By Elizabeth Sommerville
I’ve always wanted to live in a vine-covered cottage.
OK. That’s a lie. I’ve really always wanted to live a Queen Anne mansion
with servants and a formal garden, but until I win the lottery I’m happily in
cottage mode. And you have to admit that the idea of a vine-covered
cottage is really romantic and incredibly cute.I got my vine-covered
cottage quite by accident. I mean, I intended to grow some Morning
Glories, but I had no idea they’d take over the front of my house!
they’re easy to grow and you get lots of
flowers for very little effort. So last year I
decided to finally plant the seeds I’d had
for two years and train some Heavenly
Blues up a trellis.I also decided to plant
the Moonflower (Ipomoea Alba) seeds
that I’d also neglected to plant previously.
Moonflower has huge white flowers that
bloom in the late afternoon and evening.
Then I found a Cardinal Climber
(Ipomoea X multifidia) plant, a vine with
pretty fernlike leaves and tiny red
flowers. I thought it would look nice with
the other vines and then picked up a
Morning Glory plant at the local garden
center ‘cause I figured, the more the
merrier.
planted them in late May in one rather
sunny spot in moderately poor soil next
to a 6 ft. trellis. Your planting dates
may differ if you live in a warmer
climate than upstate New York. This
planting scheme worked out really well
until all the vines topped the trellis in
late June. Then it became obvious that
the vines were going to need
something taller to twine around. So I
had the brilliant idea of running string
from a second floor window to the
trellis to give the vines a place to go. In
hindsight, I should have added strings
to all the upstairs windows, since the
vines were pretty relentless in their
growth.
By early August, all was fine and the flowers were flowering—I hated
to leave for work each day because I could have just sat in the
driveway looking at the flowering vines. Even the Moonflowers, which
are notoriously slow to germinate and flower if you plant them directly
in the ground, were shyly blooming to greet me when I returned from
work.
home to a vine draped cottage!
The vines had reached critical
mass and had snapped their
supporting strings.
dejectedly off the side of the house. I was disappointed that the strings
had broken, but was very pleased with the new arrangement. And the
vines stayed this way until the frost.
This year, I’ll plan my vine project a bit better: I’ll start with sturdier string
and more of it! I’m already looking for different colors of Morning Glories
and thinking of adding other types of vines in the mix. Almost any vine will
do as long as it’s not invasive in your part of the country; all the vines I
planted are annual in upstate New York.
If you aren’t able to cover
your dwelling in a riot of
vines, consider planting a
few Morning Glories in a
large pot and training them
to vine across your balcony
railing. One variety of
Morning Glory, Cameo
Elegance, is a better choice
for containers than other
Ipomeas. Find them at
Pinetree Garden Seeds
