What group of plants sleep the first year, creep the second and leap the third? Vines.
With central Florida's long growing season, annual vines grow rapidly until frost. Deciduous and evergreen vines thrive. Picking the right vine depends on your goals. Do you want to create a privacy screen, attract butterflies and hummingbirds, or just enjoy the scent and sight of beautiful foliage and flowers?
Annual vines, such as the heavily scented moonflower and colorful morning glory, do beautifully here. If you were lucky enough to plant them this spring, the flowers should be gorgeous now. If not, there's always next year.
Perennial vines are another matter because many are still available at local nurseries. With proper care, they will become established before frost and have a head start for next spring's growth spurt. It is best to provide an artificial support and to use judicious pruning to keep your vines' growth in check.
Seeing vines at their peak will give you the inspiration to add them to your gardens now or in the spring. Visit Kanapaha Botanical Gardens in Gainesville to view the vinery, including the unusual three-striped passionflower vine (Passiflora trifasciata) and rex begonia vine (Cissus discolor).
For the homeowner, one vine I would avoid at all costs is the deciduous Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis). It engulfs everything in sight, and the sheer weight and size of this vine can destroy a large tree.
Consider instead the deciduous spring-flowering American native wisteria (Wisteria frutescens). It may be harder to find but is well worth the effort. Twining American wisterias still need a tall, sturdy support and pruning after flowering, but are not as invasive as W. sinensis.
A spectacular example of American wisteria can be found in Ocala's Sholom Park covering the pergebo (a combination pergola and gazebo) on the Pergebo Trail. This variety is Amethyst Falls, and I was lucky to find a few clusters still blooming.
Kanapaha: www.kanapaha.org or 372-4981.
Sholom Park: 427-1628.
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Anne-Marie Conard is an Ocala gardener. Contact her at FLFriendlyGarden@msn.com. </i>