Best vine for full sun trained on wire on concrete wall

[Terry Naranjo]

This would be for southeastern USA.   Any thoughts?

Client prefers evergreen but doesnt like Carolina Gessamine.  Scratching head.  

[Nikolaos Miller]

Can’t think of anything evergreen; but Trumpet Honeysuckle’s got nice flowers through most of the growing season.  Trumpet Creeper has really nice flowers and grows quickly but it can be a little aggressive.  Virginia or Slivervein Creeper?

[Les Ballard]

there are many varieties of hedera – maybe a normal, a yellow and a variegated ivy with a honeysuckle or 2 for winter berries and summer aroma – i would let these climb up a false screen and keep off the wall as much as possible.  Ivy changes to an evergreen leaf from the top down, when it reaches the top, then having flowers and berries (which are poisonous so beware livestock) so new shoots need encouraging so always typical ivy leaves exist and old shoots need cutting back.  They will make own shade but some would help so darker danker base is fine.  Also a passion flower would give easter blooms and summer fruits to squeeze for juice.  Hope its not too light or hot for the ivy.  Whatever, warn client to look out for nests in the ivy and not go near chicks, wasps, etc.  Leaves can also hide bird, bat or other boxes put onto wall.  As a screen i suggest a roll of anything, even old carpet, fixed to a 2 x 2 frame with 1 x 1 battens.  No need for a strip near the ground, let the plants grow up to 2 or 3 feet up canes.  You can nail up horizontal strips as plants grow but wood or angle iron needs to be nearly as high as wall min. 2 metres less maybe 6 inches.  Adherence of roots to actual wall could crack the surface of the cement especially when it needs chipping off with a chisel.  You can always cut stems, remove the screen material entirely and roll everything up to dispose of it.   Garden centres usually sell rolls of screening maybe made of willow.  Fence type panels are too dear and heavy.  Ivies will get no nutrient from all this, only a grip so may need feed and water even once established.

Oh btw they arent evergreen but nasturtiums dont suck providing flowers for salads, leaves for stuffing, buds for capers a pleasant aroma and nice vegetation generally.  Once the vines grow and there is nothing in the first two feet nasturtiums may be a good idea though replanted annually from own seed.  They will grow up the other stems.   

People sometimes like a plaque type water feature in such places with water coming out of a mouth to sparkle in the sun and this helps birds too.  Where there are young children it is pretty safe with water spilling onto pebbles only which is then recycled and pets can drink freshly oxygenated water but add pet sulphur to the reservoir and change regularly.  There are even solar self contained models as only a tiny pump is necessary and topping up with water to cope with evaporation.  

[Les Ballard]

My edit didn’t work.  Added features may have an overflow and so should the planting base some inches up maybe being led to a drain with the 2 small tubes initially put in a single piece of hose.  Both may be pricked with wire back up them occasionally to remove any clogging.    

The planting base can be shielded from the sun by a bent raked lip of a few inches to catch rain but exclude sun.  Gravel near the drain hole should filter water well enough.  The base can also comprise a garden seat for casual perching but there only needs to be say 6 inches of actual soil/compost, the rest filling or hollow beneath in places.    

 

[Ken Householder]

Your best bet is kudzu. Its prolific, drought-tolerant, has a beautiful purple flower with a grape fragrance, and will climb your concrete wall to your hearts content. Well-suited to the Southeast 😉

[Alan Ray, RLA]

where in southeast? zone is needed for specific reccomendation.

dwarf climbing fig is great in the lower south,  zone 7 and higher…not so much in upper south. does not need

help. will cling to wall.

confederate jasmine is evergreen and can be trained, again lower south…

and of course, english ivy….you love it or hate it….it likes shade.

[Rob Halpern]

Have any of you actually grown hedera or ficus on wires? They are not twiners after all.

[Terry Naranjo]

I’ve decided to try an evergreen clematis. ‘Armandii’.  Needs cool roots.  That might be a challenge.  Thanks for the input…

[Terry Naranjo]

Would have to be a tight mesh probably.  Maybe a narrow mesh would give the appearance of a single strand of wire?  

[Rob Halpern]

The question, as always Terry, is what is the function? Why the wire/mesh and not a clinger? Clematis will not love all the reflected heat off of the wall I think.

[Terry Naranjo]

Im not using a wire mesh.. was responding to your question about hedera or ficus on wires.

[Terry Naranjo]

http://fancybidet.tumblr.com/post/30218963331/muehlenbeckia-complexa-a-climbing-vine-entwined

trying this instead…  commercially available?  

[toby]

Good choice.  I was going to mention this one, but stuff got in the way of getting back to the interweb.

The pic is a nice working for the vine, but the website you found it on is a bit odd. 

 

[Rob Halpern]

Toby,

Are you experienced growing it?

I know it is grown in California, but it is a forest plant and tolerates the PNW and other mild areas. Will it do in the reflected heat of a south facing concrete wall do you think?

[Jonathan P. Williams, RLA]

Evergreen Westeria. We Have used it before and works great.

[Author]

Posts