I've had turtles in my pond for several years. My turtles are Eastern Painted which is very similar to a Red-Eared Slider. I've never had any problems with the liner. The turtles will eat plants like lilies. They never destroyed my lilies, but many of the leaves have bites missing. They will also occasionally eat fish that are less than two inches. I feed my turtles reptile pellets from the pet store and various fruits and vegetables. They love watermelon and cherries. The turtles will leave your pond if they can and it is difficult to keep them in a pond since they are excellent climbers. I have my pond surrounded with plastic fencing supported by rocks. They will need an area to climb out of the water and bask in the sun. I would suggest keeping the turtles in the aquarium during the winter and in the pond during the summer. Wild turtles dig into the mud at the bottom of a lake or pond to survive the winter. Your turtles will not be able to do this and may die if the water temperature gets too cold.

Sandra, did you read any of the previous responses? They should have successfully answered your question. VC or any other very vigorous vine, if allowed to grow up into the tree canopy, can shade out the growth to the extent that it will not be able to photosynthesize and heavily affected branches can die off. It happens here in my area with English ivy!! As Tom noted, the vine doesn't actually strangle the tree but just deprives it of necessary light. If a very dense patch of vine, like the ivy is typically found here, it can also compete with the tree for moisture and nutrients. And if allowed to grow unchecked, the vine can also make the tree top heavy and more prone to wind damage. It is best to cut and remove.

I don't have a garage or shed (am in a hi-rise but was in a house for years before and do some vertical gardening on my balcony wall), but I do have vines for hummingbirds and recently butterflies have been visiting too (yes I get both up here...lol). Regarding your suggestions, you bring up good points and counter-points regarding trellising against a shed wall. Wood does rot after awhile (even with paint) and metal can rust and crumble after awhile (even with paint). It would be nice if one could find a similar large wall trellis in PVC (I know there are smaller ones that are tall but usually narrow too, but that might be something to think about to use). What I can offer would be like a small scale experience to help describe what the vines you are considering might do and the type of support you might need. Some of the vines that hummers like do include the honeysuckles, but if you choose a native (Loncera sempervirens), then those don't grow as aggressively or are as invasive as the japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). There are many named varieties of the natives and my hummers couldn't wait until the flowers started opening yesterday and they were all over it. Mine ("Blanche Sandman") is in a pot and supported by a decorative vinyl-coated metal trellis. Interestingly, that honeysuckle seems a bit reticent to twine like other honeysuckles so it would basically mean manually threading it around the support and/or tying them initially until they are on their way. My other honeysuckle - a "Mandarin" (Lonicera x mandarin) does twine quite readily on its own and that is on a small wooden trellis support and yep, the hummers like that one too). But as a note, as a twiner, honeysuckles may have some difficulty going around something too large in diameter, although being woody vines, they do better than the annual vines on wider supports. Similarly, my American wisteria, which is not as aggressive as its asian cousins and as a woody vine, can twine better around a wider support, but the thinner the easier for it. My Blanche Sandman honeysuckle looks like this right now (sorry for the hazy picture but it's hazy here...ugh... this is its 2nd year with me, it was from a 1 gallon size plant that I got last year). These have a tendency for bare bottoms (I have seen larger specimens do similar) with a mass of vinelettes and flowers towards the top (unless you prune to make it bushier - the japanese honeysuckle tends to do the long vines): The SRBs, cypress vines and cardinal climbers have thinner vine shoots and need a finer support to attach to. I have seen some interesting suggestions for that on the large scale where one can string fishing line up for them. Since they are annuals (and the cardinal climber is in the colder areas although they might reseed), and unless you can find white or clear netting, using fishing line might be more aesthetically neutral in winter when the support area is exposed after they die back. The crossvine and trumpet vine are woody like honeysuckle and sortof twine but can become shrubby as well. So for any of the woody vines, a good solid support would be a must. The trumpet vine can get aggressive so unless you are willing to hack it back (I have seen people grow it like a standard), then you might want to reconsider. The crossvine might get that way too, although it's not as aggressive and there are some pretty cultivars out there. If you did decide on clematis (I have one on a cheapy tomato cage) it depends on the type as the group 3s like I have can be cut to the ground every year and will bloom on new growth (meaning for a trellis, it needs to be re-trained each year), whereas the group 1s and 2s maintain a woody structure and require minimal pruning. These attach via their leafs, which wrap around the support, so too thick or wide a support and they can't climb well on their own and they will attach to themselves and then fall over in a tangled mess. But for the ones maintaining a woody structure, if you thread and train the vine (even tie it up), you can shape it permanently. For attaching to a wall, it's probably best to have it on a stand-off (maybe a few inches out) so that you can get behind it and allow the plants to be woven around and through it easier. Plus it keeps the back of the plants off a hot wall and allows some air to move behind. Anyway, hope this helps a little - when I was composing this, I saw a butterfly that I wasn't sure of. Someone from above was looking out for me because I took a WAG and checked a PA butterfly site and immediately ID'd it on a first try as a silver-spotted skipper. I have alot of red flowers blooming up here right now and I guess it saw those and the leaves of my wisteria and maybe thought the wisteria was a locust tree or related (these apparently like pea family plants and the wisteria leaves resemble such): I did have a visit from an Eastern Black swallowtail last weekend: And I'm still trying to get a good picture of my hummers this year but here's a rare one from last year where 2 were sitting not far from each other and had they known the other was there, the mad chase would have errupted (plus you can see my volunteer MGs around the shepherd's hook where the feeder was hung - they did use the MGs as they were closing by the way):

(The're not mandevillas, FW, it's the common name of the white form of Pandorea jasminoides.) Unfortunately however this is also a somewhat leggy-growing woody vine, and given anything to grow it will head upwards at the expense of lower growth. You may find some natural branching but really the only way to encourage new growth is by cutting back. I appreciate what you are saying about doing so, and losing your pretty fence-top growth. Also you may well set it back as you would really need to go low. There are a couple of alternatives. You could try alternating the cut-back - leave some top growth and just cut back a couple of stems from each one down low to see if that stimulates new shoots, and then try to keep the new growth nipped any time you see a node, to promote further branching. Then a light trim after flowering as they seem to flower from the ends. Second thought is to buy another 2 or three and bung them in between the others, but keep them pruned harder in the first few years so you get a bit more shrubbiness lower down Thirdly, go for a cheat and grow some annual vines that will not take over but will produce some show lower down and also can use the stems of the Lady Di to grow up (this should not do any harm to your vines), I could suggest quite a few but some things are considered a bit weedy depending on your area and also you don't want anything too vigorous in growth or in self-seeding.