Scintillating Summer Vines
If you’re tangled in thoughts about how to cover unsightly walls or fences this spring, wrap your mind around some of these bold ideas. Flowering vines, excellent accents to any garden or patio, can easily add style and elegance with their tantalizing tendrils and bounties of blooms. Simple to establish and effortless to maintain, flowering vines like mandevillas, Mexican Flame, bougainvilleas, bleeding hearts, passion vines, and moonflowers, bloom tirelessly throughout the summer, creating a remarkable display for cottage gardens, poolside beds, and patio planters. From rusted chain-link fences, wooden arbors, and poorly painted walls, to the more chic wrought iron trellises and gates, summer flowering vines are sure to embellish your landscape with their captivating colors and interest.
Splash into summer with mandevillas, tropical flowering favorites praised for their voluptuous trumpet shaped blossoms that open spring through summer. ‘Alice du Pont’, Queen of tropical vines, radiantly smiles all season, showing off her soft bubblegum mouth and glowing golden and white throat. Her twining woody stems stretch 15 to 20 feet long with their elongated emerald leaves, making this the perfect choice for covering private entrances into tropical gardens or lush poolside plantings. Let ‘Alice du Pont’ fervently climb backyard lampposts, front porch columns, or weave her sinuous limbs atop gazebos, arbors, and overhangs to enjoy an abundance of striking pink blooms all summer long. For a scintillating twist on classic pink, try growing varieties like ‘Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Sun Parasol White’. Plant mandevillas in full sunlight and well-drained soil for optimum growth and blooming. Though these vines are grown as annuals in Louisiana, cover them during freezes, or move potted mandevillas indoors, should you wish to overwinter them.
Mexican Flame vine (Senecio confusus), another outstanding climber for Louisiana’s sultry summers, is a drought tolerant, fast-growing woody tropical that thrives in full sunlight. More compact than most vines, Mexican Flame usually crests at 10 feet, making it excellent for perennial borders and small cottage gardens. Thick masses of broad, arrowhead leaves are blanketed in summer by profusions of small daisy-like flowers. Fiery blood orange starbursts are borne in clusters, luring both butterflies and birds, as their blossoms richly burn into blazing flames of scarlet. Employ Mexican Flame vines as backdrops to milkweed, ‘Jethro Tull’ coreopsis, Mexican heather, and ‘Mesa Yellow’ gaillardia.
Bougainvilleas, undoubtedly my favorite flowering vine (and pride of my backyard), are another tropical choice for salient summer color. Native to Brazil, and distinguished in the Mediterranean, the Southwest, and India, bougainvilleas are no strangers to hot, dry conditions. Their thick rambling limbs, unfortunately notched with razor-sharp thorns, climb 20 to 30 feet, ardently seeking to cloak wooden arbors, gazebos, or trellises. Though moderately fast-growing vines, bougainvilleas can prove tough to overwinter in Louisiana, if not properly protected; I covered mine when temperatures dropped below 35 degrees F, and added a heat lamp during freezes. Potted bougainvilleas can be simply brought indoors. When watered and fertilized regularly (bougainvilleas prefer some neglect, but will suffer if left abandoned) their smooth emerald leaves will be swathed with sheer papery bracts, or blooms, from spring until winter’s first frost. Varieties range from magenta, fuchsia, and purple, to golden orange and clear white.
If you’re looking for a vine tolerant of both sun and shade, consider growing bleeding heart (Clerodendrum thompsoniae). These West African natives are fast-growing tropical beauties that prove outstanding for use in patio planters, lightly canopied flowerbeds, or near pond and poolside settings. Profusions of fine, papery white blossoms open from spring through fall, ingenuously revealing their tender crimson hearts. Keep in mind that when planted in full sun, bleeding hearts generate showers of incessant blooms; more shaded conditions promise vigorous, dark green leaves, but fewer flowers. Create a captivating display by integrating bleeding heart vines in shady spots near ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maples, variegated flax lilies, and ‘Red Flash’ caladiums.
The passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), or ‘Maypop,’ is an herbaceous perennial vine, native to the United States from Florida to Texas, as well as Illinois and Virginia. Passion vines eagerly spread up to 20 feet long with their serrated, lustrous green leaves and prominent slim tendrils. Large, exotic blooms are composed of 10 white sepals, seemingly affixed to shallow open cores; delicate lavender and white frills, or filaments, sway majestically from the center, as they beguile butterflies with their rich, nectar filled petals. Thought to have been associated with the Crucifixion, the Maypop’s inimitable components and intricate designs daringly represent the instruments of the act. Passionflowers open during the day and close at nightfall, blooming continuously from spring through fall. As flowers fade, smooth green egg-shaped fruits, which make a “pop” when crushed, emerge in summer, turning lemony yellow in late autumn. Plant red passionflowers (Passiflora coccinea), for brilliant, scarlet-red blossoms, or P. caerulea for elaborate cobalt and white blossoms. Integrate passion vines in butterfly gardens near ‘Serena White’ angelonia, ‘Butterfly Pink’ pentas, and Salvia sinaloensis. Include also ‘Landmark Yellow’ lantana, ‘Big Rose’ bronze leaf begonias, and ‘Dynamite’ cuphea.
Moonflower vines (Ipomea alba), perfect for night owls and evening entertainers, magnificently awaken with the setting sun. Their oversized pure white trumpets cheerfully announce the arrival of nightfall, as they lavishly bedeck giant, olive green heart-shaped leaves. From late spring through fall, gigantic blossoms, spanning up to 12 inches across, exude invigorating perfumes, sweet scents that hypnotize visiting guests and hummingbird moths alike. Plant moonflowers in full to partial sunlight, allowing them to swathe small arbors, entryways, or trellises. Get the most out of these nocturnal beauties by integrating them near night-blooming jasmines, Nicotiana sylvestris, and white flowering favorites like ‘Vista White’ salvia, ‘Cooler Coconut’ vinca, or ‘Butterfly White’ pentas. ✦
