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Employ Annual Vines for Summer Entertainment

© Mary Henry

Like ruffles and lace? Lathyrus odorata, AKA sweet pea would be a good choice. She climbs by reaching out with tendrils to hold her support. Though sweet peas look delicate they are a lot tougher than you'd think. Early in the season, before any of the others we have talked about would dare to venture root into cold soil, the sweet peas are off and climbing. You can plant the seeds as soon as the ground can be worked. Though they are just now rebounding in popularity in this country, sweet peas have always enjoyed great popularity in England. There, they are grown for competition as well as cut flowers so, with just a little hunting, you should be able to find several online sources for an extended number of varieties. Here are another gardener's thoughts on sweet peas.

The "girl next door" role has been played to perfection by the Black-eyed Susan Vine, Thunbergia alata. Dainty and pretty, the flowers of the most common form can be yellow, orange or white with black eyes. The winged stems twine around their support and as the vine grows beyond each flower to form a new bud, the spent flowers become inflated light green seed pods and then dry to a papery tan. Black-eyed Susan Vine makes a nice hanging basket subject too but, like the tomboy she really is, she will climb up the hangers and try to keep going.

A more ladylike performance can be expected from the Asarina species. They are variously called climbing or twining snapdragons and Chickabiddy. Does anyone know why they are called Chickabiddy? I couldn't find out, but I like the name as much as I like the vine. Though it will climb a string trellis, it seems happier scrambling over some other plant. The foliage seems much more dainty than that of the morning glories or flowering beans. You don't often see this in American seed catalogs though you will undoubtedly have to start your own plants, but the English list several species of varying colors and flower sizes. I can attest that they flower very profusely and are great spilling out of large mixed containers.

Last, but certainly not least, are two of my favorite morning glory cousins, the cypress vine, Ipomoea quamoclit, and the cardinal climber, I. x multifida. Many people think they are the same plant, and I guess you would have to examine them closely to tell the difference if you have never grown them. The flowers have a similar trumpet shape (though I have seen the cardinal climber's flower described as "salver form", whatever that means) and are both red. Though I think I would say that cypress vine is more scarlet and cardinal climber more crimson. The foliage of cypress vine is a light green and each leaf is so finely divided that it appears to be needled like a bald cypress tree. The cardinal climber's leaves look exactly like what you would expect if you had crossed the cypress vine's leaf with the heart-shaped leaf of some morning glories - broadly heart-shaped with the edges deeply cut almost to the mid-vein. These leaves are dark green. This gives an overall look to the two vines of crimson on dark green and scarlet on light green. While the flower power of neither vine can compete with morning glories, sweet peas, nasturtiums or even flowering beans, none of those can attract a hummingbird like the cypress and cardinal vines can.