Some Vines and Projects around my House

Hello all on this forum. I have some general pics to share and some projects that may be of interest that are still coming along. To start- Blue Sky Vine, anyone?

This is my Chalice vine. I was told that it would need some sort of a structure, but vines on fences at my house is a no-no. I also don't want this to take over. When I got this plant from a nursery, it was practically defoliated by Chili Thrips. Hopefully this experiment application will work, and it has leafed out nicely. I am planning on periodically cutting it back to keep forcing new growth.

An inexpensive trellis I made for some morning glories I got from seed from DG.

A very non-traditional application for Rangoon Creeper. Another one that likes a structural support, I keep stapling new growth to the side of the tree and allowing it to twine on itself. It has really leafed out nicely since winter, and I am eagerly awaiting some blooms.

I am really proud of this one although it is still coming along. I worked with a German landscape architect last fall for a proposal for an interior building space involving a virtual forest of 30' cables with vines fully attached. The renderings he had were so stunning, and I was so impressed with the vertical gardening concept, I stole the idea. I actually have 3 vines on here as I kept piling on whatever I thought would grow when I got impatient with one....tow colors of pink madevilla and a double petal butterfly pea vine. The lighter pink mandevilla is twined all the way to the top of the cable and in a few more months I imagine this will be vitrually dripping with blooms.

Close up of plants on cable.

Stephanotis- we had this just on the trellis for years, and now that I have seedlings, I decided to allow this one to begin climbing a tree.

That's lovely Fauna4flora! I always wanted to try that cable idea. What kind of cables did you use and how did you attach them to each side?

Wow you ahve some great ideas!! I love the cables.

And finally, here is a picture of a 20+ year old "climbing" ylang ylang. It's really more like a shrub to me!

Very pretty!
I really like that you are using a minimalistic approach to structure your vines. That way there is nothing man made to speak of to distract from the vine itself.

Thanks for the compliments, guys! OK, how did I do the cable- I am a total girl when I go to Home Depot.....but I put it together myself (more or less)....I sank an anchor in the ground- the swirly thingy that you use to anchor a dog's cable, you know? And I screwed a good size eye hook directly into the trunk of the tree. The cable you can buy by the foot and they cut it for you in the store. Then you explain what you are doing to the HD guy and he shows you where the clamping thingies are. You thread the cable through both ends of your anchors and clamp it to itself at each end.

Thanks, Shella. I never thought of it that way...........my next idea will require a structure, however...... I have seeds (well, seedlings now) that I traded for that came from a DG member in Italy- Bauhinia yunnanensis. This plant will require a structure, and I love how it looks on a pergola. However, a pergola in the middle of 5 acres going to nowhere is kind of silly. Recently, I saw a pyramid shaped trellis for sale at Lowe's, and I think that will be the ticket. I just have to see how tall the species gets in reference to the height of the pyramid and I will either buy that or make a taller one.

Fauna, You are too cute! I understood your description perfectly. Thank goodness for HD and the HD guy who tells you where to get what. Your vines are gorgeous.

Thanks! Got more in the works. Planted some moonflower and lab lab purpurea last weekend, and can't wait until my variegated monstera gets bigger.

LOL! Fauna, I'm the same way when I go to HD! I put my "dumb blonde" face on and ask everything I can! It's good to learn you are screwing the eye hook directly on the trunks is ok. I always thought it could kill the palm trees! Silly me (dumb blonde, hhahah). Oops. I'm not blonde anymore, I forgot!

Love that HD story too!...lol
Here is a DIY for a teepee trellis made of wood. Don't know if this is what you had in mind... I want to make something like this myself...for a small yard...which yours is not...lol!

http://gardening-in-your-small-yard.blogspot.com/2006/04/pot-trellis.html


I saw another really cool idea the other day...I just have to find the link amongst my gazillion other gardening links...they are organized, but still a pain to locate something...

There are two distinct vascular systems for trees and palms. Trees have a cambium that goes all the way around the trunk just under the bark. Palms have vascular bundles that are thoughout the middle of the trunk. Either way, a little thing like an eye hook won't affect either. For trees you would have to "girdle" the trunk, which is to cause damage in a ring the whole way around the tree in order to kill it. For example, we have metal hoops holding lighting in place on some pine trees at the tree fort. We had to remove several recently so as the tree was growing it wouldn't get girdled. Trees are very tough- think about what is done to rubber trees (I have non digital shots of this when I went to Belize)- there are X marks the whole way up the one side of the trunk to collect the sap. In Canada, they put a "tap" directly into a tree on one side. And, in my industry, occsionally a small hole is drilled through the center of a tree, a dowel is inserted, and this method is used to lift the tree and place it in a confined area when installing (we are talking big trees here.) Palms can be girdled, too, but the result is different. This sometimes happens during the installation of large palms on jobsites when the strapping used to lift a palm slips or rubs the trunk. The result is a tree that gets a kink and grows at an angle, usually making it undesirable. It would take a lot more than an eye hook to harm most any tree!

Wow, Shella- great look on that trellis project. That's a good candidate for containerized stuff. I keep 2 types of Clitoria in pots close to the house because they are sort of pets to me. I may restart them with that type of trellis.

Just looked up the yunnanensis- only gets 10'-12' according to plantfiles. The commercial trellis may work for that.

Thanks Fauna! It just makes my day to learn something about plants that I was clueless about, especially when it's good news like that! You just openes a gaziliion possibilities for my garden!
Shella, that's a very pretty trellis, I wish I was that good with building things like that...