Picture this: Beautiful greenery twining up a fence, decorated with blooms of vivid yellow, pink or purple that produce a visual masterpiece without taking up much garden real estate.

“Vines are great for creating that vertical element in a landscape,” said Ed Olsen, a Virginia Cooperative Extension horticulturist in Henrico County. “They can also be used to draw your eyes upwards in a landscape, creating the effect of height.”

Providing color, texture and unique form, they climb, cling and twist their way onto nearby structures. Ideal for small spaces, these creative climbers can cover an unsightly fence, add decoration to an arbor or column and provide privacy and shade.

“There’s one called woodvamp, which is a relative of climbing hydrangea,” said Mike Andruczyk, an Extension horticulturist in Chesapeake. “It grows in the shade by aerial roots and has fragrant little clusters of creamy white flowers in mid-spring. In the wintertime, it drops its leaves, but it has pretty peeling bark to look at as well.”

Virginia offers several beautiful native vines. Crossvine, a perennial native, blooms in the spring with warm, red-orange tubular flowers, adding colorful splashes as it climbs by gripping its tendrils onto surfaces.

Carolina jessamine, a twining vine, can add a sunny look with its evergreen leaves and bright yellow, fragrant flowers.

Another Virginia native is passionvine. With purple or yellow flowers, this is a “wonderful deciduous vine that flowers from late spring through summer. They attract many species of pollinators including native bees and butterflies,” Olsen said.

Training your climber

Clips or ties can be used to fix vines in place to train them to climb in a desired direction until they’re established and grow naturally. Trellises, pergolas, latticework or frames with netting make ideal ornamental structures for vines to scale.

“You could keep them within a small frame fairly easily, but you can allow them to get much bigger if you want,” Andruczyk said.

Some vines, like clematis, can grow alongside a tree, wrapping its leaf petioles around it for support.

“Because it’s climbing with those petioles, it’s not crushing the stem or overwhelming the trunk of the tree,” Andruczyk explained. “They can work together so you can kind of maximize your space.”

Keep in mind that vines can be tenacious, taking over if not maintained or pruned. Large vines like wisteria can overwhelm a structure with their ever-growing mass.

Use caution on important structures

Stately brick homes covered in sprawling English ivy are an idealized image, but there can be problems lurking beneath the beauty. Aerial roots can find their way into mortar and erode it over time. Vines also trap moisture, leading to mold, and can be an attractive haven for damaging pests like termites.

Removing established vines can strip away paint, leave residue and cause discoloration.

“You could put another structure up, such as a wooden structure or little brick wall for it to climb separate from the house,” Andruczyk advised.