I had a question from a reader that is similar to my own situation.

The reader stated that they have a five foot chain link fence and they’d like to cover it with annual and perennial plants.

She was particular interested in finding a perennial vine that wouldn’t crowd the annuals, and one that would also provide enough ground cover so that she wouldn’t have to clean up after the annuals were finished blooming.

This is a tricky situation as many climbing vines, particularly Morning Glory which she had been growing are very vigorous. What she really needs is a vine that isn’t over vigorous, but that grows steadily so that by the end of the season it will have filled in the areas taken up by annuals such as Sweet Pea vine.

Lonicera sempervirens, Evergreen Honeysuckle, or Polygonum aubertii, silver lace vine are both vigorous vines that do not take over a garden bed.

I grow annual morning glory. I don’t mean to grow it anymore but it seeded itself so well the first two years that I grew it that it keeps finding it’s way back to my back garden bed. At this point I’m of the opinion that morning glory should only be grown in areas where it is either on it’s own, or where you can easily prevent it from spreading and taking over the garden.

I’ve switched to Honeysuckle (dropmore scarlet) , and two types of white clematis where I used to grow Morning Glory vine. However, as I’ve mentioned, I still have to pull out new morning glory seedlings on a regular basis otherwise they’ll strangle my clematis!

When you are seeking to cover a troublesome area, do your homework. You might regret planting vigorous or invasive plants.

If you have gardening questions please feel free to ask your question and I’ll try to find an answer for you.