The right vine can turn a garden into something special. Besides providing a little romance and ambiance, vines trained to climb arbors, trellises or walls provide a vertical design element.  Plus, vines provide maximum payoff for very little effort. Vines are easy to maintain, and several are fast growers that will cover a large area quickly.

Use them to help provide privacy or soften a wall, add interest to a trellis, cover a “fort” for the kids or add lushness and fragrance to the porch. Whether you’re interested in flowers, fruit or foliage, there’s a vine for you. Here are a couple of vines we like to use:

Clematis ‘Sweet Summer Love’

Wish upon the star-like blossoms of Sweet Summer Love. Where else will you see deep, glowing reds bleeding into sangria and royal purple? Fragrant, Sweet Summer Love lives up to its name by forming more than 2,000 blooms from mid-summer through autumn. Clematis vines establish slowly, but when they take off, they can grow 8-12 feet wide.  They keep improving as the years pass.

When planting Sweet Summer Love, ensure that its aboveground growth is in the sun and its roots are in the shade. 

Climbing Hydrangea

Climbing hydrangeas feature large, fragrant clusters of white flowers that bloom in late spring and summer against a backdrop of dark green, heart-shaped foliage. These massive vines readily climb columns, trees, and other supporting structures. A climbing hydrangea plant grows 30 to 50 feet tall, but it tolerates pruning to shorter heights.

It can also be grown as a shrub. The climbing hydrangea vine should be planted in part to full shade.

Honeysuckle

A favorite of hummingbirds, honeysuckle vines produce clusters of narrow, tube-like flowers in shades of yellow, red and orange.  The white Japanese Honeysuckle is the most fragrant.  Honeysuckle blooms in the spring. Plant in sun to part sun. 

Silver Fleece Vine

This fast-growing vine blooms in the fall with clusters of tiny white flowers.  Plant in full sun.

Trumpet Vine

This is a vigorous, fast-growing vine with blooms in yellow, orange or red. The trumpet-like flowers are hummingbird magnets.  Blooms in summer. Plant in full sun.

Wisteria

Fragrant, beautiful flowers bloom in early spring. This fast growing and vigorous vine blooms in white, pink or purple. Plant in full to part sun, and provide a structure like an arbor or trellis for the plant to climb on.