Gazebo climber needed

Hi all! I'm new to DG & this board, but have LOVED reading the various threads so far. We moved into our house almost a year ago & I'm just now starting to really get into landscaping/planting/etc. One area we'd really like to do something else with is this gazebo.

It currently has climbing roses around the back side, but they get looking so tacky & aren't our favorite. So we'd like to find a different climber to partially cover the back side & curve over the top. I think an evergreen vine that blooms would be nice. After seeing pictures, I've been leaning towards the crossvine, but am a little concerned with how thick and unruly it seems to get. I wonder if I could keep it under control with some good pruning? Or if anyone else has some suggestions, I'd love to hear them!!!

We also have two large evergreen pines (don't know officially what they are), two Golden Euonymus, and a couple of other rose bushes (one pretty healthy, one not) surrounding the front of the gazebo that we aren't fond of. The evergreens seem too wintery for our sunny backyard with a pool, but I like the height they add. I think we'd like to go to a more tropical theme, but that may be hard to do in North Texas? But if we could find something else that could grow to be 8-12 ft tall would be great. Any ideas? We'd also like to replace the Golden Euonymus and rose bushes - so it's really a clean slate.

Another issue we're dealing with is that we'll need to periodically stain or treat the wood deck & lattice (as we desperately need to do now), so I'm concerned with how we'll do this if it has a vine growing on the back? We plan to treat it as soon as we remove the rose vine & other items, before replanting the area. But eventually it will need to be treated again....

Sorry this is so lengthy - I look forward to any suggestions you guys have!

here's a pic of the back side where we'll be planting the vine/climber.

Hello Jenepat, you can surely keep the Crossvine under control with pruning, no problem there, the problem would be if you want to treat the trellis, then you would have to cut it down, however, even if you cut it down to 1 foot from the ground, it would grow back fast because the roots would be already established, although you would not have complete cover that one year.
I love the Crossvine, but if you feel that it would impede your taking care of the trellis, you could try a perennial that dies to the ground every year.

Passion Vine, Passiflora incarnata is native to our area and a fast grower plus has beautiful flowers, and is the larval host for Texas butterflies.
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PAIN6
I hope that helps.
Josephine.

I forgot to ask if you wanted the shrubs in the front to be evergreen or if it matters.

Hi frostweed! Thanks for the response. I have to say - your pictures of Crossvine on DG are actually what drew me to it. They are just gorgeous!

The Passion Vine you mentioned has beautiful flowers too. Does it die to the ground every year? Or would it be similar to the Crossvine?

As for the shrubs, etc. to put in front.... I have to admit it was nice to have the color from the evergreens all winter. But we HATE the way the evergreen pines are wilting in this heat and we'd love a more tropical look back there. Oh, and we aren't fans of the bicolor Euonymus either.

I'd love to have some nice Elephant Ears - maybe even the tall variety (10ft) to take the place of the evergreen pines height. I'm just not sure how they'll handle our winters...

Thank you Jenepat, yes the Passion vine dies to the ground each year, but grows back rapidly.
I was thinking for your tall shrubs you could try Teas Mountain Laurel, sophora secundiflora it is evergreen with gorgeous purple blooms and a lovely scent.
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SOSE3

And in front of that you could put Yellow Bells, Tecoma stans
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=TEST

These shrubs are both native and can take the heat.
Josephine.

If you plant an annual this year, or leave it blank, over the winter, you could treat your Gazebo with something that would protect it, and assure you would not have to treat it again for years.

Then plant an evergreen vine without the worry of cutting it down periodically to re-treat.

My husband and I treated this arch you see in the picture this year, and I could not believe the difference.

If you are looking for an annual that covers quickly, try Hyacinth Bean. This covered our 8 foot arch and then some in just a few months.

Josephine - thanks for the suggestions! From researching the Texas Mountain Laurel, it seems like I'd have to be sure to get a "shrub" variety & not a tree (most of the pics I saw were of trees). It actually looks similar to a tree our neighbors have (but I'm not for sure on this). Theirs drops a ton of spent blooms & seed once their done - which I definitely want to avoid since these all inevitably end up in the pool. Do the Texas Mountain Laurel do the same thing?

morganc - What a beautiful arch! I can't believe the Hyacinth Bean covered it that well in just one year! I wonder if we'd have the same luck starting so late in the season? Also, that's a good idea about treating the wood really well this fall/winter (or even now, if we get everything out of the way soon) and not needing to do it again for a few years. Then I can plant the Crossvine & just cut it back every 3 years or so (which might also help it from becoming unruly). Do you know where I could purchase the Hyacinth Bean? Is this something generally carried at local nurseries?

Thanks to you both for the responses!! I'm starting to love (and become severely addicted to) DG!!

Carolina Jasmine, very hardy.

"eyes"

jenepat, I had a trellis covered in Purple Hyacinth bean last year. It was absolutely gorgeous and I had people just wanting to know what that was. They totally froze to the ground and didn't come back, so I assume it would also do the same in your area. They are beautiful and covered our trellas/arbor and provided the shade we wanted. I have tons of seed if you would like I would send some to you. I got my seeds from Wal-Mart I think.

I didn't plant them again this year as after they bloom that beautiful purple stalk, they then put on the beans each containing 5 or so seeds and they got overhead and I couldn't cut them off(deadhead) so I didn't like all that maintenance and didn't want seeds coming up all over the place this year.

That is the same reason I don't have morning glories. Beautiful, but too messy and invasive. I think on a arch like is posted on this thread the vines would be more manageable. Hope this helps you decide.

I have planted coral honeysuckle, coral vine and bleeding heart vines and will see which I like best and does what I need.

Sorry that showed up sideways. Here's another view in mid-July showing the two hyacinth vines. They loved all the rain we had last year.

Hyacinth bean is an annual and would not prune properly. I suggest the Crossvine or the Passion vine also. They are both hardy native plants and will cover your areas nicely. EEars are really quite invasive, and I would encourage you to keep them in pots if you decide on those; also consider too much sun will wilt them.

Ditto what Sheila said about EE's being invasive! I have them in one area and have tried for 4 years to get rid of them to no avail. They LOVE water and my area is at the end of a spring, so be sure you love to water a lot before planting them.

Have you considered Will Fleming yaupon hollies to replace the tall junipers/whatever they are? I like the fact that they are native to Texas, require little water once established, and give a bit of structure to your other plantings as they grow to about 20 feet (but are ease to 'top').

These bushes look like Italian cypresses. Sorry I can't find a pic of mine.

Try a moonflower vine if you want a nice scent - it is a night bloomer though or you could get really carzy & toss a bunch of MG's out there. I have a 20' x 6' dog - eared fence that has less than 16 plants ( MG's & moonflower vine ) that is totally covered from top to bottom & over the back about 4' already - 2 drawbacks to both though - both are late bloomers July thru Oct for me & MG's will put off a massive amount of seeds (plucked another 100 or so seedlings from my beds this morn) & moonflowers will too but won't germinate as heavily as MG's do & work better if you collect seed & start in pots in spring to insure they come back where you want them to. Hope that helps & that is a nice gazebo.

I absolutely love my hyacinth bean vine and make sure I have one each year. If a seed doesn't come back on its own, I plant a couple... The wonderful thing about it is that it doesn't have to be pruned. The only time I do anything to it, is when I have to hack off an errant vine reaching out to grab a plant nearby. I love the purple flowers and the purple seed pods after the bloom, and the show goes on all summer and fall. I have never, ever had a problem with seeds coming up all over. Because it freezes to the ground, I remove the remnants from the structure in the wintertime, and hope for some seedlings. But I also save seed after it has ripened to make sure that I will have another planting the following season. Taking the dead vine down is the only negative I have found, but you will have that problem with any annual vine you use. Or with any perennial vine that dies to the ground in winter.

What every you use don't use a trumpet vine. Very invasive I planted one 10 years ago and I am still trying to get rid of it. Comes back from the roots and sends out seeds. Its hard to get rid of. You see it here on fences and along side of the highways.

Thanks for all the input everyone! I ended up going with the Hyacinth bean for now. Thanks so much to morganc for sending me some!!!

I just planted the beans yesterday & hope to get at least a little growth this season so we can see if we like it there. If not, we'll try something different next year (since it's an annual). I'll upload a pic once it starts to grow.

Now it's time to work on the front & sides of the gazebo.....

here's a pic of the cleaned up gazebo (back). it looks so much better now that those scraggly roses are gone. we're hoping to stain/treat the wood this weekend while it's bare. then hopefully we'll start to see the beans start to do their thing soon!! :)

Jen---Looks so much better already!

Thanks Pam! I'm so excited to have your Hyacinth beans planted in there. I hope they do well so I can "pay it forward" and pass some beans along to others like you did for me! I'll keep you posted on how they turn out...

Nothing like a nice clean slate to make more work! LOL!! You are smart to treat it with something while it is bare. Great progress.

Thanks Sheila! It made for a steamy day working in the yard on Sunday in our 100+ weather. But it's well worth it now.