Training Vines – Going In Almost Any Direction
Vines intended to disguise or hide unsightly walls and buildings can be left almost to their own devices, to make full and rambling growth. But others, planted for the tracery of their foliage, or colorful flowers, or to embellish an arbor or wall, should be checked regularly and tied up or pruned long before they become an unmanageable mass.
Various devices are available for holding vines against masonry walls – attractive metal hooks or loops, with various methods of attaching firmly to the wall, that can be put in place as the vine grows. Just make sure the hook or loop will not strangle the stem when it matures into a trunk.
Soft, strong cord or plastic-covered wire will hold a vine to a trellis or other structure without cutting the stem. Either make the loop loose enough to allow for growth, or retie it as the stem swells larger.
If you train vines as they grow, they will go in almost any direction – straight up, spread out like a fan, horizontally, in formal patterns. To disguise a bare trunk at the base, you can even tie some stems downward.
Shaping or training a vine as it grows is neither difficult nor arduous, but it does require an understanding of the plant’s growing habit just like the guzmania plant- and particularly whether it flowers on this season’s new wood, or on old wood of the previous season. Lack of knowledge that vines differ in this way has led many a gardener to trim off bud-bearing stems unwittingly.
When it is necessary to paint or repair walls, do it in early spring, if possible; and cut the vine back severely, even to the ground. This is easier than trying to handle old stems without breaking or bruising them; and the summer’s vigorous new growth will have time to mature before winter. If the job must be done later, however, simply loosen the vine and let it crawl over the ground until you can reattach most shoots to the wall.
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