Gold Coast Gardener

January 29, 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

Vines are often used in landscapes to cover fences or to grow on fences or arbors and many vines can even be grown as large hanging baskets. There are dozens of types of tropical plants grown in Florida as a vine and some are even planted on the ground and allowed to cover the ground as a ground cover. Vines come in both green and variegated foliage as well as those that produce colorful flowers.

One type of vine seen a lot this time of year in bloom is the bougainvillea. Bougainvilleas come in dozens of colors and start heavy blooming in early winter and go all the way into the rainy season which begins in late June.

Another one which is seen this time of year is the flame vine with 2 ½ inch tubular bright orange flowers which completely cover the vine so that you can’t even see the foliage.

Some vines produce fragrant flowers, too, and a good example would be confederate jasmine which blooms in the late spring with one inch white fragrant blooms and Stephanotis which has starlight white heavy textured blooms often used in bridal bouquets. This is more prevalent blooming during the late spring and summer months.

Some vines have small fine leaves which make them excellent for clinging to trees or walls and some ornamental ficus are used to cover walls as well as English ivy.

A few vines have very large tropical leaves that can get several feet long and give a very tropical look to whatever they are allowed to climb on. A good example would be the monstera or split leaf philodendron from Mexico that at maturity can have leaves 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. Also pothos or devil’s ivy can have a leaf almost 3 feet long and 2 feet wide and it comes in green and yellow marbled, white and green marbled and solid green leaves. Many types of philodendron have very colorful foliage and they can be grown either on trees or trellises or in hanging baskets.

Some vines produce delicious edible fruit and a good example would be passion vine. There are over 100 types of passion vine grown in Florida and quite a number of these produce small to medium sized edible fruit. The flowers are also spectacular and many types of passion vine are native.

If you’re looking for ideas of passion vines to grow in your landscape, most area retail nurseries and garden centers have a good variety. Vines should be put where they get plenty of sunlight and vigorous growing ones need to have plenty of room so they don’t overtake the rest of your landscape planting.

Pruning on vines is done on an as needed basis depending on the space that they’re growing in and some that are very tropical will require protection from freezing temperatures in the winter.

If you’re close to salt water, some vines are quite salt tolerant and can be grown fairly close to salt water without the ill effects from the salt wind.

If you need information about types of vines suitable for our area, pick up some of the free literature available from the Palm Beach County Extension office or you can call the Extension Service for free advice over the phone. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.