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Grow UP with Flowering Vines
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In the spring rush of cleaning up the garden, plant shopping, digging, planting, mulching, fertilizing and watering, 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! Now is the time to sow some seeds of annual flowering vines against walls and fences, next to arbors and pergolas, and at the base of trellises and tuteurs in your garden beds.
Annual vines are great for gardeners short on space. 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.
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Reach for the Sky with These Beautiful Climbers
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Ipomoea quamoclit. A 19th century heirloom, this butterfly and hummingbird favorite has 1", vibrant scarlet-red tubular flowers with leaves that are so divided that they resemble palm fronds. Wonderful! Height: 10' to 12'.
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Cardiospermum halicacabum. The beloved Balloon Vine has delicate sprays of tiny white flowers that mature into pale green lanterns that gradually dry to the color of straw.
It can readily self-sow. Height:
8' to 10'.
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New! Mina lobata. The classic Spanish Flag gets a modern update with this yellow and white version. The stacked, 1"-long buds begin small and golden yellow, but as they enlarge and begin to open they turn the palest shade of lemonade, and then pure white. Height: 15'.
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Cobaea scandens. This rambling vine produces dense, vibrant deep green foliage and large, 4" trumpet- to bell-shaped green flowers that mature to deep violet with a vague honey fragrance. The gradual change from green to violet is a quite fascinating metamorphosis.
Height: 10' to 12'.
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Tropaeolum majus.
This trellising heirloom yields a bounty of single flowers in solid and bicolor orange, yellow and scarlet. It can scramble up fences and trellises or stealthily trail and cover the garden. Height: 5' - 8'.
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Dolichos lablab. Moon Shadow is prized for its lilac-purple flowers that resemble Pea or Bean flowers. Once its long-lasting blossoms have gone by, you'll be rewarded with a second show of royal purple seed pods. Height: 8' to 10'.
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Thunbergia alata. Our Susie Mixture rapidly yields a living screen loaded with bell-shaped, 1", tubular flowers in white, yellow and orange, and rather large, triangular, blue-green foliage. Height: 4' to 5'.
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New! Thunbergia alata. A rosy mix of soft yellow, pale peach, and pink flowers with dark eyes. It craves structural support like a fence, trellis, lattice or netting for its vines. Height: 4' to 5'.
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Phaseolus coccineus.
A prized heirloom, bee-loved Painted Lady has pendulous, salmon-scarlet and white flowers. A two-fer, Painted Lady is a visual treat in the garden and delicious steamed with butter.
Height: 7' to 10'.
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Ipomoea alba. This Morning Glory sibling is a prized, night-blooming heirloom will scramble up supportive structures for a most addictive, jasmine-scented evening curtain. The bright white flowers are 3" to 6" wide. Height: 8' to 10'.
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Ipomoea tricolor. Our heavenly Milky Way mixture will yield a colorful swath of trellised blue, white and blue and white bicolor blooms. It includes Heavenly Blue, Pearly Gates, Flying Saucers and Blue Star (white with a blue star).
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New! Ipomoea nil. Only recently available in the U.S., this stunning mixture of 4" to 5" Japanese Morning Glories are all shades of pink to blue to purple with striking white pinwheels and rims with deeply cut, serrated green foliage.
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Eek out even more sustenance from your vegetable garden with these out-of-the-ordinary vining veggies that can be trained upward! Feel free to add these veggies to your ornamental beds, too. They're beautiful
and productive.
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60-70 days. This petite creature resembles a lemon with flattened ends and whitish-yellow skin; children love them!
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New! 70 days. This brilliant new Snap Pea features purple flowers and deep bluish-purple pods. Beautiful!
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60 days.
This pale green Italian Gourd is best picked when 8" long and 2" in diameter. Enjoy as you would Zucchini.
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70-75 days. These dark green leaf-studded vines, lavender flowers and deep purple, 10" Beans are as beautiful as they are delicious.
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90-100 days. A cute little white Pumpkin for charming fall displays, plus you can bake or roast them the same as you would Acorn Squash.
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Our Small Fruited Gourds are commonly seen decorating fall fireplace mantels and dining tables and Thanksgiving cornucopias.
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80-90 days. These little melons have lemon-yellow skin with red spots and stripes and creamy white flesh with a sweet, intoxicating aroma.
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60-65 days. This adorable cuke yields oodles of dark green, smooth beauties that grow to 5" long. It is never bitter and is burpless. One good little cuke.
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82-87 days.
This little cutie-pie is 3" to 4" wide with green-speckled, creamy-white skin and light orange, sweet and tender flesh. Great for fall displays, too!
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60-70 days. Pepinex is a seedless variety that produces long, slender cukes. It has a great flavor without bitterness. Its thin skin need not be peeled.
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70-80 days. This Oriental beauty yields 2- to 3-pound oval fruits. Its deep yellow-orange flesh has a dense, smooth texture and sweet taste.
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80-85 days.
Decorative Blauschokker grows up to 6' tall with red and violet flowers, followed by blue-purple pods filled with brown-gray Peas.
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We share our best-of-the-best
recipes
in our online cookbook so you can feed your family and friends well without feeling frenzied, and practical, hands-on
Horticultural Tips
to demystify gardening with seeds. It's not tricky or difficult: it's more like easy magic.
If you need help with anything, our office hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can email us at
[email protected]
or call us at (860) 567-6086. Lance Frazon, our seed specialist, is happy to help you in any way possible. He loves to talk seeds.
23 Tulip Drive * PO Box 638 * Bantam, CT 06750
Phone: (860) 567-6086 * Fax: (860) 567-5323
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