Native Plants

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Thursday - March 20, 2014

From: Houston, TX
Region: Select Region
Topic: Privacy Screening, Vines
Title: Native vine for privacy on metal mesh fence from Houston
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Is there a native vine that does not get top heavy in order to provide privacy from the bottom to the top on an expanded metal mesh fence? It's okay if it dies back, but prefer for it to be evergreen. Thank you in advance ~

ANSWER:

We are not altogether sure what you mean by "expanded metal mesh" fence so we found this article from Niles Fence . To us, that looks pretty sturdy but also looks like something you would probably want to cover up with a vine. Happily, there are three vines native to Harris County that are evergreen, bloom bountifully and are quite hardy. So much so, we believe you will want to trim them back some before they get top-heavy. These are all vines that will grow long and tall but do not resent pruning when necessary. In fact, they will probably bloom better with some judicious cutting back, particularly in cooler weather when they are not blooming and the bush gets a little scraggly looking (forgive us for using technical terms).

Follow each of these plant links to our webpage on that plant for culture and propagation instructions. Almost any vine in ideal conditions can be prone to be invasive but none of the three is terribly aggressive.

Bignonia capreolata (Crossvine)

Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina jessamine)

Lonicera sempervirens (Coral honeysuckle)