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Tuesday - February 24, 2009

From: new braunfels, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Vines
Title: Looking for a vine to grow on limestone pillars.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

Could you please suggest a vine which would grow on the limestone pillars at the front of our home near New Braunfels? We would like something that is attractive but does not harm our home. The pillars face south. The vine would be watered regularly. The soil is limestone.

ANSWER:

Vines climb by scrambling, clinging or twining. Scrambling vines would be generally unsuitable for pillars since they want to simply grow up and over things like shrubs and fences, but not really up tall vertical structures. Clinging vines tend to damage masonry. Twining vines would require some kind of trellis or other support structure to climb on a stone pillar. I've provided a list for you consideration:

Coral Honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens (trumpet honeysuckle) High-climbing, twining vine with 2-4 flowered clusters of red tubular blooms frequently visited by humming birds.

Scarlet Clematis Clematis texensis (scarlet leather flower) An herbaceous to slightly woody twining vine climbing no more than 9 ft. Very hardy and drought tolerant.

Virginia Creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) A woody, deciduous vine that can be high climbing. It climbs by means of tendrils with disks that fasten onto bark or rock.

Cross Vine Bignonia capreolata (crossvine) A climbing woody vine reaching 50 ft in length with showy orange-red flowers. It climbs by means of tendrils.

Alamo vine Merremia dissecta (noyau vine) An attractive twining climber of the morning glory family. It is deciduous and dies back in the winter, but has interesting brown seed pods.

American wisteria Wisteria frutescens (American wisteria) A high climbing, deciduous vine. The flowers are in large drooping clusters6-9 inches long. Texas wisteria is less aggressive than than Asian species.