Among the qualities of all great landscapes, even a small planting around a home, is intrigue.
What does that mean — intrigue in a landscape? It means the landscape is arranged to pique a visitor’s curiosity. Instead of everything being displayed at once, some passages in the landscape are hidden. Discovery is encouraged. When the hidden is revealed, the pleasure in seeing it is heightened.
For parts of the garden to be hidden, the gardener needs to break lines of sight. This means incorporating a planting that will stop the eye from going any farther: a screen behind which something promises to be worth looking at or a botanical hide-and-seek.
Intrigue can be built into a landscape in many ways: with close planting of dense evergreens like arbor vitae or thick shrubbery like autumn olive. But nothing comes close to flowering vines to not only stop the eye, but also to stop it with delight. A vine in full flower is both a screen and a welcoming flag, inviting the visitor to look behind it.
Where to grow vines
Beside acting as a simple screen, vines can decorate a wall or doorway, hang from structures like an arbor or lamppost, cover an eyesore like a falling-down shed or a shut out the view of a propane tank.
They also can dress up the undercarriage of a deck and even pair with a tree and festoon its branches with trailing, flowering stems.
Vines grown on diagonally crossed wooden lattice panels take very little space in the garden because their dimension is vertical.
After spring peas are finished in the vegetable garden, use their trellis for a summer-loving annual vine like everyone’s favorite, the “Heavenly Blue“ morning glory.
Other vines to consider
We live in a blessed climate that supports many perennial vines that splash our gardens and landscapes with color. Here are a dozen, chosen for their beauty and usefulness. They all take full sun and some summer water unless otherwise indicated.
Coral vine (Antigonon leptopus) is a Mexican native with heart-shaped leaves and bright pink flowers arrayed along its vines in August through October. It will grow 15 to 20 feet and is deciduous in Sonoma County.
Cross vine (Bignonia capreolata) is a rampant grower, great for covering eyesores. It reaches 40 to 50 feet, with scads of orange-to-red trumpets in April and May. It’s an evergreen that will climb stone, brick and concrete walls.
Chinese trumpet creeper (Campsis grandiflora) is a better behaved and showier deciduous relative of Campsis radicans, the overly vigorous common trumpet vine that can tear its support apart. This species produces 3-inch scarlet trumpets in August and attracts hummingbirds.
Evergreen clematis (Clematis armandii) just loves Sonoma County’s climate and will grow to 20 feet with rich green, pretty leaves and big clusters of white star-like flowers in March and April.
Sweet autumn clematis (Clematis paniculata) fills the tail end of the growing season with a vigorous evergreen vine that can reach 30 feet and covers itself with small white flowers in September and October. Prune it hard after flowering.
Violet trumpet vine (Clytostoma callistegioides) is a favorite in Sonoma County. This well-behaved beauty grows to 15 feet with glossy, dark green leaflets and masses of lavender trumpets on display around Easter.
Glory lily (Gloriosa rothschildiana) only grows to about 10 feet but produces large, lily-shaped flowers in scarlet edged with yellow in June through July. It needs constant soil moisture.
Poet’s jasmine (Jasminum officinale ‘Grandiflorum’) grows easily in a pot as well as in the ground. It can reach 30 feet, with masses of heavily scented small flowers in March and a sprinkling of flowers now and then during the summer. The scent is musky, sexy and prized by perfumeries around the world. Grow it up and around your bedroom window. It’s semi-evergreen in Sonoma County.
Chilean bellflower (Lapageria rosea) is one for the west county, as it doesn’t tolerate frost or too much heat. It likes winter protection, partial shade and regular water. It can reach 20 feet. Many consider it the world’s most beautiful flower. It flowers in small clusters of 3-inch rosy red bells.
Big Chilean jasmine (Mandevilla “Alice du Pont”) rivals the Chilean bellflower for most beautiful flower of all. This hybrid is a native of Brazil and prefers partial shade rather than full sun. It grows to 20 feet with rumpled, evergreen leaves and 2- to 4-inch morning glory-like flowers in shades of the purest pink.
Coral red passionflower (Passiflora jamesonii) can cover a large tree with its vines, leaves and bright coral 4-inch passion flowers. But beware: A touch of frost will kill it, so this is another one for far west Sonoma County. In full bloom in June to September, it’s truly spectacular.
Cape plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) is a native of South Africa and a glorious producer of sky-blue tubular flowers in masses from March to December. It’s not a true climber, so train it on walls and fences and even use it as a ground cover where color is needed. The leaves are semi-deciduous, so give it a fresh look with a light winter pruning. It grows to 10 feet.
Remember, too, many types of climbing roses are essentially like flowering vines. Some, like “New Dawn,” are vigorous growers with thick stems. Others, like ”Climbing Iceberg,“ are better behaved. This one shows a revelation of white roses when it blooms in June. And few roses make a better screen or barrier than closely spaced Lady Banks rose (Rosa banksiae ”Lutea“).
All these vines are available online and some may be sold at local nurseries.
Jeff Cox is a Kenwood-based food and garden writer. Reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net.