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Garden

Covered with glory

A drab section of yard or an ugly tool shed is easy to disguise with a colorful drape woven by one of Florida's blooming vines.

By Yvonne Swanson
Published April 7, 2007

If you have a fence, trellis or other outdoor structure that needs a colorful boost, you're in luck. A huge variety of flowering vines thrives in the sunny to partly sunny Florida garden, from soft shades of white and pink to vivid yellow, red, orange, purple and blue.

Many flowering vines are hardy in our climate and some produce cheery blooms throughout the year. But a word of caution: Many climbing vines can overtake your landscape and cover shrubs, trees and other plants if they aren't kept in check. Give your vine plenty of room to grow and be prepared to trim and shape it now and then to keep it at its prettiest.

- One of our most popular vines is the brilliant flame vine (Pyrostegia venusta), with its abundant reddish-orange clusters of tubular flowers that wake up the winter and early spring garden. It prefers full sun, but will tolerate partial shade. A hardy, vigorous grower, flame vine is drought-tolerant, virtually pest-free and grows in poor soil.

- If yellow is your fancy, allamanda (Allamanda cathartica) produces showy yellow blooms throughout the year. A vigorous evergreen that prefers full sun, allamanda can become top-heavy, with most of its flowers and foliage at the top of the fence or trellis. You can encourage more growth and flowering at the middle and bottom of the vine by regularly pruning back stems. When the vine has finished blooming, simply remove the young suckers and runners at the top, to allow more sun to reach the bottom of the plant. There's a purple variety as well (Allamanda violace).

- Mandevilla (Mandevilla splendens) produces flowers year-round that resemble the allamanda, but in pretty shades of pink and red. Also a vigorous-growing evergreen, it performs best in full sun, where it will quickly cover a fence or arbor. Regular trimming will help tame it and encourage more growth on the plant's lower portions.

- Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spp.) is well-known for spectacularly colored bracts in shades of red, purple, magenta, orange and white that set the garden ablaze from spring through fall. This thorny perennial likes full sun and heat. Bougainvillea blooms best when soil is on the dry side.

- One of the most fragrant climbing vines is Confederate jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), which explodes with tiny snow-white blossoms for up to a month each spring. A hardy, drought- and pest-tolerant evergreen, jasmine grows in full sun to partial shade, although blooming will be most prolific in sun. Be careful when the plant is in bloom because it attracts hordes of bees, the only real drawback to this popular vine with its rich, spicy fragrance.

- Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is a Florida native that flowers from spring through summer with reddish-orange and yellow blossoms. Plant in full sun and water daily for the first few weeks after planting. Thereafter, this hardy vine is drought-tolerant and requires watering only during extremely dry periods.

- Each summer the passion vine (Passiflora spp.) produces spectacular, complex blossoms with multiple sepals and petals. Colors range to blue, purple, red, pink, white and greenish yellow. Flowering and growth are optimal if this vine is allowed to grow in full sun.

- Bleeding heart (Clerodendrum thomsoniae) gets its name from its distinctive flower clusters of white heart-shaped petals that appear to be dripping scarlet. It performs best in a sunny location, but will tolerate partial sun.

- Beautiful bluish-purple bell-shaped flowers that look like a morning glory grace the lush Bengal clock vine (Thunbergia grandiflora) throughout the year. It does fine in partial sun or shade, but it does like consistently moist soil. This evergreen climber can grow as much as 20 feet in just one year.

- One of the most unusual flowering vines is the Dutchman's pipe (Aristolochia elegans) or calico flower, an evergreen climber that produces blossoms 3 inches wide in a calico pattern of purple and brown. It's a vigorous grower and will quickly cover a fence or trellis with its dense growth of bright green heart-shaped leaves. Plant it in well-drained soil in a sunny or partly sunny location. It's pest- and disease-tolerant, but it can be an irritant; handle foliage with caution.

In general, flowering vines should be pruned to keep them under control in the landscape. The best time to prune is shortly after flowering has ceased. Don't prune when buds are present or you'll reduce or eliminate flowering.

Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg and a master gardener for Pinellas County.

[Last modified April 6, 2007, 09:18:24]