Care and How-To - Vines

  • Organic mulches serve several important functions in gardens and landscape plantings.

    These many benefits make the use of mulch very beneficial in a wide range of garden settings. When choosing which organic mulch to use, consider availability, cost, appearance, function, and durability.

  • Vines add interest to all gardens. They offer a wide variety of leaf forms, textures, and colors as well as attractive flowers or fruit. Perennial vines do not need replanting every year and can be used as a screen and to provide shade, fragrance, or fruit. They are often incorporated into gardens along walls, fences, trellises, arbors, or in containers to add height quickly in a limited space.

    Learn about the vines you can grow in your Iowa landscape.

  • Springtime often means plant shopping.  Follow these steps to purchase high-quality plant material.  Tips are available for containerized, balled and burlapped, and bareroot plants as well as for seeds and bulbs.

  • Weedy vines can be some of the most difficult to control weeds in the garden.  They are fast-growing, getting very large in a relatively short amount of time and often climb and cover other garden plants.  These tenacious plants climb by

  • Clematis are vining members of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). Over 250 species and hundreds of varieties are available which bloom from May until frost. No matter how you say it (kla-MAT-us; KLEM-a-tis), they are some of the most beautiful and diverse climbing vines for the landscape. They have earned the moniker of "Queen of Vines."

    Learn how to grow clematis in your own landscape.

  • Perennials are a great way to provide flowers and color in the garden and by planting perennials with different seasons of bloom, you can have interest throughout the growing season. Below are tips for selecting and planting perennials in your Iowa garden.