Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
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Monday - May 28, 2012
From: houston, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Vines
Title: Need an evergreen flowering vine to cover a fence in Houston, TX.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills
QUESTION:
Looking for an evergreen flowering vine to cover my fence. caveat? one part of the fence is within 5 feet from the air conditioning unit which blows a lot of hot air, the area takes a day or two to dry after a bad rain (though we haven't had many these last few years), and its in partial shade. i am drawn to coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) but i am unsure if it would survive under these conditions..ANSWER:
Coral Honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens (Coral honeysuckle) could be a good choice. From its NPIN page you can see that it can grow in sun to partial shade, has low to medium water use, and is heat tolerant. The plants that are closest to the air conditioner may require suplemental watering to make up for the drying effect of the hot air.
For other choices, lets go to the Native Plant Database and use the combination search. Select Texas under State, vine under General Appearance, and perennial under Lifespan. Check Part shade under Light Requirement, moist under Soil Moisture, and Evergreen under Leaf Retention. Click the Narrow your Search button and you get three more choices.
Bignonia capreolata (Crossvine) vigorous climber
Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina jessamine) flowers, leaves and roots are poisonous
Smilax smallii (Lanceleaf greenbrier) see these two links for more informatiom (#1); (#2)
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