Am I crazy to plant vines instead of killing them?

The west brick wall on my house becomes a huge heatsink in summer afternoons. Once the sun comes over the house, that wall gets full sun until the great ball of fire goes below the horizon. No trees or shade or anything to block it. So the wall continues to be hot to the touch well into the middle of the night. That side of the house does stay warmer than the rest.

The house is only a year old so it's not time for major rennovations and additional insulation. But i thought that planting some sort of leafy vine to cover that wall would cut down on the heat penetrating into the bricks. I'm in Ontario Canada (zone 5). The most suggested vines at local nurseries are virginia creeper and boston ivy. I was justa bout to plan a couple of these along the back wall of my house but now i'm not too sure after reading some of the vine eradication posts.

  1. Do these vines ruin brick walls? They're supposed to cement themselves naturally to the wall. Does this damage the wall or not? I've heard conflicting opinions.

  1. Are these vines difficult to control? I naievely assumed that the vines would have only one entry into the ground (the original plant) and all i would have to deal with is the climbing vines. I never considered underground offshoots. Will it spread by roots or only the climbers?

  2. I still think this is a good way to control the sun penetrating into the brick. But is there anything else i should be aware of before planting these vines?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Kevin

Reply to
kevins_news2
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I find dealing with vines on a house a pain. Until you can get some shade trees on that side, how about a series of trellises and vines or climbers set out a bit from the house to give you some shade? You could use grapes, hops, roses, etc. This could also give you some "private gardens" to view through the windows.

An even faster temporary solution would be to attach shade cloth panels under the eaves. Watch the potential wind load, however. Here are some examples... haven't done business with the company, however.

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Reply to
Kay Lancaster

put up a trellis and plant somthing more useful the vine will wrap around the trellis build the trellis off the wall a bit with some stock treated lumber or somthing so that air can flow between the wall and trellis this wil help keep down heat. Do you like grapes great plant those they do well in zone 5 plant a few types they lend shade beauty and a useful fruit that you can give to family friends or just to increase birds in your yard if not that then a lovely vine is nice too roses are great and the foliage dies in the winter so that you don't block the warming sun in the winter. I like son juan my self or josephs coat and then you have lovely roses just be sure to attend to pruning anything you put up and you should do well dont' let anything climb directly on the wall it does do dammage and i hate to try to power wash off those damn tracks they leave up the wall when you pull offf the vines

if the space you mount trellises to is wide then make sure to leave a little space between peices so you can have some access behind them for any possible pruning or other needs have fun with a new verticle garden dont' be afraid of new things my vote is on the grapes i love them and can never get enough i know some one who will ship very nice vines for cheap too if you like email me and i'l give her info to her she's down in Ga thogh and i'm in pa

good luck :-)

Reply to
Michelle

Moonflower's and Morninglorie's which are annuals or perhaps some grapevines. Virginia Creeper is all about here in South jersey USA. Look's like poison Ivy but there is a big difference. I like it.

What is the difference 4 vs 3 leaves and shinning vs not. Best to see in person. Virginia climb's up while poison ivy creep's about.

Notice no caps for poison ivy!!!

Have fun!

Bill

Reply to
William Wagner

Kevin, I would not plant those vines! Both will completely take over and 10 years down the line may be breaking your foundation. Since you have only been there a year, you might want to do something different with the area at some point after having thought about it for a while. Once you plant ivy or other invassive vines, they don't go away and you are stuck with them. I hope this helps.

Reply to
MWhite3660

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