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Where to plant vines?

17 years ago

I was wondering where you all plant vines for the Pipevine Swallowtails and the Gulf Frits? I was reading about them and it sounds like they get pretty big. Are either of them something that would fit on a 7 or 8-ft high trellis? I don't know how tall trellises are, just guessing.

I think my Scarlet Runner Beans would be okay on one, as the packet says that they get 8-12 feet tall. I'm not sure if my Hyacinth Bean Vines would be okay on a trellis; they can get up to 20 feet.

Comments (13)

  • 17 years ago

    I have a porch on my house. A small one, not a big one. But, I am planting mine on the east side and I purchased a roll of fencing wire a couple of years ago, and still have a lot of it. I just staple the top (on the rim around the porch (whatever that's called), and roll it down to the bottom into the soil and kind of "molds" itself into place.

    You can also use those cement screws if you have brick, and basically "hang" your vine support fencing from that and place the screws every so often down the side of the fencing to hold it in place without it being right on the brick of the house.

    A friend across the street just bought those panels of lattice that you can get at HD or Lowe's or garden centers and hardware stores, and affix them to open porches for something. I saw once where someone took two of the lattices and put hinges between the two, attached about 18" 4x4s to each side, buried about 12" in concrete, so that it looked like a room divider. I thought that was pretty cool looking, too.

    You can make trellises with PVC and wire, old mattress springs, all kinds of "frugal" stuff, including old louvered doors with the slats removed and wire criss-crossed and nailed or stapled in for a trellis effect.

    I have some old stems of hibiscus and senna that I am going to use to make tepees out of for vine supports. Some of those are about 10' long. I bet if you google homemade vine supports, you'll get all kinds of ideas. Also check the Vine Forum - they usually have a lot of ideas, too. That's where I got some of mind.

    Susan

  • 17 years ago

    Thanks for all of the wonderful info, Susan! Gosh, you had so many good ideas now it's hard to choose which one to do. lol Of course, by the time I'm done planting (whatever year that will be), I'll probably have tried all of them. Ha. I think too that it would really look neat with those lattices hinged to look like a room divider. I would have loved to have seen that. I'll google homemade vine supports and see what that comes up with and also visit the Vine Forum. Heck, I didn't even know there was such a thing. I wonder how often people make free standing trellises (I mean not propped up against a building). We have a corn crib that I could put a trellis on, but I don't know if the vines would also crawl on the inside. I did that with a wisteria vine one time and regretted it. We store things in that building and that vine got so out of hand! It was like going into a jungle trying to find something. We eventually tore it out and it's been trying to grow ever since and that was about five years or so ago. I'll never get one of those again. It never did bloom. I had 3 wisterias here and none of them ever bloomed so they got yanked out after about 10 years of not blooming. Thanks again, Susan, for those great suggestions.
    Cathy

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  • 17 years ago

    The native wistera (frutescens) is not supposed to go crazy like the chinese one I sure hope that is true because i had a chinese one take over the world. ( well my neighbors thought so) and it did not bloom until it was 7 years old. my mother told me to take a shovel and cut the ground around it in a circle. I guess to crop the surface roots. and sure enough it bloomed like crazy that year.
    my aforementiond neighbor who was not at all happy about the wisteria covering our street light post enough to make it stay on in the daytime, kept reminding me of a man he knew who had taken an old patio umbrella spine and used it to trellis his wisteria. he kept describing the wonderfull cascading blooms I think trying to get to me since mine would not bloom. anyway I moved! the wisteria is still there. I discovered that an old beach umbrella we had in the garage had rotted cloth so I'm going to try the umbrella thing with the frutescens vine I just got from my native nursery lady.she insists that they don't go crazy like the chinese ones. again with vines that I am concerned will take over the world I pot them in very large plastic pots with great drainage( rocks and sand covering extra drain holes) and place them against wherever I have space on a wall or fence. once I tie the first tendrils to the support the others follow with a little nudge to the ones heading in the opposite direction. It sounds like you are in exactly the same position I am. more plants than space where you can manage them and so many more I want. J

  • 17 years ago

    The ones I had must have been Chinese then because they were just really unruly! That convinced me to never get another wisteria vine as long as I live and I'm not kidding. That's interesting about cutting the ground in a circle around the vine. That's good that it worked. I hadn't heard of that at the time I had the vines or I'd have tried that myself. Ha, yeah, it does kind of sound like your neighbor was trying to get to you! That sounds interesting about trying the vine on a beach umbrella frame. I'd like to see a picture of that if you can get one then sometime. I don't blame you for planting certain plants in plastic pots if you're worried about them taking over the place. If some of these vines can take shade, I might just plant them along the woods and let them crawl wherever they want to since that area is far from neat-looking. We had some trees cut and there is so much brush all over the place. Good place for creatures to hide, I suppose. Well, we have a big backyard but the problem is I can't shell out money for landscape fabric and mulch, so it will probably be a weedy garden. I don't like that, but I guess that's the way it will have to be.
    Cathy

  • 17 years ago

    My trellis for my pipe vines are growing in full sun on a piece of fence attched to two metal fence post. Not real pretty but I think it will get the job done. I think I will have to add to it if my vines grow real well. Don't I hope.

  • 17 years ago

    Cathy, if you have what we call "big trash" day where you live, especially this time of year, you may find lots of treasures that you can use for trellis material and many other garden projects. We have "big trash" once a month here, and I've picked up wooden stakes, an old ladder, big pieces of tree trunks, a fish aquarium, all kinds of things. Just keep your eye out. I don't hesitate to stop if it's something I really want and can fit in my car.

    Susan

  • 17 years ago

    Mimi, Your way of having the vines sounds perfectly fine to me. If you'd see how I have some things here, you wouldn't think a thing of how you have your plants. :)

  • 17 years ago

    Susan, Hmmm...That's an idea! We don't have that right here since we're rural, but they do have the "big trash" day downtown (I'm just not sure when). Also, there's a town a few miles away where there's a college and there are a lot more "wealthier" people there than what's in our little town. I bet they'd have some good trash! lol Just one thing...I never did this before and was wondering if the people throwing out the trash know that others go through their trash. Do they have a problem with it? I just don't want to be mistaken for a bag lady and get chased away. :-O I bet I probably could find some things in people's trash that I'd be able to use. I hadn't actually thought of that before. It sounds like you collected some nice trash. :-)

  • 17 years ago

    Ooh, and garage sales are another good option. Have you ever gone dumpster diving? Try that, too. You just never know what you might find to use in your garden.

    Susan

  • 17 years ago

    Dumpster diving?? LOL Susan, are you trying to turn me into a bag lady? ;-) Well, maybe if I happen to see something good sticking out of the top of one, I might grab it, but I don't think I could bring myself to dive into one. ewwwwww Ha. Garage sales...now that's another good one. I could try that too.

  • 17 years ago

    I've seen people use the old mattress springs, the flat ones? for vines. They are very sturdy, too. And once the vine covers it, you can't tell what is holding it up anyway.

    Old ladders! Someone put one out one day last summer, and I was on my way to an appointment or something. Anyway, I told myself when I came back that way, I'd pick it up. Wooden ladders are hard to come by and lots of gardeners crave them. Anyway, it was gone when I came back. That would have been a great find.

    I'm always stopping and picking up pieces of wood that I can use for stakes, tepees, etc. I trimmed back my contorted mulberry this year, to raise the canopy on it, and I have quite a number of long twisted branches to use for climbing plants now. This was one great purchase from Wayside, and I don't recommend them much. I got it bare root and it was about 12" long. It's been in the ground now for 6 years and is about 15' tall. I love the branches to use for stakes and things because they are so decorative looking. I even used a few in a big vase in the house. Florists adore them for designing.

    If you get your willows to grow, you can use branches of it to weave little garden fences because willow is so flexible or maybe even a woven obelisk.

    I've picked up old tree stumps that look nice. I have one that I got last year, that's about 3' long and almost as wide, but the wood is kind of a smooth peachy color. I want to carve out the middle just a bit for a butterfly watering hole.

    I need to get my butterfly houses cleaned up. Haven't put my tent out yet, and I'm glad with all the rain and winds we've had.

    Susan

  • 17 years ago

    We have the neighbor friendly fence where every other 8' panel has the boards facing you. I had my DH put PVC trellis on the ones where we have the backside of the fence facing our yard. The 8' fence is great for the mexican flame vine and the dutchaman's pipevine A. elegans. So far my A. tomentosa hasn't even begun to fill up that size of fence. I've had it planted for 2 season's now, maybe this is the year it will take off. And as for passion vines.... I tried to plant mine in the ground in a pot to contain them and unfortunetly they have escaped. The only one I have that isn't popping up all over the place is my Lavendar Lady P. alto. and I didn't even plant it in a pot!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Link To my garden Pictures

  • 17 years ago

    Susan, Old wooden ladder? Hmmm...I wonder if my dad still has the one that was here years ago. That's a thought! It was a pretty tall, round runged one. It used to be here but I didn't trust to use it because it was so old and some of the rungs were taped up. It used to be my grandfather's. I found it when we tore down our shed two years ago, which, by the way, is where my milkweed bed now is. I just hope that the Swamp Milkweed will get enough sun there because it's next to the woods. I figured it would be a good place to plant them as far as the ground goes because that's where water likes to lay for a long time after it rains (it's a low spot in the yard). I hope all of the plants come up. There are plants coming up in those spots but since there are so many at each spot, I figure it's probably weeds. I hate to pull them though because I'm afraid I might pull the wrong thing.

    Btw, you sound like a very resourceful person! You always come up with such good ideas.
    Cathy

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