Clinging Vines

[homealone]

Clinging vines are quite beautiful, they are constantly growing up over trellis's, trees and even up a house. Clinging vines are loved for their nostalgic beauty, but at the same time they are often dispised due to their destructive behavior. The key to keeping these types of beautiful vines is simply control. You have to be able to control these rampant climbers, or they tend to over take entire areas, and cause destruction.
Basically there are three different types of climbers. They are Sprawling vines, clinging vines, and twining vines. All three of these vines are in need of some kind of support unless they are being used as a ground cover.
Pruning of these climbers is how you take control of them. It is important to the health of the plant itself, but also to the support structure the plant is growing up. Especially if it is growing up your home.
It is best if you avoid allowing clinging vines to grow up your home, shrubs or even trees, as they can do some considerable damage, which is one thing you do not want. If you are wanting these types of plants to grow up the side of your home, its best if your home is made from brick, aluminum or stone. These vines do not cause as much damage to these types of building materials as they do to wood and other materials. Even then it is still important to monitor their growth carefully and keep them pruned back.
The best time to prune vines which flower is after the flowers have dropped, for vines such as fruiting vines its best to prune them during the winter when they are dormant. Though if they have been let go you can prune them any time to get them back under control.
Ivy is one climber which it is best to completely remove from your home and yard. Ivy tends to house pests such as slugs, mice as well as a high amount of pollon which makes it hazardous for anyone with allergies, asthma and some plants.
Ivy like other climbers can be very difficult to remove completely as they are very good at surviving.
To completely remove something like Ivy, you will need to do alot of cutting and pulling. This is the best treatment because the use of herbicides have little to no effect on them and chemicals can be dangerous.You will have to remove as much of the plant as possible and continue to repeat this process til it no longer grows. This goes for all climbing plants. Never place Ivy into your compost bin, as it will continue to grow and you will soon find that your compost is wrapped in Ivy. To dispose of Ivy, place it into a sealed plastic garbage bag, and leave it in the sun to actually cook it.

[missmanors]

Thank you for posting this one. I'm fond of vines, but not of invasive vines, such as ivy. In my opinion, there are very few houses, at least in my area that can handle the look of ivy growing up the side of the home. Plus, as you said in your post, it's really hard to get rid of these vines when you no longer want the look that they give your home.

I prefer small vines, such as those that grow about 10'-15' which you can train to grow up a fence or trellis. This way you can change the look with different color or type of vine, depending on your mood or a change in the rest of your flower garden.

[flip_it_fast]

I love vines. They make the lawn have a country feel I think and I absolutely love that. They are beautiful on trellis's, handrails or even climbing a small section of the house. You can purchase vines with flowers of almost every size and color. My personal fav is the morning glory. It is beautiful, easy to grow and easy to keep under control.

[homealone]

I also love vines, but alot of people dont know how to keep them under control and then they become more of a problem than beauty. I dont think I would ever allow vines to grow up the side of my home. There is just to much risk of damage being caused. Though I wouldnt mind having them growing up a trellis or even along a fence.