My back deck is about 4 feet off the ground and is about 23' long. I keep "stuff" under there like clay pots, soaker hoses etc. I think it is an eyesore, so I hung wire fencing and planted some jasmine hoping it would grow, get thick and hide all my junk. Trouble is, the deer munch on the jasmine so there goes that idea. A neighbor gave me some cuttings of vinca and I know it is a ground cover, and I looked it up on the net and keep seeing that it trails, but does anyone know if it will climb? If so, it would be great for my purpose. The deer avoid it completely. Thanks. Carole

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), October 30, 2001

Answers

I do not think it will climb,there are 2 type of climbers I cant remember the correct words but 1 grows by putting out shouts ie:peas,beansand grapes.These shouts do not contain roots.The second type does contain roots ie:ivy,hydranga pediolarious{sp}to name a few.The ones with roots need a surface to grow on to.Do you want an evergreen vine? if not why not go the other route and pot up the summer vinca and have it grow down from your deck?that way the deer cant get it?i'll look up other plants for you but need your zone and sun exposure.

-- renee o'neill (oneillsr@home.com), October 30, 2001.

Carole, there are 2 types of vinca--major and minor but niether climb. They could drape down from pots as Renee said but it freezes back in the winter and that won't hide your "eyesores". Also, it needs to be cut back now and then or it trips you up. Maybe you could put up some lattice work that has a hinge that you shut to hide your tools in.

-- Robin in Kansas (robinatt@salpublib.org), October 30, 2001.

Thanks all for your answers. Looks like what seemed like a good idea won't work. If I didn't have so much furniture on the deck, the idea of potting it up and letting it hang down would work, but I can hardly move around now as it is. I considered lattice work, but so many people up here have that, and I really don't like the looks of it. I was trying to go for a softer look and yes, I wanted evergreen. I am in the Texas Hill Country, I think that is Zone 8-9.

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), October 30, 2001.

I have vinca in my flower in my flower beds here in SE NM. The Major variety. It puts out long runners which will climb up into shrubs and the shrubs support them. It will get about 18" tall, will grow over small objects (clay pots), etc.

-- connie in nm (karrelandconnie@msn.com), October 30, 2001.

I have three types of vinca: "regular" (whatever that it; it's also called periwinkle), variegated, and "miniature". Perhaps these are what y'all are calling major and minor. Don't know.

The "regular" and variegated grow about two feet tall where I have them planted as a ground cover. This is an area with terrible soil-potters clay reinforced with boulders, basically-but it gets watered a bit every other day. I started it with litlle cuttings every four or five feet, and they filled in totally within two or three years. The miniature variety is also that high, but I think it's using the other for support. The miniature is the same color as the "regular", but the leaves are quite a bit smaller.

Intermixed is St Johns Wort, which also grows a couple of feet high. Maybe the vinca is resting on the st John's wort, and that's why it's so tall. My neighbor's variety of this grows four feet tall.

JOJ

BTW, all the vincas get attractive "periwinkle" colored flowers on and off all spring, summer and fall. St Johns wort gets lots of yellow flowers, also for three seasons.

-- joj (jump@off.c), October 30, 2001.

See if you can get a book at your library called Creating Privacy in the Garden by Julia Fogg (Distributed in the US by Sterling Publishing). It has a lot of stuff about using plants to camouflage. There might also be some Sunset books that are useful, and your local nursery will help you, because they know what will work in your area. Is ivy an option? Honeysuckle? Berry vines?

One other thing you want to consider is that you are using the area as storage--whatever you put there, if it grows well, may keep you from easily getting in and out of there. So lattice may be your best bet for a working gate.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), October 30, 2001.

I've had periwinkle vinca(dark violet) that's climbed 4 feet or so. Maybe some morning glories or moon flowers would work nice there.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), October 30, 2001.

Dave.... I came across the Moon plant for the first time a couple of months ago and I really like it. Do you have any idea if it is a deer resistant plant?

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), October 30, 2001.

no idea Carole but I've had decent luck with using mothballs as deer deterent. I've noticed the deer don't pay much attention to morning glories, even the wild variety. I like moon flowers too, nice fragrance at night, easy hardy plant. Quite a climber also.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), October 30, 2001.