Vines, all the vines!

I've been installing trellising material on every surface available so I can garden vertically this year.

L.l

I actually have a lot of vines planted in my garden, but they all look terrible because they clearly state on the tag, "NEEDS SOMETHING TO CLIMB" and I said, "Is that really important? Eh, they'll evolve or something without support. I'll just let them figure it out."

This doesn't work. They all lay about on the ground getting eaten by slugs and looking terrible. So I'm supporting my goddamn vines for once. And I'm planting a LOT more of them.

What I already have:

Akebia longeracemosa 'Victor's Secret'
This poor vine has been hacked back twice, once after we removed the franken-fence from the side entrance from the garden, and again when I installed the trellising. The vine had created such a complicated french braid with about a thousand tendrils that I had to cut it way back and try to salvage a couple of strands with buds on them. It's a pretty vigorous vine but not as bad as, say, Clematis armandii.

Clematis cirrhosa 'Wisley Cream'
This is a super tough evergreen vine that blooms in winter. I think I want to plant another one to scramble up the front of the former franken-fence so I can see it from the kitchen window.

Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler'

Trachelospermum jasminoides
I planted this in 2011 (to hide our trashcans) and it only took about four years to completely cover this trellis, maybe less. The flowers smell amazing and when I get my shit together to give it some summer water, it reblooms.

Lonicera periclymenum 'Serotina'
Scott and I were walking through Cistus Nursery when we got hit by the most amazing fragrance. We ran around trying to figure out who it was and I came home with this vine. Have the flowers ever been fragrant at my house? I don't think so. Do I care? No. Look at the flowers! That's good shit.

x Fatshedera lizei 'Annemieke'
I saw this vine on Loree's blog and fell in love. She responsibly texted me from Garden Fever and said, "They have it, get down here now, missy." This vine is perfection and grows in complete shade. Thank you, Loree.

Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight'
I bought this vine so many years ago but never gave it anything to climb so it has largely looked like a mangled piece of rope, trailing through a pile of Doug Fir dander. It should look like this.

Photo source: Broken Arrow Nursery

Parthenocissus quinquefolia 'Troki'
"Haven't I seen that growing on a freeway embankment?" you might be thinking to yourself. Yes, you have. I love it anyway.

Clematis jackmanii
Another one I haven't given a trellis to. I also don't water it when I should. I'm going to be better this year, I swear.

I've bought and killed a LOT of other vines but I won't bore you with that. Things that I have planned for purchase include:

Mandevilla laxa, Chilean Jasmine

Photo source: Annie's Annuals

Passiflora edulis 'Frederick' (I killed this once when I planted it in the wrong place and neglected to water it)

Photo source: Annie's Annuals

Passiflora x 'Star of Surbiton' (I killed this one when I left it unprotected in its nursery pot during a particularly bad winter)

Photo source: Xera Plants

Passiflora actinia (I'm treating this one as an annual)

Photo source: Annie's Annuals

Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)! I've never grown them before and I currently have 'April in Paris' and 'Navy' in the ground.

Photo source: Australian Seed

Jasminum officiale 'Devon Cream'

Photo source: Xera Plants

Holboellia aff. chapaensis

Photo source: Far Reaches Farm

Hedera algeriensis "Gloire de Marengo.' I took some cuttings from Megan and I'm hoping they take root.

Photo source: Promesse de Fleurs

Clematis 'The Countess of Wessex'

Photo source: Brushwood Nursery

Do you have any vines you can't be without? I've got trellises for days and my ears are open.

It's all part of my evil plan.

Last night Greg and I were eating in the backyard on the someday-deck. I had that same feeling I think everyone gets in places where summer is very short. I grew up in California where summer basically lasts forever. It starts in March and can last well into October or November. There's no rushing to go camping or spend time outside because you can always do it next month. But in Portland summer is over almost as soon as it begins. I felt antsy and disappointed--we haven't kayaked this year! I haven't eaten a single artichoke! We haven't had a dinner party in the yard (though we had a barbecue and a birthday party). September has been swallowed up by travel plans, not that I'm complaining, but it shortens the summer even more. The only upshot to shortening days is an excuse to eat dinner by candlelight.

 

Then Greg admitted to me that he's been cheating. He's been looking at other houses online. "For someday, don't freak out!" he explained. Oh, for SOMEDAY! That makes me feels so much better that you've been secretly researching real estate! That doesn't make me nervous at all.

As an aside, does anyone understand that familiar plot in TV shows and movies where a dude, as a surprise to his lady love, buys a house for them? I would be livid if Greg did that, and we're not even married. You made a quarter million dollar investment (or more) and didn't bother to let me weigh in on it? I don't know if we'd ever recover from that. And how do you go through house hunting and escrow without letting anyone else know? Come on.

Anyway, our house isn't in a very walkable neighborhood. We have two grocery stores within a mile but we don't have any great bars or coffee shops or restaurants. In a city of forty thousand thai restaurants, we have none in walking distance. If you are drunk at two in the morning, however, we have the *best* taco shop. Greg lived in the NW 23rd area before I made him move into North Portland and we miss the walking options we had for eating out in that neighborhood. If I were to move I'd probably go no further than Kenton, which is a great little neighborhood about two miles away. They have a coffee shop, a library, a salvage shop, and a homebrew exchange. But Greg is plotting to get us back to his former stomping grounds, with its fancy shops and lack of street parking.

But! He admitted that every house he looked at paled in comparison to mine, mostly because they all had tiny yards. That's right, baby, you might think you can do better but no other house will love you like this one. We have room to spare and we're only five minutes from downtown. The whole thing makes me laugh because Greg always tells me how condo living is better, how he hates yard work, how he comes from a family of farmers and he's rebelled against his heritage by refusing to garden. And now he can't live without our enormous yard.

We're planning on bumping the fence out a ways toward the front of the house on the west side. Sometimes we say it's going to be a place for the compost bin. Sometimes we say it's going to be the hammock spot. Last night Greg said we should plant corn there because corn is delicious and also we could create a corn maze as an entrance to a Halloween party.

You guys, my plan to turn him into a North Portland home ownership-loving gardener is working! He wants to grow more vegetables AND he wants to create a corn maze entrance to a party! That's some Martha Stewart level awesome shit right there. I'm so proud.

We both agreed that we want to get the deck built early next summer, hopefully by May so we can spend the rest of the summer just enjoying it. And having dinner parties on it. Maybe kayaking on it. Definitely eating artichokes on it.