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Here’s a colorful vining plant that creates shade without a lot of work

April 29, 2023

1. Pat and Charlie Bowers, who garden in Long Beach, asked for suggestions for a vining plant that will cover an arbor without requiring a lot of work to maintain. In “Wildflowers of North America,” trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is touted as a climbing vine that only ascends when given support, as it would in the case of your arbor, which generally means it does not grow rampantly when left to its own devices. If I were in your shoes, I would seriously consider flame vine (Pyrostegia venusta). It bears thick clusters of orange flowers during winter that literally take your breath away and your coastal environment is especially appropriate for this species. You do not need to prune star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) more than once a year, following bloom, but you may wish to prune more often for a neat and tidy look. Trumpet vines do not grow as rapidly as star jasmine so you could definitely get by with an annual pruning of any one of them; select from blood red trumpet vine (Distictis buccinatoria), lavender trumpet vine (Clytostoma callistegioides), and orange crossvine (Bignonia capreolata). If you like purple flowers, consider lilac vine (Hardenbergia violacea) and sandpaper vine (Petraeus volubilis). If you are looking for a true showstopper, plant cup-of-gold vine (Solandra maxima). Its enormous golden, chalice-shaped flowers, up to eight inches across will bloom in both full fun and partial shade.

2. Now is the time to put down your four-inch layer of mulch, before hot weather steals the moisture that has built up in the soil due to our heavy rains. A constant layer of mulch of this thickness will eliminate the need for fertilizer in your garden, other than where annuals and vegetables are concerned. The easiest way to access mulch is to corral a tree trimmer and invite him to dump his wood chips and shredded bark and leaves on your driveway. He will happily oblige since you will save him the gas and the time involved in driving to the nearest dump or green waste recycling facility, as well as the fee otherwise required to dispose of the contents of his truck. You only need to take care to keep the mulch away from the trunks of your trees and the stems of your shrubs and perennials where they make contact with the ground. Such contact can lead to fungus or bacterial rot. Incidentally, if you are not sure whether the source of rotten tissue on a plant is fungal or bacterial, give it the sniff test. Fungal rot does not produce a foul odor, whereas rot caused by bacteria does.

3. When your daffodils and other flowers from bulbs begin to fade, immediately remove the spent blooms. This will prevent the plant from investing resources into making seeds which will otherwise be channeled into next year’s bulbs for more flowers. It often happens that strong shoots will grow from a bulb but no flowers will appear. This is due to a nutirent deficit that could have been brought on by allowing last year’s flowers to go to seed. This is an excellent reason, by the way, to cut the flowers that grow from bulbs for vase arrangements; that way, you need not worry about the flowers going to seed in the garden and diminishing the quantity of next year’s blooms. Later, when all green growth has turned brown, remove it too and cover the area with your four-inch layer of mulch. Keep in mind that watering bulbs during warm weather can lead to their demise so try to keep your bulb bed dry.

4. To determine how fast your soil drains, fill a hole with water and, when it drains, fill it again, measuring the depth of the water when the hole is full. After 15 minutes, measure the water depth again. Now subtract the 15-minute depth from the full hole depth and multiply by four to determine the hourly drainage rate. Soil that drains at less than one inch per hour is slow draining, from one to six inches an hour is average, and more than six inches an hour is fast draining. This knowledge is important when deciding which plants are most suitable to the soil types in different areas of your garden. Of course, you can improve soil drainage by amending and mulching it on a consistent basis or by planting deep-rooted cover crops such as clover, which aerate and loosen the soil.

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5. Dahlias are among the most dramatic flowers, reaching up to one foot in diameter, and now is the time to plant their tubers. Dwarf to giant types are available. For your giant dahlias to last more than a year, lift them in the fall, taking a two-foot diameter circle of roots along with them. If you divide your dahlia clumps, dust-cut surfaces with sulfur so they don’t rot. Store them in boxes or paper bags in a cool, dry place such as a garage during winter before planting them again the following spring. During winter storage, make sure they are covered with sand, sawdust, peat moss or perlite. If you are seeking a real garden show stopper, consider planting a tree dahlia. Tree dahlias grow up to twenty feet tall. They may die back to their roots in the winter (if not, cut them down to six inches) but do not have to be lifted like their smaller cousins and will regrow the following spring. You can order a Bell Tree Dahlia (Dahlia imperialis) with lavender pink, six-inch diameter blooms — as well as many other dahlia tubers — from anniesannuals.com.

Write to me at [email protected] where your questions, comments, and plant photos are always welcome.

Orange County Register

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Here’s a colorful vining plant that creates shade without a lot of work

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