Vine suggestion--evergreen, containable, and no bees
19 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (7)
- 19 years ago
- 19 years ago
Related Discussions
Hummingbirds/Butterflies/Bees
Comments (2)Any time you have flowers, you may get all sorts of insects and sometimes bees and wasps. There are usually certain types of flowers that bees prefer but it often depends on your specific location and what all is located in the area around you. Ie., if there is a great source of material for bees in someone's yard, then they may mostly gravitate there and a few solitary bees might visit you. This may be more or less depending on how close you are to the ground and near areas where bees/wasps may build their hives. In my case, I grow blueberries on my balcony and those are bee-pollinated, so every year, I do pray for mild enough temps for the bees to be active enough to come up here and pollinate my blueberry flowers. In most cases, I get carpenter bees doing that as I rarely see bumble bees up here - at least when the blueberry is blooming. Last year was my first full year with a beautyberry and when it started blooming, I did get a whole pile of what I think were bumble bees that were all over it! Of course that helped because that's how I got a nice crop of berries! I have the beautyberry situated in the far western corner of my balcony away from where I frequent so I don't run into them that much and they're too busy getting that nectar. The only time I tend to have issues is late summer when paper wasps are out in force and they end up hanging out on my hummingbird feeder. In the past, I've also seen them on my moonflower vine, but that seemed to be an odd year where they may have also been attracted to the over-active nectaries (which produce big drops of nectar at the base of a leaf) on that particular vine. The hummers tend to steer clear of the wasps but will still come back to feed: But hummers will definitely chase away (or be chased by) a carpenter bee. The carpenter bees don't care about the feeder but they are territorial like the hummer and I've seen many a chase between the two! LOL...See MoreSuggestions needed for a vine in a container
Comments (4)I thought potato vine was an annual? Maybe I'm confusing it with something else, LOL. I grow both star jasmine and solanum jasminoides. Of the two I prefer the solanum. Star jasmine makes a great modest-height groundcover, though. It doesn't cling, but it does twine a bit and then most of it sprawls outwards. I think of it as similar to ivy - it will climb, but it's just as happy to creep over the ground and smother everything beneath it. Solanum also twines instead of clinging, but it has the great advantage of the stems remaining thin and flexible. It retains an airier, lacy appearance whereas star jasmine is a bigger, heavier vine in both appearance and actual weight. I would be VERY careful about covering a stairway railing in any vine. I've done it - it's a lovely look - but if this is a railing that anyone really needs for stabilizing themselves so they don't risk a fall, you cannot adequately grasp the top of a railing when it's covered in vines. Bees especially love star jasmine, so you really don't want to be grabbing at a railing covered in it. Both vines grow very well in the Bay Area and are fairly drought-resistant even in pots. Both take pruning, even extensive pruning, without a problem. Note that the variegated solanum jasminoides is much less vigorous than its green-leafed cousin - positively wimpy in comparison, in fact....See More'Trumpet' Vines?
Comments (9)welcome to NC! ok- as far as the honeysuckles the one you want to avoid is the japanese one, lonicera japonica. you can plant coral honeysuckle which is vigorous, but not invasive, and unfortunately not fragrant. it's lonicera sempervirens. it's a gorgeous coral red with yellowy throats that the hummers adore, and blooms heavily in spring then on & off all summer through fall. there are some yellow flowered cultivars of it. there are some other honeysuckles and i'm sorry i can't recall the names, that look a bit more like the jap kind, but are flushed with pink and gold and behave well and have fragrance that the hummers enjoy. campsis radicans, trumpet vine-aka cow itch-aka trumpet creeper is a native vine, but it is pretty invasive. i have it on my prop and let it grow up into one tree for the hummers, but keep the rest mowed off at the ground. it's like maypop- it comes up far and wide form the original from underground runners. cross vine- bignonia capreolata, is semi-well behaved. it's a native, too- and it's everywhere for me, and hard to eradicate where you don't want. it likes to climb high and flower- it flowers at about 40-60' in my trees. i think the improved versions like tangerine may flower more profusely for you than the straight species. hummers love both cross and trumpet vine, and i have both growing up big trees and flowering very successfully. they also like carolina jessamine, another native that can get a bit unruly. it's yellow, unlike the others, and so it could offer some contrast. another thing you may not have considered for hummers, is coral bells, heuchera species (look for the ones with red or pink bells- so many now have smaller dingy white flowers). and most of the salvias are magnets, too, even the blue ones like guaranitica. they like annuals like petunias, morning glories and million bells, too. more uncommon vines like manettia and mina lobata tickle them for later in the year. all that said, i'd be cautious about planning to plant too much this year though, with the drought. the likelihood of it continuing is too great, and water too scare to water much. if you are going to plant, do it soon while the earth is still moist and the things can get well established before it gets too dry. even with that, there's a good chance you'll lose much of what you plant now. i think i'd be content to get 2 or 3 feeders and hang those to draw in the hummers this year. best of luck with your gardens!...See MoreThanks Eggo! Container growing Tropical Fruits
Comments (12)I've never seen root rot on a jaboticaba. Mine, which are in ground of course, are in the lowest point in my entire property. There have been some multi-day rain events that have left standing water in this area for a full 10 days without any root issues. During dry season, I'll let the hose run completely flooding the area. That doesn't leave any standing water for more than a day, but I usually have to do it a day or two in a row before flowering commences. Good luck. Harry...See MoreRelated Professionals
Ashburn Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Summit Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Maple Heights Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Middletown Landscape Contractors · Berwyn Landscape Contractors · Danvers Landscape Contractors · Ellicott City Landscape Contractors · Gaithersburg Landscape Contractors · Hawaii Landscape Contractors · Lady Lake Landscape Contractors · Lakeville Landscape Contractors · Paramus Landscape Contractors · Plymouth Landscape Contractors · Tustin Landscape Contractors · Whittier Landscape Contractors- 19 years ago
- 18 years ago
- 18 years ago
- 18 years ago
Related Stories

GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Evergreen Huckleberry Appeals All Year
Spring flowers and summer berries are only half the story with Vaccinium ovatum, a versatile Pacific Northwest native plant
Full Story
FLOWERS5 Sensational Flowering Vines for Warm Climates
Splash your garden with bright tropical color from late summer through fall with these showy trailing and climbing beauties
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESAttract Hummingbirds and Bees With These Beautiful Summer Flowers
Roll out a welcome mat for pollinators to keep your landscape in balance and thriving
Full Story
FOLIAGEGreat Design Plant: Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine
Versatile, fast growing, inexpensive and easy on the eyes, ornamental sweet potato vine has it all
Full Story
LANDSCAPE DESIGNSee 5 Unexpected Ways to Use Vines
Vines can grow over slopes, trail off pergolas and add seasonal color to the garden
Full Story
SOUTHWEST GARDENING10 Flowering Vines for Southwestern Gardens
These resilient, adaptable plants thrive in the region’s extreme climate and provide a variety of garden benefits
Full Story
GARDENING FOR BUTTERFLIESGardening for the Bees, and Why It’s a Good Thing
When you discover how hard bees work for our food supply, you may never garden without them in mind again
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESSmall Carpenter Bees Are Looking for a Home in Your Plant Stems
Provide flowers and nesting sites in your garden for this beautiful, tiny, metallic blue wild bee — your plants will thank you
Full Story
FALL AND THANKSGIVING5 Container Gardens for Fall, the Holidays and Beyond
Make planting easy with a single container, year-round plants and a sprinkling of simple seasonal accents
Full Story
PLANTING IDEASStretch the Budget, Seasons and Style: Add Conifers to Your Containers
Small, low-maintenance conifers are a boon for mixed containers — and you can transplant them to your garden when they’ve outgrown the pot
Full Story
cindy_q