Home » Plants & Animals » Gardening in the Rockies » Part 2 Vines for the Rockies.Part 2 Vines for the Rockies.

Part 2 Vines for the Rockies.Part 2 Vines for the Rockies.

© Roger Hugh Smith

Virginia Creeper is an old fashioned favourite woody vine that grows well to zone 1-2. It is the vine most often seen covering old stone or brick buildings. It is slow to get started but puts on impressive growth by its third or fourth season. Virginia Creeper rewards the patient grower with lush green dense foliage in the spring and summer, and then a week or two of brilliant red each fall before the leaves drop. The woody stems remain and are substantial enough to create 'winter interest' for your garden.

Clematis are rightly called the Queen of Vines for their beautiful striking flowers. They are a little fussier than other vines but are well worth the effort. Pay attention to zone hardiness and different pruning needs. In colder climates almost all clematis can die back to the roots but they will often send up new shoots, be patient because they are very slow to show their new tips. Most clematis are not the best climbers and need some help in the way of something to climb and hands on gardeners help to start out. They thrive best where their roots system is cool and shaded, but also can have their leaves and flowers in the sun. If you can find the right spot in your garden where these two features combine, your clematis will love you.

The only problem with a beautiful flowering clematis might be that it has scanty growth at its base this can be solved by planting something else in front of it. A great duet to grow together is in fact Virginia Creeper and Clematis. In our own garden Virginia Creeper has covered our garden shed and crept along a six foot fence that hides our composting bins. Clematis has had no trouble twining through and displaying its blossoms perfectly.

Hops are a good example of a true perennial vine, and will cover a fence or the wall of an outbuilding very quickly in the season. They grow from their roots and need to have the withered stems taken away as they are rather unsightly. The spring and early summer growth are phenomenal on established root systems, achieving many inches in a single day. The blossom is unremarkable but the pendulous tassels that develop later in the season can be pretty. Where hops grow well they can unfortunately become the enemy, smothering and choking out shrubs and other vines and even established evergreens. Don't risk planting them where you have other plants established, they can be very hard to eradicate once they take hold especially in warmer zones outside the Rockies.