Plant Suggestions Needed

Hi All,

I am looking for suggestions for vines and climbers that won't get super out of control. Morning glories are one of my favorite flowers, and I am currently growing some Ipomoea Tricolor "Heavenly Blue" seedlings, but after doing more and more reading, I am really afraid of them getting out of control. My uncle had planted some a year ago, and I saw him over the weekend. It doesn't get cold enough to make the plant die down. Apparently, it had climbed it's way up the stone block wall in their backyard and covered the plethora of fruit trees in the yard behind them. The neighbors back there were REALLY angry.

I'm planning to keep mine in containers on concrete and away from anywhere they can escape (if I keep them). But I need some ideas for vines and climbers that don't get that out of control. My primary concern would be the crazy underground roots (though I think that is usually the bindweed, not necessarily the Ipomoea Tricolor) and maybe slower growth. I would like to be able to have these in containers climbing trellises and stuff, but preferably able to place the containers directly on the dirt (maybe with a drip tray as a barrier) without worrying about roots escaping out the bottom. And it gets really hot and dry here, so they would also need to be pretty heat tolerant.

I'm hoping someone might have ideas of what might work well or has worked well for you. If not, I definitely have my homework cut out for me. =)

Sounds like you need some climbing roses.

I have been growing Carolina jessamine and coral honeysuckle. Both of these are Gulf Coast natives so they will take the heat and some frost but will need some watering.

How about some bouganvilla? There were several bouganvillas in pots left at my townhouse when I moved in, and despite completely neglecting them for several years I didn't manage to kill them...but they didn't "escape" either. I'm in zone 9b, and we get some really scorching hot days in the Summer, which they took in stride just fine.

Hmmm... I hadn't thought about climbing roses, JCalhoun. I'm not really a big rose fan, but I'll look into that and see if there are types that strike my fancy. I think my neighbor might have a climbing rose that she is trying to get to climb a trellis, but it's not doing a whole lot. We have very poor soil too, so I'm not sure if that is the problem with hers.

My neighbor also has a night-blooming jessamine that grows through part of our fence and it is beautiful when it has the flowers. The other neighbor has a hall's honeysuckle, I think, which grows over the back corner of my fence and is also beautiful. They both seem to do well in the heat. I will look into your suggestions of Carolina jessamine and coral honeysuckle as well. Thanks for the suggestions!

Sunnyg, Hadn't thought about bougainvilleas either. I think my hubby hates them actually. But maybe I could sneak one in, especially if they are heat tolerant. =)

Sharon, I'm not a big bougainvillea fan either (hence the neglect described earlier...after not being able to kill it, I gave it away), but they have some newer colors/cultivars that are a lot more appealing than the "classic" one that we are all so familiar with here in CA.

There are some awesome vines available, but it seems too many of them want to eat the entire neighborhood. :-(

Thanks, sunnyg. I'll have to check out the newer colors/cultivars. That classic one just doesn't do a lot for me. I think we had some next to my house growing up. I vaguely remember thorns, but I could be wrong.

That is exactly what I am afraid of. And while I wouldn't mind the vines eating the neighbor's yard directly behind me (as they keep ignoring my requests to keep their gravel pile from falling through the fence and covering my sprinklers), I don't want to cause problems for the neighbor's on either side of me. Or for myself either, for that matter.

I would kind of like to do some kind of vine along the chainlink along the back of my yard, but I am too afraid to put vines into the ground. Then I was thinking of some kind of bamboo, but I am afraid those might get out of control too, even with the clumping kind. So I'm still on the hunt. Meanwhile, I'll just have fun with the stuff I have.

If you can find a Bougainvillea that you like, they love heat, drought, poor soil, etc so they'd probably be perfect for you!

For your chainlink fence, I've got Passiflora 'White Wedding' growing along my back fence--it's done a nice job covering the fence but hasn't tried to spread beyond that so I don't think it would cause trouble for your neighbors.

Interesting, ecrane3. With your Passiflora 'White Wedding', does it get cold enough up your way to make it die back in the winter? Or does it remain green and growing all year for you? I think that's my fear with a lot of these vines is that it doesn't get super cold here in the winter, so I'm not sure it will kill them back so I can replant next year or they can restart themselves next year.

No, it doesn't die back. I have another purple passie (don't remember which cultivar) which does die back and also aggressively spreads runners throughout the bed it's in, but White Wedding is very hardy and while it's definitely doing a good job covering the fence, it's not spreading elsewhere.