Vines bring elegant charm, dimension, and even fragrance to outdoor spaces like walkways and patios. You can grow vines over arbors and up trellises, stand-alone obelisks, fences, and walls. Discover the right vines for your garden and learn how to best grow and support them!
7 Ways to Use Vines in the Landscape
Vines are incredibly versatile plants that can be used in numerous ways to enhance your garden’s beauty by adding vertical interest. Whether you’re aiming to add a feeling of enchantment, attract more wildlife, or add functional privacy, incorporating vines can bring a dynamic and vibrant element to your outdoor space. Here are some ideas:
1. Add Height: Train vines to grow up trellises, arbors, or pergolas to maximize smaller spaces and add height and visual interest to your garden. Consider year-round interest—vines like Clematis flower in Spring and Summer, Virginia creeper or Boston ivy display vibrant Autumn foliage, and evergreen vines provide greenery in Winter.
2. Privacy Screening: Create natural and attractive privacy screens by planting dense, evergreen vines like evergreen Clematis or Star Jasmine on chain-link fences or tall trellises to create walls.
3. Fragrance: Plant fragrant vines like Jasmine, Honeysuckle, or even annual vines like Sweet Peas near outdoor seating areas or entryways to enjoy their delightful scent and add an extra dimension to your garden experience, especially in the evenings.
4. Shade & Cooling: Use vines to create shaded areas. Planting vines on structures like pergolas can provide relief from the hot sun and help cool down outdoor spaces. For a dramatic look, choose vines like Wisteria or Grape with clusters of flowers or fruit hanging below the structure.
5. Attract Pollinators: Many flowering vines, such as Trumpet Vine, Clematis, and Passionflower, attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds with their nectar-rich blooms. Planting these vines in your garden can help support local pollinator populations!
6. Groundcover: Some low-growing vines like Star Jasmine can be used as groundcover to fill in bare areas, suppress weed growth, and add a lush carpet of greenery to the landscape. Planting vines on slopes or areas prone to erosion can also help stabilize the soil.
7. Edible Gardening: Grow edible vines like Grapes or Kiwi, or even Pumpkins, to provide all the earlier benefits plus the ability to harvest fresh fruits from your garden!
Basic Vine Growth Styles
Twining vines naturally wrap around vertical structures with the entire plant like a snake slithering up a tree—this is the most common style of vine growth. Twining vines climb best on posts or structures no more than six inches wide and are not suitable for brick walls or other flat vertical surfaces. Examples: Jasmine, Honeysuckle, Wisteria, Hops, Akebia, Holboellia, Grapes, Kiwi
Tendril vines use a specialized extra part near their leaves that resembles a curly phone cord to grab onto a structure. They climb best on trellises, chainlink, netting or structures with posts less than one inch wide; not suitable for brick walls or other flat, vertical surfaces. Examples: Peas, Sweet Peas, Passion vine, Clematis
Clinging vines use root-like attachments to climb and adhere to surfaces and structures with porous textures such as brick, rock, stucco, or wood; not suitable for smooth surfaces like metal. Examples: Ivy, Trumpet Vine, Bosto Ivy, Virginia Creeper, Climbing Hydrangea, Fatshedera
Most vines will eventually cling to structures by themselves, but they occasionally need a little help getting started—velcro plant ties or plastic stretch ties are great for this purpose.
Our Favorite Vines for the Garden
Vines for Sun
- Bougainvillea
- Honeysuckle
- Clematis (keep roots cool)
- Grape Vine
- Hardy Kiwi Vine
- Hop Vine
- Passion Flower
- Pink Jasmine
- Poet’s Jasmine
- Porcelain Vine
- Potato Vine
- Star Jasmine
- Sweet Pea
- Trumpet Vine
- Virginia Creeper
- Wisteria
Vines for Shade
- Boston Ivy
- Chocolate Vine (Akebia)
- Climbing Hydrangea
- Holboellia
- Emerald Gaiety Euonymus
- Woodbine
Semi/Evergreen Vines
- Akebia
- Evergreen Clematis
- Holboellia
- Honeysuckle (some)
- Star Jasmine
Annual Vines
- Annual Morning Glory
- Black-eyed Susan vine
- Bougainvillea
- Cup and Saucer Vine
- Hyacinth Bean
- Mandevilla
- Pole Bean
- Purple Bells (Rhodochiton)
- Scarlet Runner Bean
- Sugar Snap Peas
- Sweet Pea
Annual vines can be intertwined with shrubs and trees to add color and interest. They are fast-growing heavy bloomers that die back in frost; they commonly self sow the following year if allowed to go to seed!
Vines add an extra dimension to gardens and are perfect for working into existing planting schemes. Dennis’ 7 Dees Garden Centers have a fantastic selection of vines for any purpose or scenario. Come by and find the perfect vine for your garden!