Designing with Vines

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Vines create tremendous vertical effects while using little horizontal space. They can be an asset to a garden’s color, texture, and form.

If a garden is small, with a lot of wall or other vertical space, vines become an important design element.

Vines can complement architecture or other hardscape in a garden or landscape.

Vines can soften hardscape or serve as a transition between a building or other built elements in the design and the planted landscape.

Vines can also hide hardscape such as fences or walls.

What vines can do

Here are a few reasons to use vines in a garden design:

• Vines can complement a building by adding texture and color.
• Vines can be used to frame a doorway or window.
• Vines can be used on an arbor to frame a garden entrance.
• Vines can provide shade when climbing up and over a pergola or overhead garden structure.
• Vines can soften, camouflage, or hide a fence or wall.

How to choose a vine

Here are some considerations when selecting a vine or climbing plant for your garden design:

• What color are the foliage and flowers? When does it flower?
• How tall does it grow? Some vines can grow to 30 feet or more.
• What kind of support does it need? Some vines become woody and heavy as they mature and require solid permanent support.
• Does the plant need sun or shade?
• Is the plant annual or perennial?
• Is the plant evergreen or deciduous? Can it survive cold winter temperatures where you live?
• What are the plant’s soil and water requirements?
• What is the plant’s climbing habit? Does it climb using tendrils that can wrap around a trellis or stake? Does the plant use stickfasts or aerial roots to attach itself to a wall? Stickfasts can be hard to remove when it comes time for painting.
• Will it reseed?

Vines for arbors and trellises

Vines by height