Bring your garden to new heights with pretty flowering vines
Some flowering vines are perennials where we live, while others are annuals, giving us joy for only one season. Here are our recommendations for the easiest to grow flowering vines:
Climbing Roses - if you have an area of your garden that the deer can't access, a climbing rose will bring you blooms galore for many years. Consider New Dawn, Blaze Improved, and Cecile Brunner climbing roses (hardiness zone 4). You'll want to provide protection at the ground (mounding compost or a heavy mulch layer) for our cold winters.
Clematis - often seen growing in Colorado gardens for a reason - Clematis is a favorite perennial vine that likes to scramble up and over arbors and fences and will come back year after year. Readily found in local nurseries and big box stores this time of year.
Bittersweet - you may not have heard of bittersweet which has beautiful blooms and vibrant orange berries in the fall and winter. Very pretty and disease resistant. The First Editions Autumn Revolution Bittersweet is a good choice.
Trumpet Vine - this is a deciduous vine that hummingbirds love. Large tubular clusters of red-orange flowers bring on the drama all season. Grows vigorously and blooms profusely. Try Balboa Sunset Trumpet Vine.
Star Jasmine - this fragrant addition to the garden has tiny white blooms on lush greenery. Grows fast and blooms prolifically. An annual where we live - you can bring it indoors over the winter and take it out again the following year.
Wisteria - who knew that this climbing vine is native to Colorado?!? Sweet-scented flowers can be purple, blue, or white and looks great draping pergolas or on fences around garden borders. Go for Chinese Wisteria, Japanese Wisteria, Texas Purple Wisteria, or Kentucky Wisteria for best luck in our hardiness zones (4-5).