Something that isn't massive, would go on a medium sized tressel, but has some color and flowers that last a decent amount of time. Or even a vine with fruit and veggies.
What's your growing zone? Did you want a perennial or annual vine? Is your trellis in full sun? What's your soil like? What direction is the exposure where you want to plant it? Do you want something with winter interest or are you ok with it dying back or being cut back for the winter?
That's true, just some do better in some climates than others, and there are different species with different characteristics! Plus they're not edible For that I would recommend hardy kiwi. The fruits are small but they don't need peeling and they are delish! For winter interest, you might look into hydrangea vine. Like the shrub it holds onto its dead flower clusters and they look really neat through the winter. You cut them back in the spring. But it's not edible.
His location is listed as CT. My guess is gardening zone 7. He also said a small Trellis and I why I ruled out Kiwi vine. They can grow huge, the same with hydranger vines which I have seen growing to the top of telephone poles up north. Thunbergia comes in some nice colors, black eyed susan vine, Morning glory, cardinal flower vine, mandavilla vine is tropical but can be grown as an annual or over wintered in a sunny window and blooms all summer. I can think of a lot of vines but a lot grow too big, Another one is honeysuckle vine, but not the common Halls honeysuckle as that one will spread all over the yard and is a pest. Wisteria is gorgeous but again grows way too large. Alison
LOL yeah, I've seen Wisteria rip an ordinary trellis to shreds AND pull the carriage lights right off the house. My uncle had to build a post-and-beam-style arbour to support it after that! And I wasn't sure of the trellis size since it was only mentioned as being "medium size". I need numbers to be able to gauge what that means. My idea of medium covers half a house
That made me laugh. It's my idea too however my guess for a medium trellis would be 6 feet high . I am thinking of the metal trellis you buy at home depot or lowes. I like the way you think. Alison
@ Aquaphobia, Do you do a lot of gardening? What gardening zone are you in?. I now live in Zone 10 A , so most of the houseplants up north, you can grow outside in the yard down here. I have to say it took some getting used to down here but we've lived here for 8 years now and I am starting to get the hang of it..... Alison
I grew up in Zones 5-7 but now live in 8-9. I used to do a lot more gardening than I do now, and it's what I went to school for. The first year I was here I was amazed at the fact that I could harvest some vegetables even through the winter. Planting broad beans at what to me was the end of the growing season so it could be harvested in spring floored me
thanks! Came back to your conversation a little late but got a lot to look into. The edible part would just be an added bonus, and not necessary at all. We live in the Northeast so our winters can be tough. I would love something that I could trim back, put in my basement (no sun light), and have it grow back in spring, but once again not necessary. I also know it's late in the season but just need something to fill in a gap on our deck. The deck gets direct sun till early afternoon (around 1-ish), so about 6 hours or so. Was also just looking to put it in Miracle Gro soil. lol, and by medium I mean 3-4" high max, so in your eyes tiny.
Did you mean inches or feet? If you want something quick then I would go with aliray's suggestion of Black-Eyed Susan Vine. Very forgiving, you can cut back any errant shoots that exceed the height and blooms constantly.
I can think of some tropical shrubs that you could hibernate in the cellar such as angle trumpets and plumeria come to mind but I can't think of a vine at the moment. . Angle trumpets are brugsmania which are stunning and come into bloom about every six weeks during the growing season. There are a lot of bulb plants that you could also grow than hibernate for the winter in the cellar. People used to take geraniums at the end of the season, take them out of the pot and hang them from the rafters and trim and replant in the spring.. You can most likely pick up the thunbergia at either lowes or home depot. Alison
Just thought of one for next year. Look up gloriosa climbing lilly. It is a tuber that you plant in exactly the conditions that you have , beautiful blooms. At the end of the season, lift the tuber and store in peat moss or my guess would be to put the pot in the cellar and bring out in the spring. You should be able to find those bulbs next spring. ..Alison
Trumpet vine would be good, they're next to impossible to kill. They have really deep tap roots so you can just cut it off come winter and they'll come back up. Campsis is the scientific name btw. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Fish Lore Aquarium Fish Forum mobile app
Again trumpet vine is too big a grower for what he wants. I grew the orange and yellow varietys up north. they are gorgeous but again very heavy rapid growing vines.. Alison
Slightly off-topic, but totally fascinating to me, is the fact that Trumpet vine is in the same family as poison ivy: Anacardiaciae! Not that it means much. Cashews are in that family as well
I didn't know that. Cashews are my favorite nut. We get along fine, however poison ivy, Not so much. I have had a passion for plants and animals my whole life. It sounds like you have a very strong passion for plants as well. Alison
Yes I have Off the top of my head, cashews aren't edible raw, they need to be treated with some amount of heat in order to destroy the poison that's in it. The cashew "apple" it grows out of is also poisonous. I know I've seen "raw" cashews in health food stores but they're not really, they're just not roasted
