In Support of Vines and Climbers

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Posted by @Sharon on
Are you in an ongoing battle with climbers that insist on invading your space? Do they double in size overnight and block your way out the door? Here are a couple of ideas that might help.

All plants reach for sunlight; vines and climbers will go to great lengths to get there.  Most of us have a love/hate relationship with them because in their travels toward light, they often take over our world. They don't always carry with them a good reputation; those long viny tendrils are also searching for support because their stems are too weak to support them. They weave their way over and under any low growing plant that gets in the way of their journey, covering what could be vast areas of wildlife habitat and feeding ground, destroying other valuable plants along the way, always reaching to grow higher. Some of them have no chlorophyll of their own, so they become parasitic to the upward bound tree that finally supports them.  Others, though not parasitic, can grow en masse and shade the support plant so well that foliage might disappear entirely from it.  These negative features keep many people from enjoying the beauty of vines and climbers.

Even so, many of us love them and will go to great lengths to find ways to feed our habit as well as to keep our climbing friends happy and controlled.  Here's what I did with two of my favorites.

Wisteria

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I have Kentucky wisteria, interchangeably called American wisteria, which is native to the southeastern part of the US.  It is not as aggressive as I've heard Chinese wisteria can be, but its aggression is evident in the runners it produces.  I had seen it growing on trellises in many places, bursting out all over in a messy riot of vines and blooms; beautiful, but not for me. I decided to force those runners to support themselves and I started with an old clothesline pole that had seen better days.  The pole was safely planted in concrete and knowing the wisteria could become quite heavy, I thought the pole would be strong enough to support it.  I wound the first few vines around the pole, tying them as I went; it wasn't pretty at the time, but I had a vision and I knew it would take awhile. 

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Eventually as the first vines grew in width as well as height and produced more runners from the base, I grabbed the runners and wrapped them around the original vine as well as around the pole.  As years went by, I continued to wrap the runners, watching for them several times a month during the growing season and weaving them into the spaces between the vines and around the pole as it all grew upward, toward the light. For many years it has served as a nesting place for cardinal families.

A strong support is necessary to produce this effect, a watchful eye is necessary too, but the wisteria never disappoints.  Year after year for about two weeks in April, it is delightful.  Because I watch for the appearance of new runners, and because I continue to wind them upward as they grow, I rarely see any aggression from this much loved 'wisteria tree'.  It simply reaches for the light and I help it along a little bit.

Ivy

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I can feel you shuddering.  Common ivy is one of the most aggressive of the invasives, but hear me out, since it isn't considered invasive in every state. My ivy was a gift, a treasure from an older friend whose feelings I would never hurt. I promptly planted it in a plastic pot and placed it into the top of a 2' tall rounded wire frame, much like half of a sphere. There it has lived for years and like the wisteria, I trim it around the bottom several times a month throughout the year. You see, ivy grows rampant even during cold winter months. It roots where it touches, so I keep an ever watchful eye.  With my trusty clippers handy, I don't allow it to touch the ground.

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Its glossy dark foliage provides a nice textural background for the old irises that grow in front of it and for the butterfly bush growing beside it. I've considered tossing it and the pot it grows from, but my old friend visits now and then and I would not want to disappoint her.  A nice round wire frame, a plastic pot, and my clippers keep the ivy and me in harmony.

It's a little different for my brother who lives in the southeast Appalachian mountains where we grew up; ivy grows rampant there.  His was inherited with the land he lives on and after years of attempts to control it, he managed to find a workable solution that gets the biggest part of it off the ground and away from his yard.

He built the arbor you see above from scraps of raw wood, piecing small sections together to form the curved arch at the top. It's doubled and connected in several places to provide support for the weight of the ivy, but I think it's the ivy that holds it all together.  Ivy is one of those climbers that has little hairy roots that grab hold of any support they touch and hang on forever.  The arbor is about 10-12 feet tall at its highest and wide enough for two people to stand side by side within.  It has formed the setting for several beautiful summer weddings.

Since he couldn't get rid of all that ivy, he turned it into a thing of beauty. Control is the key, I think, and making the most of the hand you are dealt.  Gardeners love a challenge and since there's beauty in every plant, it's up to us to find and share it.

 
Comments and Discussion
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
'Wisteria Tree' by goldfinch4 May 25, 2013 8:05 AM 13
Great Articile by HollyAnnS May 19, 2013 10:29 AM 11
Timely Article and Good Advice by hazelnut May 18, 2013 9:35 AM 1

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