If you live in Northern California, like me, or another mild or Mediterranean climate, you can get the year going (in winter) with purple flowering vines and enjoy more blooms EVERY seasons to come.
Because vines are a type of plant that with support will take advantage of space, you often have a lot of choices for how you want to grow them.
Traditionally, you think of a vine covering a wall, hiding an ugly chain link fence.
But, there are other things that they can do!
Like what?
Some vines lend themselves well as ground or bank covers. Others can be trained to grow up trees. I like growing a vine simply for vertical definition as with using a metal obelisk for support, and locating it in a mixed planting bed with shrubs, grasses, ground covers and trees. Making a tepee-like support with bamboo canes can also do the trick. This brings me to the purple flowering Hardenbergia vine (photo below) taken just the other day (Feb) and smothered in violet pea-flowers. How is it growing? Like a stout vertical accent. It’s form looks to me, more like a flowering shrub than a vine.
3 Purple Evergreen Flowering Vines for Four Seasons
- 1. Hardenbergia violaceae (Purple Coral Pea) – Hardy 20 -25 F. Native to Australia. Evergreen twining vine to 15′ w/narrow leaves. Pinkish-purple flowers in late winter-early spring. Sun/Light shade. Moderate to low water. WINTER FLOWERS
Hardenbergia vine
- 2. Clytostoma callistegiodes (Lavender Trumpet Vine)- Hardy to 15-20 F. Evergreen vine that reaches 16′ with lavender flowers in spring extending sometime to fall. Sun/Light shade. Regular to occasional water. SPRING/SUMMER FLOWERS
Clytostoma callistegiodes
- 3. Distictis ‘Rivers’ (Royal Trumpet Vine) – Hardy to 20-25 degrees F. Enjoy violet trumpet flowers. This vine is fast and will grow 30 feet tall and wide. Like the Red Trumpet Vine, a relative, it also has leathery 4 inch green long leaves with tendrils that form disks, good for climbing fences and structures. Showy lavender flowers fade to light lavender during the warm months. Plant full sun to part shade with occasional summer water. SPRING/SUMMER FLOWERS
Photo Coming Soon!
So keep in mind, if you have full sun/part shade you can use these vines mentioned to create more months of color. If you are short space consider using vines creatively and in different ways (ground cover, vertical accent, trailer, container plant) to take advantage of flowers and beauty. Keep in mind the overall size of a vine.
Happy Gardening!
Rhodochiton vine Zone: 10-11
Ps: Vines like those featured above grow large and vigorous. Rhodochiton atrosanguineum or (Purple Bell vine) is a perfect example of a vine that I would choose to grow in a container or possibly even a hanging basket: it’s compact and grows only to about 10 feet.
To learn more about evergreen vines click here.
Have some purple flowering vines to add? Please let us know we’ll be adding more, so check back soon! Two other really good vigorous evergreen vines with purple flowers are: Passiflora ‘Lavander Lady’ and Passiflora ‘Elizabeth.’