Bought a few vine plants... now I'm scratching my head

[KevinVA]

Hey everyone,

I've been trying to create a little getaway in the backyard over the last couple of years. So far I've done a pretty nice job, with what I have to work with. I planted a nice garden in the backyard along a privacy fence and while that's nice, I figured... hey, what if I planted some honeysuckle vines to climb the privacy fence?!

So, without really thinking about what it takes to get a vine to climb a privacy fence, I went out and bought some vines...

Now they're sitting in pots out in the backyard, because I don't know what steps I should take. I've seen vine plants along chain link fences and I could see a shadow-box fence working... but a 6ft flush privacy fence?

Anyone have any pointers? They're supposed to be able to grow 20-30ft wide, which would be perfect, but I have no idea how to make it grow along and up the fence, as it is.

Thanks in advance!

-Kevin

[hendi_alex]

I planted red honeysuckle in two locations. It will take care of itself, and will cover what ever support that it is near. Clematis is also a nice complementary plant to place on the same trellis. Just make sure that the bloom colors are complimentary.

[KevinVA]

Thanks for your response.

So there's no need to add any step-ladder-like obstacles, poles or a trellis? Just plant it and let it grow?

[hendi_alex]

I misunderstood your specific situation. Went back and reread. As I understand it, you have a relatively smooth privacy fence and would like the vine to grow up the fence or grow up a support that is just beside the fence.

Yes, the vine will need some support that it can cling to. It can be as simple as concrete re-enforcing wire, or could be some obelisk or trellis that is made for climbing vines. You could probably even drive some nails or long screws spaced a few feet apart and run thin wire from one to the other, creating a ladder for the vines to climb up the fence. Concrete re-enforcing wire would be ugly to start, unless you used some creative method for making a nice wooden frame. But after a year or two, any support will barely be visible as the vine will cover it almost completely.

One other simple idea is to place a stake in the ground and run a thin wire up to a small nail or eye screw in the fence. Perhaps have about three or the lines running from ground up to the upper fence. The vines will climb up those to provide a nice patch of texture and color to the area. Probably the easiest solution is a flat metal trellis that is perhaps six or seven feet tall by around three feet wide.

[KeyWee]

Do you know what kinds of vines you bought? Some vines twine while others cling. Climbing hydrangea, Virginia creeper, and euonymous all have little "fingers" and don't need much support other than a nudge or two if they start off in a direction that you don't want.
Twining vines need support, but they will also not wreck or dig into the surface on which they grow.

I am curious about what you bought.

[rainbowgardener]

It says honeysuckle vine, though it isn't completely clear if that was what OP was thinking about or that's what he actually bought. Honeysuckle vines have twining stems and will not cling to a smooth fence. Alex gave a bunch of good suggestions for that. Basically you have to give them something to twine around. I would probably pound some nails in and string wire horizontals between the nails. It could get very expensive to buy enough trellis for them.

[hendi_alex]

I've had experience with red honeysuckle, clematis, moon flower, trumpet vine, hyacinth bean, and cypress vine. While some had different climbing strategy than others, they all have grown up their support with a minimum of encouragement from me. Their vines may stray from the support and need to be re-directed, but I've found that to be a minor issue.

IMO there are two most important things related to vines. Never plant aggressively spreading vines. That includes species that spread aggressively from the roots, like native southern honeysuckle or yellow jessimine and also those that reseed freely, like cypress vine. I prefer to plant vines that are not aggressive and which also have a somewhat self limiting growth, say of 8 feet to 12 feet.

I had a climbing hydrangea once. It did require special attention in weaving the growth into the support areas. All else have been pretty automatic.

[KeyWee]

As rainbow states, I was unsure of the type of vine in question. Although honeysuckle was mentioned, not specified as the one being planted.

Yes, surely you wouldn't want common southern honeysuckle ~ our woods are full of it and that's where it will stay. The red is nice.

I have lots of vines, but I also have lots of space ~ so it all depends on how much area you want to cover. Smaller gardens can well do without wisteria, jessamine, Virginia creeper, hydrangea, cyrpress and others. (I have all of those). When we moved to 12 acres, I actively pursued aggressive plants ~ with some success and some bloopers

Garden and learn ~ that's why I like this site. The horse's mouth is the best resource!

[hendi_alex]

We live in the middle of 130 acres that was farmed in the 50's and 60's. All is grown up now, with mixed hardwoods surrounding out home location. We maintain about 3 acres and are allowing the surrounding area to revert to the native hardwood mix. The transition area from woods to yard at the back of our home is a nearly solid wall of native honeysuckle. Carolina Jessamine climbs most every tree, shrub, and fence. Trumpet vine grows wild all along the property and to less extent in the yard. Virginia creeper moves into every naturalized area in our yard. The most problematic vine is large green stemmed briar (smilax) that grows without any obvious limits and spreads rampantly sending out vines under the soil as well as forming persistent tubers and also freely seeding itself with its very mobile seeds.

The nice thing about vines is that control is pretty easy via the lawn mower. As long as the area can be cut regularly, the vine growth stays in bounds. Our worst problem areas are in our naturalized beds, as it becomes almost impossible to keep these free seeding vines out.

[KeyWee]

Sounds VERY nice! Similar here too ~ middle of a 60 acre farm with a house here and there but mostly woods. We are letting the woods do its "woods" thing.

Oh yeah, forgot all about the trumpet. It pops up all over the place. I deliberately planted a yellow one which is far less invasive and in a mow-around area.

I would take the vines any day ober the houttuynia (sp?) that someone talked me into planting. It is a BANE.

Kevin ~ I am very sorry for the hijack Alex has given the best advice for supporting your vines. Please let us know how they fare!

[KevinVA]

Hey, feel free to hijack anytime if it's going to lead to a fruitful discussion which leads to more helpful information.

I can't remember which species of Honeysuckle trumpet vines I got, but I can tell you they're a red flower and apparently can grow up to 20-30ft. I bought two of these and a third species of something with another kind of red flower that I can't remember the name of. It's not Honeysuckle, but it's possible it starts with an "M". lol I know... very helpful.

My plan was to have the entire back fence covered in flowering vines. There's not much that can be done with my backyard (play-wise), because of this ridiculously steep hill and the soil is clay/rock, so I've been attempting to level the grade with flower gardens and make it into a hopefully beautiful getaway that my family and I can relax in. My house sits in the middle of about .25 acre, so you can imagine possibly .1 acres I have to play with.

I took your advice and bought about 20 pieces of 1" x 2" x 6' trellis boards and plan on nailing these horizontally and vertically along my fence, so that the vines can grow in and around them. I just hope that the vines will cover a good majority of it without looking too spaced-out or tacky.

[rainbowgardener]

The honeysuckle trumpet vine is one of my favorites. It gets dense but is more well behaved than some vines and won't take over your yard or break your fence down. But that means it will probably not give you the coverage you want this year. It is perennial and will just be getting established this year. So it will look a little thinner than you want, with the boards showing through. But just be patient with it and next year it will be a lot fuller.

Red flowering vine starting with m, might be Mandevilla. If so, that is a tropical and won't survive your winter, but if it is in container can be brought in for the winter. If that isn't it, post a picture and we can probably ID it for you.

[KevinVA]

Thanks Rainbow. I have the information at home, I just can't think of it now. I'll try to remember to bring in the tags w/ the information on them and let you know what it is.

I should take a picture of the area I'm talking about. It would probably help you guys figure out what I'm talking about. It'd give you a better idea of what I'm thinking about doing. I'll try to remember to do this when I get home tonight.