble.
That said, my neighbors have bittersweet, which is completely invasive–I’m constantly hacking it out of my yard.
I’ve also planted hardy kiwi–and hope for fruit some year. I have a variegated Virginia creeper starting to climb the clapboard of my house as well as volunteer Boston ivy. I know, I know, climbers on clapboard are a no-no. It will be a big problem for somebody after I’m dead.
I also have a Virginia creeper in the worst spot in my garden, on the alley, made absolutely bone dry and black as night by some giant Norway spruces. Thank goodness for volunteers. I suppose that’s how the Army does it, too–appeals to the self-sacrificing.