The Best Vines for Southern Climates

Kasey Billingsley of Harmony Horticultural Consulting provides vine recommendations for covering hot walls in southern climates (Phoenix, Arizona) to help reduce reflective heat and to create a green wall. Pros and cons for vine species, including selecting the right plant for the right place, knowing your microclimate or environment for the vine, grouping the vine with similar water demanding plants, and also considerations like seasonal color or maintenance required to keep the vine on the wall.

As the mercury rises, surfaces and walls are more noticeable as passerbys get beamed with heat rays reflected off the surfaces that are absorbing heat. Covering these hot surfaces with plants can be one way to buffer this heat. Since there are many vine options in the Desert Southwest, I thought I’d narrow down the field by suggesting a few of my favorites. In this video, I have suggested three different vines which work great in different microclimates of a yard. You’ll learn how each of these vines have different water demands as well as varying maintenance requirements to keep them on your wall, working hard at buffering that heat.

Selecting which vine to plant can be nerve-wracking, especially when visiting garden centers where there might be fifteen different plant options that look like they might work for that special place on your property. It can also be challenging picking a plant that will do well in our harsh desert climate since many of these garden center plants are fresh of the truck from nurseries located in adjacent climates (hello coastal California!) It looks great in the pot, but what will it look like when you plant it in our alkaline desert soils, blast it with 115 degrees and reflective heat, only for it to recover for two month and then get topped by a cold snap. Oh yes, desert gardening does have its challenges. One of the best things you can do before buying a plant is researching not only the species of the plant, but also the cultivar (see post What’s In A Name. Understanding its growth habit, exposure requirements, water demands and maintenance needs are all considerations which should be made prior to planting. If you are having trouble deciding on that purple or orange flowering vine, of course, I would be happy to visit you and assist with the final decision.

What other tree or plant concerns would you like to hear more about on this channel? I’d love read your comments below.

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www.harmonyhorticulture.com




Harmony Horticultural Consulting
Beautifying properties in the Phoenix metro area by providing solutions to plant and tree health care concerns.

Certified Arborist WE-8811A
PMD Certified Applicator #070186
kasey@harmonyhorticulture.com

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