In A Desert Garden

"Carolina Jessamine - Gelsemium Sempervirens and Cat's Claw Vine - Macfadyena Unguis-Cati"

This month I like to write about two climbing vines that are similar and completely different. One has to be trained and blooms in late fall and late winter and the other one climbs with tendrils and blooms in late spring and early summer. Both have a similar flower and are worth growing. In our mild winter I like to see color also in the winter month. That is why I planted many evergreen shrubs and vines. Nothing locks sadder than a garden on a sunny winter day with nothing than bare branches to look at. A good plant to have for these winter month is the Carolina Jessamene- gelsemium sempervirens. Apart from having evergreen foliage, this vine awards me with beautiful trumpet shaped flowers in fall and spring. This year, being so warm I enjoyed these flowers since November. The flowers are slightly fragrant. This is a vine that sends out long streamers that twine around its support, it grows slowly to about 20 feet. This plant is a Southeastern native but does very well here in the Southwest as it can take some drought once established. Train on a trellis and let it cascade or grow on a chain link fence or to cover a wall. My neighbor has two of these plants growing on his wall and I enjoy them cascading over my wall into my garden and giving me beautiful color right now. Keep in mind; all parts of this plant are poisonous. This vine looks pretty too climbing into a tree and as it is not heavy it cannot hurt a grown tree. I would not advise that with a Wisteria. The plant does best in full sun, afternoon shade is all right, keep roots well mulched and shaded.

Another great vine, Cat's Claw Vine- Macfadyena unguis-cati, is evergreen too in a mild climate and looks good all year in my yard. It likes to grow in attaching itself to a surface and is ideal for an empty wall. It grows using its claw like tendrils a lot like Ivey does. It is not a good choice for a stucco wall because if you ever had to take it down the stucco would come off too. The vine starts blooming around May and has lovely big trumpet shaped flowers. The best example of it is at our local Hospital; there it grows on a very tall wall, an ideal location for it. This vine climbs 20 to 40 feet and it loves heat.