Clambering for attention
Vines can’t help it: It’s their nature to keep growing, to head skyward for life-giving sunlight and scale other plants in the process. Woody, rope-like lianas grow so strong and dense you could swing through a jungle, so massive they engulf the towering trees that support them.
Such vigorous vines have no place in city gardens, and planting a rampant climber can leave you and your landscape in a tangled mess. But a vine-draped doorway dripping with vivid blossoms, or a window entwined with fragrant flowers, or a pillar festooned in foliage? That can enhance any landscape, especially one starved of space. The trick is picking the right vine for the right place.
Nurseries and designers report growing demand for vertical beauty, a phenomenon attributed to shrinking yards, particularly around condominiums and big homes on small suburban lots that force residents to garden up, not out. Fortunately, an array of trailing and twining flora -- true vines and other sprawling plants -- can be cajoled into tight spaces and onto small supports, with or without help from a gardener.
True vines get vertical in various ways, and it pays to match their mechanics to the size and texture of your supports. Twiners such as beans spiral their stems around almost anything, themselves included. Clematis and peas grasp targets with tendrils (actually modified stems or leaflets). Boston ivy uses tiny suction cups on its roots to cling to masonry. Night-blooming cereus and ivy produce adventitious roots that adhere to flat surfaces.
But anything “clambering” can be trained as a vine, says Shirley Kerins, plant sale manager at Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. “Just put it in bondage: Tie it up. If it flops down, tie it up some more.”
One of her favorites is the trailing red-and-white fuchsia ‘Jingle Bells’ attached to the trellis outside her office. “It’s covered with blooms right now,” she says. “It slows down in July and August, then picks up again by Christmas.” The fuchsia is entwined with white heliotrope, a vanilla-scented perennial that also lends itself to vertical gardening.
The best small-scale climbers know when to stop: “determinate” vines and “semi-vines” that stay under 15 feet, wide-spreading shrubs with flexible arms, and cold-sensitive annuals and perennials whose size is restricted to one year’s growth.
You can introduce climbers into your garden with a skein of rose canes over an arch, or with flowering maple or sasanqua camellia on a fence, or perhaps nasturtiums around a bamboo tripod.
Embellish pillars and posts -- whether functional or for folly -- with blasts of seasonal color: purple Hardenbergia in spring, hot pink Mandevilla ‘Alice du Pont’ in summer, cobalt blue Salvia cacaliifolia for fall, and sweet peas for winter.
English gardener and designer Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) used climbers to accentuate architecture and other plants. She bunched vines into streamers and garlands along balconies. She flattened California lilac (Ceanothus xdelilianus ‘Gloire de Versailles’), coast silk tassel (Garrya elliptica) and other spreading shrubs onto stone walls behind her famous mixed borders.
Annual vines and tender perennials grown as annuals, Kerins says, are ideal for small spaces and containers: “They die before they get too big.”
Spanish flag (Mina lobata), a tropical twiner sold by the Felton, Calif.-based seed company Renee’s Garden as Exotic Love Vine, produces graceful stalks of crimson, yellow and ivory flowers. Sown from seed in March, it flowers from late summer to December, when it dies in cold weather. Another option is moonflower (Ipomoea alba), which unfurls its fragrant white blossoms after sundown. “A must for anyone who uses their garden at night,” Kerins says.
One need not even have terra firma thanks to plants that do well in containers. The climbing lily (Gloriosa superba ‘Rothschildiana’) sports resplendent blossoms and a tendril at the tip of each leaf. It must have good drainage and does best in a pot. String of hearts (Ceropegia woodii[) and other succulent ceropegias with birdcage- or parachute-like blossoms can be woven onto miniature trellises in containers.
Planting vines on live trees is not a good idea, as they can smother the tree’s growth or, in time, cause structural problems. But there are exceptions.
The leaf bases on an old fan palm offer excellent support for orchid cactus (Epiphyllum species) and climbing aloe (Aloe ciliaris), a succulent vine with flame orange flowers, and Tweedia caerulea (Oxypetalum caeruleum), a twining perennial with silvery foliage and star-shaped, sky blue blossoms.
Where the aesthetics of an oversized climber is desired, try look-alikes of lesser stature. In place of the climbing rose ‘Fourth of July,’ Kerins suggests a less vigorous variety named ‘Dortmund.’ Substitute Mackaya bella for lavender trumpet vine, Bauhinia galpinii for Bougainvillea ‘Orange King,’ or silvervein creeper (Parthenocissus henryana) for Boston ivy.
Kerins says certain vines are best avoided altogether.
“People should be burned at the stake for planting that perennial blue morning glory,” she says. “It travels over from the neighbors’ and you can’t rid of it.” For a stand-in, try the less aggressive annual ‘Heavenly Blue.’
Even the most dreaded vines may seem tidy and tame on their stakes in nursery containers. (Those stakes should be removed at planting time.) But given the opportunity, they can strangle and swallow a garden or home. So read up before planting. Spurn recognized invaders, no matter how pretty. Leave the lianas to Tarzan and his friends.
And make way for the new and unusual.
Although the flowers and seed heads of pipestems (Clematis lasiantha) are plainer than those of clematis hybrids, this California chaparral native thrives with minimal water and fuss.
Mexican flame vine (Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides, also known as Senecio confusus) attracts butterflies with its yellow-centered orange flowers. It thrives in sun or light shade and blooms from summer through fall inland and year-round in coastal climates.
Dwarf lilac vine (Hardenbergia violacea ‘Mini-Ha-Ha’) is a shrubby 3-footer that fits where its larger cousin ‘Happy Wanderer’ will not.
Kerins has discovered a miniature Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis ‘Kofuji’). “Everything about it is diminutive,” she says. “It has very tiny leaves, and they say it has dwarf clusters of lavender flowers.” Her 3-year-old plant has yet to bloom. Even so, she says, it’s a treasure.
Lili Singer can be reached at home@latimes.com.
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Vines to go
The spring sale at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, “Small Plants for Small Spaces,” will feature many of the vines and climbers mentioned in this article. The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday for Huntington members; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday for the public. The event is in the parking lot, and admission is free. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; (626) 405-2100; www.huntington.org.
