Grow UP with Flowering Vines
In the spring rush of cleaning up the garden, plant shopping, digging, planting and mulching, it's easy to forget to look up. We don't just mean looking up to see what's going on around you beyond the garden. Look up, also, to the space you haven't filled with plants yet: the sky! Sow some seeds of annual flowering vines against walls and fences, next to arbors and pergolas, and at the base of trellises and tuteurs. Annual vines add vertical punch and color in a way few other plants can.
Annual vines are great for gardeners short on space, too. Sow just a few seeds into a small patch of earth, add a slender tripod or trellis, and before long you'll have vines twining and scrambling toward the sky, generously adorned with colorful flowers that will charm you day after day until fall frosts arrive.
Reach for the Sky with These Beautiful Climbers
All of these flowering annual vines can be sown directly into your garden beds as soon as all threat of frost has passed, if not earlier--no grow lights required!
Grandpa Ott Morning Glory
Ipomoea purpurea. This prized Bavarian heirloom Morning Glory has purple blossoms with darker purple stars and contrasting pink throats. Height: 8' to 10'.
Dorothy Eckford Sweet Pea
Lathyrus odoratus. This classic, heirloom Sweet Pea, introduced in 1901, is pure white and wonderfully fragrant. Sow Sweet Peas early!
Height: 6' to 8'.
Cathedral Bells
Cobaea scandens. This rambling vine produces dense, vibrant green foliage and large, 4", trumpet- to bell-shaped green flowers that mature to deep violet. Height: 10' to 12'.
Painted Lady Runner Bean
Phaseolus coccineus. Painted Lady has gorgeous pendulous flowers in tiers of salmon-scarlet and white against rich, blue-green foliage. It's edible! Height: 7' to 10'.
Hyacinth Bean Vine
Dolichos lablab. Hyacinth Bean Vine quickly scrambles up to create a beautiful screen of dark green foliage and two-tone lilac-purple flowers. Height: 8' to 10'.
Black-Eyed Susan Vine
Thunbergia alata. An easy to grow annual, Black-Eyed Susan Vine is a sun-loving, flowering vine with 1' flowers in shades of white, gold or rosy pink. Height: 4' to 5'.
Purple Bell Vine
Rhodochiton atrosanguineum. Purple Bell Vine yields cascading maroon flowers with darker purple corollas and lush, heart-shaped foliage. Height: 8' to 10'.
Split Second Morning Glory
Ipomoea nil. It's like no other Morning Glory you've ever seen! Its intriguingly shredded pink and white petals form 2" puffball flowers. Height: 8' to 10'.
Flying Saucers Morning Glory
Ipomoea tricolor. A 1960 hybrid, Flying Saucers has unique, 4" white flowers with tie-died blue stripes. Height: 8' to 10'.
Climbing Snapdragon
Asarina scandens. This delicate-looking vine is cloaked in 1½" long, tubular flowers from summer to fall. Our mix blooms in shades of violet-blue and white. Height: 6' to 8'.
Moonflower
Ipomoea alba. This Morning Glory sibling is a night-blooming heirloom with 3" to 6", jasmine-scented, glistening white flowers on long climbing vines. Height: 8' to 10'.
Cardinal Climber
Ipomoea quamoclit. This butterfly and hummingbird magnet has 1", scarlet-red, tubular flowers with leaves so deeply divided they look like palm fronds. Height: 10' to 12'.
Mount Fuji Morning Glories
Ipomoea nil. This stunning mix of 4" to 5" Japanese Morning Glories are all shades of pink to blue to purple with striking white pinwheels and rims. Height: 8' to 10'.
Citronella Exotic Love Vine
Mina lobata. The classic Spanish Flag gets an update! The 1"-long buds begin golden yellow, but as they open they turn the palest shade of lemonade to white. Height: 15'.
Nimbus Sweet Pea
Lathyrus odoratus. This new and exciting variety of the classic heirloom Sweet Pea has the palest lilac blooms flushed and edged in deep purple-blue. Height: 6' to 8'.
Love-in-a-Puff
Cardiospermum halicacabum. Balloon Vine has delicate sprays of tiny white flowers that mature into pale green lanterns that dry to the color of straw. Height: 8' to 10'.
Tawny Nasturtium Mixture
Tropaeolum majus. This trellising heirloom mixture yields a bounty of single flowers in solid and bicolor orange, yellow and scarlet. It climbs or scrambles. Height: 5' to 8'.
Heavenly Blue Morning Glory
Ipomoea tricolor. This classic Morning Glory has 3" to 4" light sky-blue flowers, and blooms from early summer through the first fall frost. Height: 8' to 10'.
Vertical Veggies, Too!
Eek out even more sustenance from your vegetable garden with these vining veggies that can be trained upward! Feel free to add these veggies to your ornamental beds, too. They're beautiful and productive. Each one can be sown directly into your garden after all threat of frost has passed.
Carminat Filet Pole Bean
70-75 days. These 10" purple pods are perfectly smooth, slender and stringless. The lavender flowers and purple Beans are as beautiful as the Beans are delicious. (OP.)
Gooligan White Pumpkin
90-100 days. Easy-to-grow Gooligan produces oodles of perfect 6" white orbs from 1/4 to 1 pound. Since the fruits are so small, it may be trellised quite successfully. (F1.)
Seychelles Pole Bean
55-75 days. This Dutch variety grows up to 9' tall and produces trusses of tender, crisp, stringless, long green beans that are best harvested at 5" to 6". (OP.)
Lemon Cucumber
60-70 days. This petite Cuke looks like a lemon with flattened ends and whitish-yellow skin. It tastes faintly of citrus. Munch it right off the vine for a burst of summer flavor. (OP.)
Christmas Lima Bean
75-85 days. A gorgeous heirloom from the 1840s, Christmas Lima is a large-seeded Bean with 4" to 6" pods housing quarter-sized, white seeds with maroon spots. (OP.)
Malabar Spinach
55 days. An attractive, heat-loving vine from the tropics, its leaves may be used like regular Spinach, fresh or cooked. It grows rapidly in hot weather. (OP.)
Iona Petit Pois Pea
68 days. These treasured, delicate Peas are about half the size of a regular shelling Pea, and twice as delicious. They are an exquisite gourmet experience. (OP.)
Small Ornamental Gourds
Our Small Gourd Mixture includes: Nest Egg, Baby Boo, Cou-Tors Native, Small Bicolor, Small Pear Bicolor, Small Orange, Small Warts and the Ten Commandments. (OP.)
Little SnowPea White Pea
30 days. Direct sow Little SnowPea White and harvest sweet, crunchy, pale green pods just 30 days later! This indeterminate, 40"-tall vine is resistant to powdery mildew. (OP.)
Pepinex English Cucumber
60-70 days. Pepinex is a seedless variety that produces long, slender, slightly ribbed Cucumbers. It has a great, non-bitter flavor, and its paper-thin skin need not be peeled. (F1.)
Thomas Laxton Shelling Pea
55-65 days. This heirloom pea yields plump, 4-inch pods of up to ten hefty, super sweet peas each. Disease-resistant, the sturdy vines grow up to 3' tall. (OP.)
Tigger Asian Melon
80-90 days. This small grapefruit-sized Melon will develop a sweet, intoxicating aroma and taste in dry summers with prolonged, scorching heat if watered regularly. (OP.)
Sugar Magnolia Snap Pea
70 days. This brilliant new Snap Pea features purple flowers and deep bluish-purple pods that add an extra dash of flair to both the veggie garden and crudité platters. (OP.)
Winged Bean
75-85 days. All parts of the plant are edible! The young green pods are wonderful grilled and sauteed, with a flavor reminiscent of String Beans and Asparagus. (OP.)
Cucuzzi Italian Squash
60 days. This long, thin Gourd could grow up to 18" long, but it is best when 8" long, while its white flesh is still tender and sweet. Enjoy as you would Zucchini. (OP.)
taken from kitchengardenseeds@kitchengardenseeds.com
till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky's Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa beckmall@netins.net
