Winning Combination Part 1

Verdin love with The Tangerine Beauty Crossvine

Today I begin my 3 part series about plants and the critters they attract.  Working with the El Presidio gardens has been a lot of fun as it continues to develop.  One of our guests that lives here on the property is the Verdin. 

I began to notice the tiny bird this past year as it found its way back to our property.  The birds then began to nest in nearby trees and drink from our hummingbird feeders.  Similiar to hummingbird needs, the Verdin loves sweet tubular flowers like this colorful Tangerine Beauty Crossvine.  An easy vine to grow and it does require some regular watering and lots of sun to create these marvelous bursts of color.

I was outside walking around the gardens when this little guy landed on one of the flowers.  It shows how small this bird is compared to the tubular flower.  I'm so glad I had the camera on me so that you can see the sizes of both the bird and flower.

When I place a plant into the garden, I always think about how it will add(beyond shade) to our landscape.  Questions I ask myself, "Will it add color?"  "Will it add vertical dimension to the garden?" "Will it attract wildlife?"  "Is it edible for humans or wildlife?"  "How much lighting and water will the plant take?" etc etc.  While it may seem like a lot of work and research, it's worth all the effort in the long run.  When the puzzle pieces start coming together, a masterpiece is created for all to enjoy.  More tomorrow...

Confederate Jasmine

Our first vine in this series is the Confederate Jasmine.  It does well in our climate when shaded a bit from the summer sun.  It can take the cold winter temps and is green all year round!!!  I'd call this plant a moderate grower here in Tucson. If I had to describe this plant, I'd describe it as a "slowly but surely" plant as it makes its' way up a trellis or string.  While it isn't a climber(that clings on its' own), it is a twining vine that needs a little human intervention at first to position the plant in the right direction.  This is a very common vine around town and has fragrant small white flowers in spring.  These vines can grow to be 20 to 30 feet tall here....some even longer.  They are attractive all year round, but they will take their time to cover that trellis or ramada in your yard, but it will cover the hardscape. Patience is required.  We have several of this type of Jasmine growing around the property and it is THE most durable of the Jasmine family for the Tucson area.  I'll cover the "other" 3 in tomorrow's post.  They take full morning sun and partial shade during the hot afternoon side.  I have these vines growing on the Northern Side of our building and around our courtyard.  If you need to trust a plant to grow without a lot of care, this is one to consider.  In fact, I would call it a perfect zone 9 plant.  Our freeze was below 20 degrees at night several weeks ago and it still survived the cold.  With the warmer weather, it will start to grow and bush out more with the eventual white flowers.  If you are limited on money and need a dependable vine, I highly recommend the Confederate Jasmine. 

Vines are fun because they add vertical color and extend your garden in different ways.  I am working on several posts coming up after the vines series is finished on the plants that died during our historical freeze and those that snapped back with a vengeance.  Stay tuned for much more from the Las Aventuras blog.

The Vines

It's going to be April and time to think about the warm weather and getting your vines established into the garden.  There are a lot of vines available for Tucson gardeners.   This blog has covered Catsclaw(dependable), Algerian Ivy(tricky; but all over Tucson), Wisteria(questionable), and the Passion Vine(edible for our butterflies and a fast grower in full sun).  Of course, there are many more vines that people use around town with some being more popular than others. I have a native for our Sonoran desert along with several other exciting vines.  Before beginning this series, we need to examine the types of vines that are out there.

Morning glory twines up plant branches.

Some things we need to consider before choosing a vine are whether or not, we'd like a clinging, twining, or trained typed plant.  Vines, like other plants, come in all shapes and sizes.  Some cling to the side of buildings without support while others will spiral around string, fencing, or other structures, and some need support and training by the human hand.

This cereus nightbloomer crawls up trees like a vine.

Twining Vines. Twining vines naturally curl or spiral around anything that is close by and reasonably slender, including neighboring plants. Good choices for supports for these plants include thin pieces of wire, cord, or rope, or wooden or iron stakes or poles, and trellises.

Algerian Ivy frames these townhomes nicely in our neighborhood.

Clinging Vines. The stems of clinging vines, sometimes called holdfasts, have small tendrils with either suction disks, aerial roots, or claws that grab onto surfaces, especially those that aren’t completely smooth. Typical clinging vines include Boston ivy, Creeping Fig, and Cat's Claw. Because they cling so tenaciously, you won’t need to provide supports. However, you will need to keep an eye on them, as in the long run they can damage building materials such as wood and stucco.

Bougainvillea frames the entrances to homes at El Presidio.  Hooks, into the building,  keep these plants upright and in place.

Freestanding Vines. Some vines, such as bougainvillea, must be physically tied in place, although they may also wind their way through other plants. You can train them on a freestanding trellis or wire grid, using soft plastic ties(extremely cheap to purchase) or twine to hold the branches in place. To train freestanding vines on walls and other structures, insert eye screws into the support and tie the branches to the eye screw. Another approach is to stretch wire between eye screws and tie branches to the wires.  This approach is utilized at the El Presidio Gardens where hooks have been screwed into the building to help support our large bougainvillea. We have a lot of vines to explore and I'll share with you how they do in winter and what to expect from them in summer. Stay tuned for more from the Vine Series this next week.