I have these plants that won’t leave me alone. At first they are kind of stand-offish and I wonder if they are going to do anything at all. But then they start placing demands on my time and I am out there regularly encouraging them to be clingy. You have probably guessed that I am talking about vines. Climbing hydrangea (H. anomala) and Japanese climbing hydrangea (Schizophragma hydrangeoides) are two of my favorite plants. They will grow in shade and, over time, can climb an 80-foot wall. Unlike vines that climb using tendrils (grapes) or by twining (wisteria), climbing hydrangeas don’t need a 3-dimensional structure to climb. They use aerial roots to cling to a flat wall surface. The trick for me was to get them started on the wall.  I planted these vines earlier this year. I didn’t want to drill into the stone wall so I tried a glue gun. By gluing twist ties to the wall, I was able to space the branches out and hold them in place until their rootlets take hold. The clear glue is virtually invisible.  These vines are notorious for getting off to a slow start. But after a few years they should take off and fill my stone wall. These two types of climbing hydrangeas bloom at different times. So by planting them together, I am able to double the bloom time on my wall. And even though they are deciduous, they add some really nice winter interest. The spider-web patterns of exfoliating bark paint my stone palette with both elegance and character.

As generation X and Y get older, buy houses and begin to landscape, trends have been emerging as to what they prefer in their backyards. Low maintenance, high impact plantings are definitely popular as is outdoor kichens and edible and organic gardening to name only a few observations. Still, there is demand for the latest cultivars that plant breeders create- bigger, more colorful, diesase resistant plants. Among botanical gardens, the movement is toward edible and low maintenance gardens. As farmer’s markets proliferate and people buy more locally, growing victory gardens is becoming vogue again. Given that we are an educational institution and seeing the current trends, I wonder if the public would be interested in seeing an edible garden that is also aesthetically beautful? 

Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’ in the Campsey-Stauffer Gateway Garden

 Posted by Cynthia Druckenbrod