Native vines for pergola? - Ask Extension
We are in the process of building a pergola over our deck. We get part shade in the AM and full sun in the afternoon. We are interested in planting so...
Knowledgebase
Native vines for pergola? #857118
Asked January 08, 2024, 8:39 AM EST
We are in the process of building a pergola over our deck. We get part shade in the AM and full sun in the afternoon. We are interested in planting some native vines - ideally a mix that will offer good foliage coverage to help shade the deck as well as variety of blooms throughout the year and foliage colors. We want to focus on natives and plant species that will support local fauna. I’ve been considering cross vine, honeysuckle, and Virginia creeper but would love some advice before planting as I don’t want a species that will outcompete the others. Also if there’s anything that fruits that would be fun to try as well. Thank you!
Baltimore County Maryland
Expert Response
You have a variety of options for a mostly-sunny site (assuming the soil drains well), though information about how much area the vines will be able to cover will help us make some recommendations. Once established and mature, many large-scale vines will easily overwhelm any structure with, say, 20 to 30 feet of sprawling space. (Vines will take the shape of whatever they are growing on, so if a vine that would grow 30 feet up a tree in the wild only has a low fence to climb on, it will be more like 30 feet long and only as tall as the fence itself.) By nature, vines tend to grow pretty quickly (several feet per year, though there are a few exceptions), and you don't want to have to prune them back often, both for the sake of them being low-maintenance but also because it could interfere with flowering or fruiting (for the sake of aesthetics or wildlife).
Crossvine is one of our only semi-evergreen native vines, though its native range in MD is pretty restricted. It climbs by means of tendrils, so needs something fairly narrow to grab a hold of as it won't wrap entire stems around thick posts. If needed, you could tie it up until it can rest and spread over a flat surface, or you can use wires to help it get a purchase and climb on its own. It blooms once a year, for perhaps a couple weeks or so at peak, though a few scattered blooms might appear afterward. It has appeal for hummingbirds, and we've seen its foliage turn a deep plum/burgundy color for winter, but this might depend on individual plant genetics plus weather conditions and might not occur every year. There are a couple cultivars, such as 'Dragon Lady' (more reddish blooms) and 'Tangerine Beauty', but to our knowledge they do not differ from the wild type in wildlife value. A mature spread of 30-plus feet is not unheard of for a mature Crossvine.
The only native honeysuckle in much of MD, Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), blooms for a bit longer (and a little later than Crossvine), and can also develop red juicy berry-like fruits for the birds if well-pollinated. Foliage is largely deciduous but could potentially be semi-evergreen (keeping some leaves, but not all) in some years. Some cultivars re-bloom more abundantly than others, though here too, we are not aware of any cultivar that is less valuable to wildlife. Most have orange or reddish-orange flowers; at least one cultivar is more golden-yellow. This vine will twine, wrapping stems around the support, but again, a thick wooden post might be more than it can handle at first and tying stems up might be needed. A mature size of around 10 to 15 feet is typical of Trumpet Honeysuckle.
Virginia Creeper is grown more for its foliage color in autumn than for other attributes, though flower clusters can be decorative, and fall berries are also showy (blue-black fruits on red stems) and very appealing to birds. This vine grasps its support with adhesive-like discs, so can scale just about any surface that isn't super smooth, so should be able to hold on to a thick post by itself, though an initial tie-up would probably help to make sure it doesn't turn into a groundcover as well (as any vine can do if it doesn't find support). Mature size will be similar to Crossvine, if not larger. There are few cultivars (including one with variegated leaves, splashed in cream), but they are probably all equally suitable for wildlife as long as they all fruit. Various insects pollinate the flowers, which in turn are also attractive to birds.
There aren't many cultivars of native vines that have particularly colorful foliage aside from the mention above, in the same way that other plants tend to have golden-leaved or purple-hued foliage. Like other woody plants (trees, shrubs), woody-stemmed vines tend not to bloom for long periods, but staggering a few can get you some flower color for a chunk of the season. Trumpet Honeysuckle is probably the winner among native species for the potential for long bloom. Not-quite-native (native somewhat nearby, but not in MD) species like Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) and Purple Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) can add to the color palette, especially since the latter begins blooming around summer and keeps going until frost, but if you preferred to stick to what naturally grows in MD, you may want to make other choices. Be advised that the passionflower dies back to the ground each winter (which might be a plus, depending on your preferences) and may sucker aggressively, meaning root sprouts several feet from the main plant might put out stems, though they are easily cut down.
As for harvestable fruit, potentially the only candidate that is also native and not too hard to source is Fox Grape (Vitis labrusca, one parent of some cultivated grape varieties), but it would probably need most of the pergola to itself in that case, in order to stay vigorous, productive, and resistant to disease.
Other ornamental candidates include Pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla, also named Isotrema macrophylla), grown for foliage cover more than blooms (since they're small and inconspicuous), and Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), which is very vigorous, a clinging vine, and has a longish bloom window later in the season. American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) is gaining popularity, but its flowers are not as long-hanging, fragrant, or prominent as the Asian types, though its growth is more restrained. It's not locally native, but to our knowledge doesn't seed around. It does, though, flower for a longer period than Asian wisterias, since it also begins blooming later (once leaves are out, versus before leaves are out).
Miri
Crossvine is one of our only semi-evergreen native vines, though its native range in MD is pretty restricted. It climbs by means of tendrils, so needs something fairly narrow to grab a hold of as it won't wrap entire stems around thick posts. If needed, you could tie it up until it can rest and spread over a flat surface, or you can use wires to help it get a purchase and climb on its own. It blooms once a year, for perhaps a couple weeks or so at peak, though a few scattered blooms might appear afterward. It has appeal for hummingbirds, and we've seen its foliage turn a deep plum/burgundy color for winter, but this might depend on individual plant genetics plus weather conditions and might not occur every year. There are a couple cultivars, such as 'Dragon Lady' (more reddish blooms) and 'Tangerine Beauty', but to our knowledge they do not differ from the wild type in wildlife value. A mature spread of 30-plus feet is not unheard of for a mature Crossvine.
The only native honeysuckle in much of MD, Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), blooms for a bit longer (and a little later than Crossvine), and can also develop red juicy berry-like fruits for the birds if well-pollinated. Foliage is largely deciduous but could potentially be semi-evergreen (keeping some leaves, but not all) in some years. Some cultivars re-bloom more abundantly than others, though here too, we are not aware of any cultivar that is less valuable to wildlife. Most have orange or reddish-orange flowers; at least one cultivar is more golden-yellow. This vine will twine, wrapping stems around the support, but again, a thick wooden post might be more than it can handle at first and tying stems up might be needed. A mature size of around 10 to 15 feet is typical of Trumpet Honeysuckle.
Virginia Creeper is grown more for its foliage color in autumn than for other attributes, though flower clusters can be decorative, and fall berries are also showy (blue-black fruits on red stems) and very appealing to birds. This vine grasps its support with adhesive-like discs, so can scale just about any surface that isn't super smooth, so should be able to hold on to a thick post by itself, though an initial tie-up would probably help to make sure it doesn't turn into a groundcover as well (as any vine can do if it doesn't find support). Mature size will be similar to Crossvine, if not larger. There are few cultivars (including one with variegated leaves, splashed in cream), but they are probably all equally suitable for wildlife as long as they all fruit. Various insects pollinate the flowers, which in turn are also attractive to birds.
There aren't many cultivars of native vines that have particularly colorful foliage aside from the mention above, in the same way that other plants tend to have golden-leaved or purple-hued foliage. Like other woody plants (trees, shrubs), woody-stemmed vines tend not to bloom for long periods, but staggering a few can get you some flower color for a chunk of the season. Trumpet Honeysuckle is probably the winner among native species for the potential for long bloom. Not-quite-native (native somewhat nearby, but not in MD) species like Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) and Purple Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) can add to the color palette, especially since the latter begins blooming around summer and keeps going until frost, but if you preferred to stick to what naturally grows in MD, you may want to make other choices. Be advised that the passionflower dies back to the ground each winter (which might be a plus, depending on your preferences) and may sucker aggressively, meaning root sprouts several feet from the main plant might put out stems, though they are easily cut down.
As for harvestable fruit, potentially the only candidate that is also native and not too hard to source is Fox Grape (Vitis labrusca, one parent of some cultivated grape varieties), but it would probably need most of the pergola to itself in that case, in order to stay vigorous, productive, and resistant to disease.
Other ornamental candidates include Pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla, also named Isotrema macrophylla), grown for foliage cover more than blooms (since they're small and inconspicuous), and Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), which is very vigorous, a clinging vine, and has a longish bloom window later in the season. American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) is gaining popularity, but its flowers are not as long-hanging, fragrant, or prominent as the Asian types, though its growth is more restrained. It's not locally native, but to our knowledge doesn't seed around. It does, though, flower for a longer period than Asian wisterias, since it also begins blooming later (once leaves are out, versus before leaves are out).
Miri
Hello -
Thank you so much for your thorough response!
The area of the pergola roof is approximately 230 sq ft, not including the sides. It will be pretty large.
In terms of maintenance - ideally we would only prune to prevent vines creeping on the house roof, gutters, and anything that would potentially cause damage to the house. We would allow it free reign on the pergola. Do you have any suggestions on number of plants to get started this spring? How many species is reasonable with this size space?
Martha
Hello Martha,
Thank you for the information. With that amount of space, I would guess that one or two vines would fit reasonably well. They will take a couple years or so to fill the space after planting, but starting with more plants would probably result in things being too crowded later on as they mature. If we imagine a mature vine covering 30 feet of fence, for example, and sprawling over top of the fence to hang down a bit on either side (let's say 5 feet of width in total for simple math), it would cover the equivalent of 150 square feet if the same amount of growth were spread out over a flat pergola top and its posts. Therefore, two vines (at least among those reaching that size when established) should fill-up that space well. If you went with more compact species, like the Trumpet Honeysuckle or perhaps a native Clematis (Clematis virginiana, which will require help getting up to that height since it needs a thin support to wrap its foliage around), then maybe four vines would fit well, one on each of the post corners.
Miri
Thank you for the information. With that amount of space, I would guess that one or two vines would fit reasonably well. They will take a couple years or so to fill the space after planting, but starting with more plants would probably result in things being too crowded later on as they mature. If we imagine a mature vine covering 30 feet of fence, for example, and sprawling over top of the fence to hang down a bit on either side (let's say 5 feet of width in total for simple math), it would cover the equivalent of 150 square feet if the same amount of growth were spread out over a flat pergola top and its posts. Therefore, two vines (at least among those reaching that size when established) should fill-up that space well. If you went with more compact species, like the Trumpet Honeysuckle or perhaps a native Clematis (Clematis virginiana, which will require help getting up to that height since it needs a thin support to wrap its foliage around), then maybe four vines would fit well, one on each of the post corners.
Miri
