Black-Eyed Susan Vines

A couple of years ago I had the chance to interview George Ball Jr., owner of the Burpee Seed Company, and during the interview I mentioned to him that I was a big fan of vines. I recounted how I used to love the vine selections offered by the Martha Stewart seed line, which Burpee packaged, because it had some really nice vines. Mr. Ball mentioned that because of the vertical gardening trend Burpee would start to carry a bigger selection of vines. So far I haven’t seen seed companies step up and push vines for vertical gardeners, but if you’re looking for an easy-to-grow vine for your mailbox, fence, living wall--or maybe a privacy screen--there’s no better vine than Thunbergia alata. The ornamental garden vines in this genus are better known by their common name, Black-eyed Susan vine.

 Go beyond morning glories and runner beans and grow these six beautiful Black-eyed Susan vine varieties.

Thunbergia alata 'Susie White Black Eye'

How to Collect Hyacinth Bean Vine Seeds

If you’re looking for a quick-growing annual vine that will cover a fence or garden trellis you would be hard-pressed to find a better one than the hyacinth bean vine. Purple hyacinth bean vine leaves are attractive and heart-shaped, pink-purple blooms and produce leathery purple seed pods that provide interest long after the blooms have faded.  A member of the Fabaceae family this ornamental vine is a relative of beans and peas and makes an attractive addition to vegetable and ornamental gardens. Easy to start from seed, hyacinth bean vine seeds are easy to collect at the end of the growing season.

'Chocolate Rose Silk' Japanese Morning Glory

My ‘Chocolate Rose Silk’ Japanese morning glory came from a seed trade years ago. This spring I finally got around to sowing the morning glory seeds and growing out a couple of plants. My morning glory’s blooms most closely resemble the Ipomoea nil ‘Chocolate Rose Silk’ available for sale at a couple of different seed websites and that’s what I’ve chosen to identify my plant as.

 

'Cardinal Climber' Vine Ipomoea sloteri

Cardinal Climber , Ipomoea sloteri, is a hybrid of Ipomoea quamoclit, 'Cypress Vine,' and Ipomoea coccinea. A synonym for Ipomoea sloteri is Ipomoea x multifida. Cardinal Climber vine is a member of the morning glory family. The deeply cut leaves, deep red blooms festoon vines that can grow up to 15 feet in length.

Climbing Nasturtium "Spitfire"

Nasturtiums are my favorite annual to plant in the garden because they're very versatile plants. They're easy to start from seed, they produce beautiful, edible blooms and they grow very well in poor soils. Whether I plant them in the ground or in containers nasturtiums never ask for much attention. In fact, nasturtiums in my garden thrive on benign neglect. I plant nasturtium seeds early in the spring and forget about them until it is time to collect nasturtium seeds. Last year I grew Climbing Nasturtium "Moonlight" in the garden for the first time, this year I'm growing Nasturtium, Climbing, "Spitfire."

Given my experience growing nasturtium "Moonlight" last year I was already prepared for how nasturtium "Spitfire" would react to growing in my garden. The microclimate in the garden must be too warm for the climbing varieties of nasturtium. I'm not complaining, really, the same microclimate allows my Voodoo Lily to overwinter. The climbing nasturtiums don't seem to start vining, or sending out long shoots, until about August. If you read the post on "Moonlight" you'll see that the day after I complained about them not vining or trailing to Renee's Garden the plant sent out a long vine. "Spitfire" is a couple of weeks ahead of where "Moonlight" was last year. Today I had vines long enough to actually start training them up the bamboo stakes in the cinder block pots I planted them in.

As the flower bud opens "Spitfire" looks like it will be a really red nasturtium bloom, but as you can see from the photo above it is more orange than red. Renee's Garden, who I got these seeds from, describes them as a "scarlet orange." The bloom color looks like molten lava to me.

"Spitfire" has foliage that is an average green, unlike some nasturtiums that have a blueish hue to them, the darker foliage of nasturtium "Empress of India," or the variegated foliage of  nasturtium "Alaska."  When the foliage gets long enough to start training up a support structure like a trellis or a fence all you have to do it wind the longest stems up and around. Some stems may break near the tips but they'll quickly be covered up my more vines and leaves, and of course more blooms.

In my garden nasturtiums continue to grow well after the first frost and won't die down completely until we get a really good freeze. This being my second year of growing climbing nasturtiums I think I've exhausted my interest in growing them. While they're my favorite garden annual I think the climbing varieties don't perform as well in the heat of summer as the mounding varieties. Next year I'm going back to performing nasturtium diversity and planting several varieties at the same time.

Update: In early October the rest of the garden is starting to fade and turn brown but 'Spitfire' continues to grow and climb up the trellis I made for them out of bamboo stakes.

Where to Plant Nasturtiums. 
The mounding varieties of nasturtium look beautiful planted at the edges of garden beds or paths. Even in containers or window boxes they spill over the sides of pots enough to add interest and movement. The climbing nasturtium varieties like "Spitfire" and "Moonlight" would also work well as a ground cover, if you don't want to train them up a support or drape them over the side of balcony gardens.

Previous Posts on Nasturtiums:

5 Reasons Why I Grow Nasturtiums in my Garden

Nasturtium "Dwarf Cherry Rose"

Nasturtium "Jewel  Mix"

Climbing Nasturtium, "Moonlight" (pics & video)

When I Collect Nasturtium Seeds.(pics & video)

Collecting Nasturtium Seeds Video.

Black-Eyed Susan Vine Thunbergia alata

Black-Eyed Susan vine, Thunbergia alata, is one of my favorite flowering vines to grow in my garden. It is a great vine for containers and hanging baskets or just growing up a fence or trellis. I'm always happy to see the cheerful, somewhat expressive, blooms because they brighten the cloudiest of days.

Climbing Nasturtium "Moonlight"

A couple of years ago I saw pictures of a climbing Nasturtium in some garden magazines and was eager to grow this annual. Unfortunately, I'd never come across climbing nasturtium seeds for sale in the garden centers and nurseries I visit. One garden center was particularly brutal to visit. The seed rack display had pictures of climbing nasturtiums in a rustic garden, but no actual climbing nasturtium seeds for sale. This past spring when I acquired climbing nasturtium seeds from Renee's Garden seed company and was excited to grow them.

Burpee Seeds At Home Depot

Over Christmas I noticed that Home Depot had received a shipment of seeds for spring. Today I took a look around their greenhouse and saw the seed racks had been put on display. All of the seeds that they had for sale were Burpee seeds. The selection from Burpee at Home Depot this year seems to be geared towards people who want to grow their own food but I noticed a couple of seed packs for ornamentals that I thought I'd point out.

Pink And White Cypress Vine

There isn't much blooming in my garden right now but my 'Cypress Vine' is still going strong. In the garden this year I planted this flowering vine in two spots where it could climb and flower and provide a little bit of privacy. If you've been here before you may already have seen the red  'Cypress Vine' flower on this gardening blog, but the pink and white flowers have just started to put on their display. Ipomoea quamoclit is the botanical name for 'Cypress Vine.' The more common name is often also assigned, incorrectly, to 'Cardinal Climber.' 

When I Collect Cypress Vine Seeds

Ipomoea quamoclit is native from South America up to Northern Mexico. It has naturalized in some warmer zones in the United States. This annual twining vine is commonly known as 'Cypress Vine' but also goes by the name of Hummingbird Vine and Star Glory. It is also sometimes confused with Ipomoea sloteri "Cardinal Climber." While the two vines and flowers look similar they have some pretty obvious differences. In my opinion Cypress Vine is the better of these two plants because of the softer foliage and star shaped flowers.



I purchased a packet of 'Cypress Vine' "Valentine Mix" because it contains red, white and pink blooms of this flower. I must not have saved any seeds from the pink or white blooms last year because this year I've only noticed the reds blooming. Here in Chicago I grow this vine in full sun in poor soil where it blooms profusely well into the fall.