It is late summer, and annual climbing vines that thrive in the hot temperatures really have come into their own. Certain late summer annual vines , like sweet autumn clematis can be aggressive. Knowing which variety to avoid can help you plan out your garden and landscape to ensure the vine doesn’t completely spread and take over.
Sweet autumn clematis can be a bit of a bully in the garden. In fact, the sweet autumn clematis is on a lot of invasive plant lists.
Instead, you might try to grow some other climbing vine varieties, like mandevilla, morning glories, black eyed Susan vine, Cypress vine or hyacinth bean vine.
Cypress vine has beautiful red flowers. Hummingbirds really like the cup-and-saucer vine or cobaea. The variety called the hyacinth bean vine boasts purple flowers and purple beans. Use caution when planting this vine though, as certain parts are toxic to pets and people.
If you started growing these climbing vines this year, they do self-sow so you might have them again next year in your garden.
And if your heart is still set on clematis, a good alternative is the Virgin's Bower or clematis virginiana. That is a native plant, is not as aggressive, and has a very similar look.
The clematis virginiana looks beautiful growing up a pole or a pergola in your yard with its plumes of white flowers that turn into fuzzy seed heads.
The perennial climbing vine mandevilla is also beautiful in your yard and landscape. This one has trumpet-shaped flowers and white, pink or red blooms and some will even grow well in containers. You can find them at your favorite local garden center.
You can actually bring this perennial indoors and enjoy it throughout the winter. Just cut the plant way back in late September, clean it up to ensure its insect-free before you bring it indoors.
Give the mandevilla a little bit of water, place in the sunniest window you have. With the right conditions, this vine can make it through the winter. Then, next spring, bring the mandevilla back outside to replant.
Can you guide me on how to eradicate invasive ferns from flower gardens? - Melinda, Plainfield
Ferns are very opportunistic plants. They can easily take over a shady and wet area of your lawn or garden.
To eradicate them, change the environment as much as you can. Try trimming some trees or opening up that area of your garden so it gets more sun and can dry out more. This helps create a habitat that ferns don't like.
Another option is to dig the ferns up. Ferns have rhizomes which tend to spread far and wide. You can periodically dig the ferns out and try to get as much of the root system as you can.
Once you've cleaned out the ferns from that area of your garden, go a step further and create some kind of barrier or wall that goes down into the ground.
The barrier can be made from plastic, metal or wood. It should go about a foot into the ground. This should help keep the ferns from re-invading your garden.
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