I would appreciate any suggestions, ideas, or criticisms of the idea of using a trellis & wire system to support vines (climbing or drooping) to shade a rooftop and house side walls in Zone 7 (hot & humid).
Would suspended planters for droopers also work?
Furthermore, if anyone has information on suitable candidates for an edible sunshade, please post it.
Thank you.
Consider Malabar Spinach an annual. Grapes may be of interest also. Mix in moon flowers and other flowering vines for interest...NOT Edible.
Bill
Kudzu is edible, vining, grows fast and I believe it does VERY well in Zone 7.
April Fools. But seriously I'm sure you know better than to plant Kudzu.
In addition to the above, Not quite edible, perhaps useful if you brew your own beer though, is hops. You could train some indeterminate tomatos, some pole beans, maybe a small melon or summer squash?? Lots of plants that are edible have a vining habit.
Troy
Grapevines? :-) The only problem with those is that they lose their leaves in the winter.
You could also try Passiflora edulis or Passiflora incarnata. Those both produce edible fruits, and they tend to be evergreen.
My Passiflora cerulea stayed green all winter thru 4 or 5 good freezes. I want to find some of the other two species and get them planted here as well.
Plastic lattice as a trellis looks nice and is more durable than wood lattice. It's more expensive but lasts forever, and it comes in colors!
From an energy conservation standpoint, losing the leaves in the fall is a good thing. In the hot sunny weather the foliage shades the house. In the cool winter weather with the foliage gone the sun warms the building.
Troy
I actually did think about that... :-)
It's just that I find my naked grapevines in the winter to be none too attractive. I know my neighbor chopped out all of the ones that had spread to the trees in his yard. I don't think he would have done that if he knew that they were going to leaf out again. He probably thought that they were dead. I'm letting them go up into the trees on this side of the fence!
Besides, the blooms on passion vines are just gorgeous!!!
Here was my very first one ever that bloomed this year. I planted the vine in a 5 gallon pot next to my greenhouse late last summer:
Hops is difficult to get rid of in a short period of time. Creeps about in a manner similar to poison ivy. Runners..Cucumbers can be trained to vine too.
Bill
No idea where Zone 7 is. Have you tried the "choko"
You said you'd be interested in criticisms as well as suggestions. I've tried planting a couple of viny things near the house will less than ideal results, though neither was edible.
One was ivy. The stuff crawls everywhere, and the day I found it growing _into_ the den on the ground floor was the day I decided to get rid of it. It managed to get a tendril into the house where the frame meets the foundation. The other was a fast growing vine that put out masses of small white flowers, don't remember the name. Pretty, but it managed to work it's way up the house behind the siding and into the cellar both by the same way the ivy got into the house and by growing through the space where the cellar windows met the window frames.
My Dad planted wisteria so that it would climb up the pillars supporting the little roof over the front door. He had the same sort of problem - the plant is invasive and persistent, it doesn't stay just on the outside of the house, it'll worm it's way through any little crack or gap.
You apparently want something pretty hefty if you want to shade the roof as well as the sides of the house, and I'd guess you don't want to start fresh every year so you'd also want it to be perennial.. I can see it prying off the siding. If you have a brick or stone house, it'll try to creep in the windows. If it makes it to the roof, it'll pry the shingles off. You want shade, plant some trees. Make sure they're not too close to the house.
Kiwis would be a good choice (if you're willing to consider perennials). There are hardy varieties than can be grown to zone 4, or the more familiar fuzzy varieties, which are hardy to zone 8 and might be ok in zone 7 if you got lucky. They're fairly attractive and grow quickly, but take a while before they'll start giving fruit. But would be lower maintenance than annual vines, and you'll eventually get a lot more height out of them.
The problem you will run into with most typical climbing vegetables is that they don't grow *that* tall. You might be able to get about 8 ft out of pole beans, and 10-15 ft out of some types of runner beans, but that'll be about it. Curcubits (squash, cukes, pumpkins, etc.) will probably top out at around 6-8 ft. They (both beans and curcubits) also are fairly prone to a variety of pests: leaf-eating insects, soil dwelling insects, and various mildews and so on. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try them; just means they're one of those plants that can be hit-or-miss, even for experienced gardeners.
If I were you, I'd experiment with the edible shade concept for now, but also plant a proper row of quick-maturing shade trees. By the time the trees get taller than the crop plants, you'll probably be sick of trying to grow dinner on the side of your house and be ready to move your efforts to a proper garden space.
don't know about that, but I'm in zone 11, and kabocha and chayote grow much much longer than that here. I have kabocha vines that are more than 50 feet from where I planted them (but they are on the ground).
add slugs and fruit flies, at least here.
what isn't clear to me in the question asked is whether this was only for verticals (walls) or also for horizontals ('celing') in which case cucurbites may be somewhat counterproductive as they may fall on your head (so will of course passion fruit) eventually, and they can get heavy.
Maren, in Hilo, HI (I don't think kiwis grow here, otherwise I'd love to have some of those too)
I use Thompson Seedless grapes on trellises. Plenty bushy, plenty shady, need little to no water, makes wine, grapes, raisins.
Gunner
Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"
Honeysuckle is sorta nice and moderatly easy to maintain where you want it. But its not edible. Smells really nice though.
Gunner
Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"
Check with your county agricultural extension office. It may be listed under the state college (in New York, it is Cornell Extension office). Their information and publications are mostly free and will be geared to your exact location. They also usually are the base for 4-H groups and you could get information through them.
In China, they grow grape vines that shade pig runs. The floor of the runs (cement) is slightly sloped so that when hosed down, the water and manure flow to water and fertilize the vines. Multiple use.
JonquilJan
Losing leaves is a good thing. Lets in winter sunshine. The subject did specify "seasonal passive sunshade".
Lou wrote in reply:
BTW - annuals are not a problem if I can get to the planter.
NO siding.
The house in question will have a concrete foam sandwich wall and roof deck. And the plants would not be anchored to the house or roof, but to amn offset trellis, wires, or arbor, etc., or suspended from pots hanging from an armature.
In essence, the foliage will form a shell, with an airspace between.
Any suggestions on minimum / maximum spacing between a wall and a trellis?
Shade trees aren't the best solution in this area. Unfortunately, due to the clay soil, trees are susceptible to knockdown after soaking rains and windstorms.
Plus the east / west walls need side shading more than overhead shading.
That's a good point. I know folks who had removed a mature tree, and found their basement suddenly started flooding. Apparently the tree was sucking out the excess moisture.
Pasta
Beleive it or not pasta makes a great seasonal sunshade, it is edible, and can be colored to suit.
Pasta comes in many varieties: macaroni, spaghetti, and lasagne, to name three. You can cover your whole house in pasta, and after the summer, you can bring it inside and cook up some wonderful and tastey meals, to last the winter.
So, there you have it pasta is my choice for a sunshade. You'll have to contact the Swiss if you want a spaghetti tree.
Any suggestions on how to get Passiflora edulis seeds to sprout. I received a bunch as a gift last fall, so far I've tried pete tabs and sowing them straight into potting soil in 4 inch pots. So far nary a sprout is to be seen. Should I pre-soak the seeds? score them, soak them in alcohol or peroxide?
Thanks in advance. David
Urine works a treat.
Soak them in urine for 3 days.
If Kudzu WERE edible, world hungry would be a distant memory. All the starving hordes in China could not eat those vines as fast as they can regrow...
As it is, flamethrowers and nuclear weapons may be our only hope.
O_O
FW
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