We're looking for a vining plant to cover the top of our shade porch. CA native preferable, but if not:
deciduous (don't want to block winter light)
no fruit (we have ants!)
no suckers
not TOO aggessive so we don't have to fight it to keep off the roof of the house
As far as looks go, Bougainvillea would be perfect except it's not deciduous and it doesn't play nice.
Any ideas? Thanks all.
Vine to cover shade porch
Moonflowers?
Passionvines? They twine, are deciduous, and have unappealing fruit (at least I don't have ants when the fruit appears). I *think* some get bigger than others so check the variety.
I'm not sure if Moonflower is deciduous in your zone. I don't know much about them except they're supposed to smell wonderful!
Hey, did you try asking on the vines forum?
Thanks Dogzilla and TucsonJen. Passionvines seem pretty aggressive, but also easy to remove, from the comments. Sure are a lot of colors, too, which is nice. One to think about. I've been posting all over the place, now I can't remember if I did the vines forum! :-)
Didja find a vine to suit once ya went to Vines? ~Blooms
Oooops, forgot to post back!
We decided on a CA native clematis (C. lasiantha) and Lady Banks Yellow Rose (Yellow Banksia 'Lutea' (Rosa banksiae)). The rose is thornless, which will make pruning easier, and we think the yellow and white will show up well against the tile roof and red framing. Thanks for checking back, Blooms. Hope you make it to the roundup!
Lady Banks Rose will be evergreen in CA...weren't you looking for deciduous?
Now, that's funny -- nobody mentioned that when I asked, rweiler. Oh, well -- maybe it will work anyway. I nearly killed the big beautiful plant I rec'd from Forest Farm -- missed checking it for water one day and it turned dry here. It's recovering nicely though, I'm glad to say. Thanks for the info anyway. :-)