I just built this structure over the past week and wanted to add an evergreen vine behind the horizontal panels (there will be an invisible trellis made out of fishing line) and a flowering vine on the apparent trellis. The back of the horizontal boards will be full sun and the trellis on the left gets sun for just over 1/2 of the day. Any recommendations?
I'll also be adding raised flower beds on both sides of the structure and would like to add a vertical growing plant in the inner corner space. Any thoughts on that? Something that doesn't get too bushy which could grow into the fence and planters and is good with partial sun and mostly grows upward? I don't know my plants 😅
by WholeNewt6987
9 Comments
We did something similar on the eastern side of our south facing patio and went with star jasmine. It has filled in really well and smells amazing in the spring. It turned into a fun morning project while I drink my coffee while I trained the vines to fill in and climb the lattice.
Do you want it to be evergreen? Check out crossvine
Coral honeysuckle would be nice! Or passionflower!
The space isn’t big enough for evergreen vines. They like to grow up to 50 ft and will destroy that wood work. You need something that isn’t vigorous and can be hard pruned each year.
That leaves you with a few options from clematis, wooly durchmans, snapdragon, and milkweed vines. Check out npsot.org and click vines with your ecoregion
I’ll add another vote for Jasmine. We’ve used it on two similar builds at my house in South Austin. One has been going strong since 2019. We threw a bedsheet over it during the hard freezes and it survived just fine. It makes lovely flowers that smell really nice in the spring, and has filled in very nicely. I’ll try to add a picture.
https://preview.redd.it/nbos5ilpfghd1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2348bde5fe1fe9b83252b8af15df76d7296b251
Doesn’t look like Carolina Jassamine has been mentioned yet, though you’d need to prune it every year or two.
Based on the npsot.com website provided by Magic Neptune, it looks like I’m limited to five if I wanted semi-evergreen and not deciduous in my region (Edwards Plateau in South Austin). I only liked three of the five but now I’m worried they will be too aggressive for the trellis. It’s Redwood which is very strong and resistant to rot but I still don’t know much about how a vine can affect wood over time. There were zero options for evergreen. Here are my findings if anyone is interested:
Coral Honeysuckle
(spread 0.5-1 ft; height 3-20 ft)
White Honeysuckle (much more invasive than coral honeysuckle?)
(spread 10-12 ft; height 4-10 ft)
Crossvine (seems invasive but some say it’s easy to manage; I love the look)
(spread 2 to 3 ft; height 60-70 ft)
Edit: I’m really surprised the website didn’t mention Star Jasmine. It says it only grows to 20 feet, is evergreen and great for south Texas. I love that everyone comments on the nice smell as well!
Star jasmine, plant native
We’ve had really good results with Hawaiian baby wood rose
https://preview.redd.it/ne2u26tlnghd1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6950c429dc2d9e02f035da6daebcbb097758f5e