Just about any ornamental gourd is great for growing on a trellis. And small pumpkins like 'jack-be-little' or 'baby boo' would also work.

The vines of hard-shelled gourds (the ones with white flowers) are always much more massive (longer vines) than their yellow flowered counterparts. However the hard-shelled gourds leaves look different and have a different texture than the ornamental gourds/pumpkins. Also the fruit of most hard shelled gourd are also massive and can really weigh down any structure. If you decide to use a hard-shelled gourd I would go with 'mini-bottle.'

Here is a picture of my 'mini-bottle' gourds on a trellis:
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I would use an ornamental gourd or small pumpkin on the pergola, but a hard-shelled gourd on the side of the house because they cover more area.

To illustrate my point here is a picture of a hard-shelled snake gourd and other ornamental gourds growing up a dead dogwood tree. Notice the snake gourd is the only on up the tree at this point, the ornamental gourds are still just growing around the base. They were all planted at the same time but the snake gourd just took off. And that is only one snake gourd vine. This was relatively early in the season, the vine was just starting to set fruit.

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I have also contemplated growing an annual vine on the side of the house for cooling properties, however I have never done it. I would be REALLY interested to hear how it works for you. The one thing that could be an issue is that these vines can be truly massive and put a lot of strain on structures. I worry that fishing line won't be strong enough and could risk slicing through the vines as they get heavy. I have used nylon netting before and it holds up alright, but it would need some sort of strong framework to hold it together.

The leaves on the gourd vines that you show are very attractive. I did not realize that the vines themselves were so heavy. Is there a way I can discourage fruit-set in order to keep the vines a bit lighter? Also what is the netting that I see in the first photo? Thank you. Sincerely Connie Cola

Well I have never tried to discourage fruit set. However I have heard that using too much nitrogen in your fertilizer will cause lots of green growth but few fruits, so that could be worth trying. I really like the 'mini bottle' gourds they are only about 4" long, I know other small varieties exist but that is the variety I am familiar with.

The snake gourds I grew on the dead tree were really heavy and broke off a lot of branches. Here is the same snake gourd vine later in the season. Keep in mind that is only one snake gourd vine and notice all the gourds on it. Some of the lower branches have other ornamental gourds, but the top half of the tree is just the snake gourd. This picture was taken in mid August it got even bigger later.

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The netting is just nylon garden netting that they sell in a lot of garden centers. I know Park's Seed sells the netting, if you search for trellis netting you will find a lot of places that carry it. On the left side of this picture you can see the netting, after the gourds are on it the middle sags over a foot. Even with those vertical stakes supporting it every 5 feet.

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