12+ Best Flowering Vines for Your Fences, Arbors

 

Morning Glory

A fast-growing flowering vine, morning glory will climb trellises, railings, and other supports with ease. Available in a wide range of colors and bi-colors, this annual is a snap to grow. It gets its name because its 4- to 6-inch-wide blooms open during the early hours of the day, closing up by afternoon. Morning glory often self-sows aggressively, but unwanted seedlings are easy to remove.

Season of Bloom: Summer to fall

Growing Conditions: Full sun in moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall

Zones: annual

Black-Eyed Susan Vine

Another fast-growing annual, black-eyed Susan vine develops scores of bright yellow, orange, or white flowers with dark centers all summer long. You can easily grow this vine from seed and plant it directly in the garden or choose to buy started plants. While this climbing vine is happy to climb a trellis, it’s also a favorite in hanging baskets where it can twist around the basket supports.

Season of Bloom: Summer to fall

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 8 feet tall

Zones: 10-11

Clematis

Available in a spectacular array of colors and forms (double and single flowers), clematis will quickly shimmy up a fence, mailbox, or arbor. There’s also dwarf clematis that grows just 3 feet tall and is perfect for containers. Clematis vines are easy to grow if you follow the old saying that clematis like their “heads in the sun and their feet in the shade.” You should plant them in full sun but apply a thick layer of mulch around them to keep their roots cool and shaded. Some clematis bloom on new wood, and others bloom on old wood, so it’s best to prune them in the spring after new growth has begun. That way, you won’t accidentally remove flower buds no matter what type of clematis you have.

Season of Bloom: Summer

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall

Zones: 4-8

 

Carolina Jessamine

Carolina jessamine is a perennial favorite. It flowers as early as February in mild winter climates. Its golden yellow, trumpet-shaped, fragrant blooms brighten the garden when few other plants are in flower. It’s a fast-growing vine and will reach towering heights if left unpruned and given adequate support. Use Carolina jessamine to screen a view or add color to a woodland garden.

Season of Bloom: Early spring

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 20 feet tall

Zones: 7-10

 

Madagascar Jasmine

Every spring, the rich fragrance of Madagascar jasmine perfumes the air across the Deep South. This elegant perennial vine has dark green, leathery leaves topped with clusters of trumpet-shaped, sweetly scented white flowers. You use this low-maintenance vine in the north as a patio plant that doesn’t mind spending the winter indoors in a cool location.

Season of Bloom: Seasonal bloomer

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 20 feet tall

Zones: 10-11

 

Hyacinth Bean Vine

You’ll be amazed at how quickly hyacinth bean vine reaches for the sun. Its beautiful green or purple foliage topped with brilliant heads of pink and purple vine flowers provides a quick, colorful canopy over arbors and trellises. After the flowers fade, the plants develop large, glossy, pea podlike purple seed heads that dangle from the ends of each branch. But beware: Raw hyacinth beans are toxic,1 so it’s best to use this plant as an ornamental.

Season of Bloom: Summer to fall

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 20 feet tall

Zones: annual

 

Passion Vine

Be a friend to pollinators by including passion vine in your garden. Butterfly species such as gulf fritillary and zebra longwing use it as both a host and nectar plant, while other species only feed on the nectar. Gardeners enjoy this vine’s beautiful flowers, too. The petals are white and purple with a darker purple crown and yellow center.

Season of Bloom: Summer

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 8 feet tall

Zones: 5-9

 

Blue Sky Vine

A flashy cousin to the black-eyed Susan vine, blue sky vine produces multitudes of big, purplish-blue, cuplike flowers with golden throats. Also called Bengal clock vine, this fast grower is a perennial vine in mild climates. It can be brought indoors as a houseplant in colder northern regions during the winter. When grown as an annual, blue sky vine can grow up to 8 feet in one season.

Season of Bloom: Late summer

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 30 feet long

Zones: 10-11

 

Trumpet Vine

A vigorous clinging vine, trumpet vine is perfect for gardeners who want a quick cover-up for a large surface like a fence or pergola. Trumpet vine develops attractive, finely divided foliage covered by funnel-shaped orange, red, or yellow flowers in midsummer. Over time, this woody vine can become quite heavy, so be sure to grow it on sturdy support that won’t topple under the vine’s weight.

Season of Bloom: Spring

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 40 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

 

Wisteria

As fragrant as it is colorful, wisteria makes an excellent choice for large arbors, pergolas, or porches. This classic beauty can also be trained into a tree form, where its bumper crop of impressive white, purple, or lilac flowers can be easily enjoyed in early spring. Be sure to plant the native species, Wisteria frutescens, commonly called American wisteria. Steer clear of Wisteria sinensis and Wisteria floribunda. These Asian species are invasive in several areas of the United States Avoid fertilizing the vines to ensure flowering and prevent them from growing out of control.

Season of Bloom: Spring

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 30 feet tall

Zones: 5-9

 

Cypress Vine

​​Like morning glory, cypress vine is a fast-growing annual flowering vinethat makes a colorful addition to a summer garden. Cypress vine is prized for its ferny, light green foliage, and proliferation of small, scarlet, trumpetlike flowers. It’s also called hummingbird vine because hummingbirds flock to the bright red, nectar-rich blooms. Cypress vine will often self-sow, but excess seedlings are easy to remove.

Season of Bloom: Summer to fall

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 15 feet tall

Zones: annual

 

Mandevilla

Add a touch of the tropics to your porch or patio with mandevilla vine. This heat-tolerant vine comes in single and double white, red, pink, and red-and-white flowers. Mandevilla thrives in hot weather and makes a top-rate container plant, growing on a low trellis or pyramid. This low-maintenance climbing plant can brighten your porch, patio, deck, or balcony.

Season of Bloom: Summer

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall

Zones: 10-11

 

Honeysuckle

The long, tubular flowers of honeysuckle vine might look tropical in nature, but this climbing perennial prefers a northern climate. Available in various species, honeysuckle vines have several things in common: sweet fragrance, nectar-rich blooms that attract hummingbirds, and easy care. Whether this vine’s climbing up a sturdy post, fence, or trellis, you’re sure to enjoy honeysuckle vine’s yellow, white, orange, or red flowers.

Season of Bloom: Spring

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in medium moisture, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 15 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

 

Climbing Nasturtium

The tiny little seedlings of climbing nasturtiums will quickly turn into showy plants with eye-catching round leaves and funnel-shape, yellow, orange, peach, or red edible blooms. Except for the roots, all of this plant’s parts are edible and have a peppery flavor. You might have to initially give this sun-loving annual a little climbing support by tying it with string to a low fence or trellis. Eventually, you’ll be rewarded with masses of jewel-tone flowers.

Season of Bloom: Spring to fall

Growing Conditions: Full sun and slightly acidic, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall

Zones: annual

 

Climbing Roses

Acrobatic climbing roses develop long canes adapted to training on pillars, fences, arbors, and gazebos. Most climbing roses are mutations or variations of bush-type varieties. Climbers may bloom once a season or continually, depending on the type. Regular deadheading of the flowers can help to encourage continuous blooms throughout the growing season. If you decide to prune your roses in winter before the initial bloom, you can increase the number of blooms you get later on.

Season of Bloom: Spring to fall

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall

Zones: 5-9