Vines

Sturdy blooming vine for shade. Being native to the southeast, this vine ignores the heat as long as it has ample water to become established. While they are adaptable to a wide range of conditions, in our low desert this vine prefers morning sun with afternoon shade. Give it room to spread. With some support vines will grow sturdily to cover trellises, arbors, poles, or walls. Leaves are glossy green that cloak the woody stems well. Flowers are borne in clusters during spring into summer, with some even lingering into winter months. Easy-to-grow and manage.

‘Royal Purple’ forms iridescent purple bracts. Hardy and vigorous but performs best with some late afternoon shade in low deserts. A bit of extra iron applied annually in alkaline soils helps prevent chlorosis. Available in bush form, staked or as espalier. Most Bougainvillea grow into tall and wide thorny, woody vines. Support is needed initially, but with strong, vigorous growth, plants mature quickly to stand alone displaying brilliantly colored bracts. The roots of all Bougainvillea sp. are sensitive to disturbance. Care and gentle handling during planting are needed to avoid stress and transplant shock.

Evergreen shrubby showy vines. ‘Barbara Karst’ (a.k.a. BK) sets the standard with long-lasting bright magenta to red colored bracts. ‘BK’ is fast growing and virtually indestructible requiring minimal care. Available in bush form and staked. Most Bougainvillea grow into tall and wide thorny, woody vines. Support is needed initially, but with strong, vigorous growth, plants mature quickly to stand alone displaying brilliantly colored bracts. The roots of all Bougainvillea sp. are sensitive to disturbance. Care and gentle handling during planting are needed to avoid stress and transplant shock.

Clusters of dainty yellow flowers on sprawling vines. Perennial, woody vines with large, dark green leaves that twine or sprawl up supports, such as posts, arbors, lattice, or trellises of any type. Extremely heat tolerant plants, they grow slowly at first, like other woody vines, until they have a substantial, supportive root system, then the tops grow at a steady but not vigorous rate. Their bright yellow orchid-like flowers can appear throughout the year and are followed by the most visually interesting butterfly winged round chartreuse colored seed pods, that eventually tan and turn brown. Being that the seed pods are as popular as the flowers, most gardeners do not remove them unnecessarily.  They will tolerate part shade in low deserts, but too much shade inhibits flowering.

Ficus pumila is a vigorous and fast-growing evergreen climber. It’s commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig. An easy-care solution for an unsightly fence or wall to deliver a fast wall of emerald green with proper care. Also looks great spilling out and over from patio pots. Bushy and woody with small, shiny, ovate or heart-shaped leaves that mature into large, thick leaves. In its native East Asia, it will grow to 30 feet tall. But regular pruning will keep it to a manageable 8 – 12 feet tall and 3 feet wide. The creeping fig needs partial to full sun. Water deeply when the soil is dry. Prune the mature foliage to promote new young growth. It will not tolerate frost, needs to be above 34 degrees to thrive, which is usually fine for our desert climate. Vigorous growing, dense branches cling firmly to any surface, but be careful because it can also become invasive and its secondary roots or tendrils can cause structural damage to porous wall material. Small, pear-shaped purple fruits may appear throughout the year, if conditions are right. Fun fact: the creeping fig is only pollinated by the fig wasp.

Lush green vine with bright yellow persistent blooms. Many people accidentally corrupt the common name Jessamine to “Jasmine”, which is only important since Carolina Jessamine flowers, although bright and colorful, do not have a strong fragrance as true Jasmines do. These are pure twining, sprawling evergreen vines with shiny pointed leaves along woody, wiry stems. They perform their best when planted in eastern exposures that provide some late afternoon shade. Bright yellow attractive flowers are about 2 in. long tubular but front flared. With moderate summer irrigation plants can tolerate low desert heat with no issues and require little to no pruning. Slow to moderate growers.

Dark green handsome lance leaves with purple flowers. Evergreen vines needing support and some afternoon shade. Long, lush dark green lance-shaped leaves on woody stems with long strings of amethyst purple flowers that appear from winter to early spring. Adaptable to heat with ample summer irrigation in well-drained soils. Maintenance should include proper soil amendments in alkaline soils to keep foliage healthy. These twining vines will grow as tall and wide as their supports will allow. Pruning in late spring to remove old flower strands is the only regular maintenance they require.

Sturdy, woody perennial fragrant flowering vine. For utility and durability this vine cannot be beaten. In wetter parts of the country, these vines are considered noxious weeds. In our arid climate they have little to no self-spreading tendencies. Woody, gray stems are covered with round to oval, dark green pubescent leaves. Strongly fragrant white to creamy yellow tubular flowers are borne in clusters during spring. These vines are semi-deciduous in low deserts but can lose leaves completely in colder zones, but are cold hardy to -20°F. As a vine they need support to climb. A trellis, chain-link, arbors or tripods. As a groundcover they will sprawl along the ground, but will root in where they touch the ground at nodes along the stems where soil is moist.

Lush looking green vine with reliable pink flowers. These evergreen, fast growing vines are best with some support as it will not cling to surfaces, but it twines and rambles up trellises, lattice, arbors, obelisks, or poles with wires with little training needed. The vines have compound glossy dark green leaves that cover woody to herbaceous stems. In spring, they flower with attractive clusters of white to light pink tubular blooms with distinctive dark pink throats. Short pea-like pods can follow the flowers, which are easy to remove as needed. Otherwise periodic trimming or pruning for training and size is all they require. Bower vine can tolerate heat and full sun even in low desert landscapes but they are not considered xeric or very drought tolerant. They will perform best with regular supplemental irrigation and moist roots during the growing season.