Irving, thanks for the additional information. In looking at some Virginia creeper growing up my house (which I haven't yet had time to get down, but it's on the list), I think it would grow a little too long, and after reading about some of the allergic reactions from some, I'm not sure that's how I want to go. Passionflower might be a possibility. I may have to look around - I'm sure I can find some free to dig up! I had thought of Crossvine (have it growing up my garage in another area) but didn't want orange.

Miz G - I took Trumpet creeper off my possibility list because seems invasive around here (even your link mentions how it pops up everywhere), coupled with the orange color. The link was very interesting, though, and gave me an idea.

Perhaps I could put the existing clematis I have planted there in some kind of netting as Irving suggested earlier until they get to be 4 ft or so, like the link says. (Not sure that's true, though, as they continued to eat my roses. But, roses are one of their favorites.) So, perhaps there's hope, I guess, as the clematis vines I planted are less than 2 ft high right now. They are newly planted; I was just so devastated to see the deer munching on them already.

Thanks, all! I appreciate all the responses.

Josephene - I was typing my response when you posted. I love wisteria - but I am also afraid of it! I see it growing up in trees, and am very respectful of its strength. Not sure I could control it. I love Carolina jessamine - and that would probably be my choice if I didn't keep bees. I just hate to have so much in case all the reports of it being toxic to honeybees is correct. But - I didn't know there was a yellow coral honeysuckle! That would work! I didn't want red, but yellow would blend in well with my crazy color scheme.

'John Clayton' is a fairly easy-to-find yellow coral honeysuckle cultivar.

I ran a combination search on the Wildflower Center's search engine for deer-resistant vines that meet your height and color criteria. The search produced seven hits.

Stay away from trumpet vine unless battling a monster is what you like to do. Crossvine is much more manageable and I get great blooms in spring and the deer don't seem to bother it. I am in deer central. My friend said that her cross vine was being eaten by deer this March. I disagree with her. Mine was a bit shy of leaves this spring too. I think it is because of the extremely dry conditions and both of us are non irrigators. As soon as we got those two rains, they leafed up nicely and I got a bit of a re-bloom.Growing the roses in cages might work . Once the vine is above a certain height , they seem to loose interest. BUT on a dry year like this year, all foliage is game. They are hungry and thirsty. I see them going after salvias this year.

bostedo - thank you for that information! I've not grown this plant. Nice to learn I might have a yellow choice.

Irving - Great information! My crossvine is orange, but they're showing some that are yellow. That might be a winner if I can locate some.

wantonamara - Thanks for your input. Seems like crossvine may be the best bet. I was just thinking about planting more salvias, since they have not eaten those here (yet). I guess nothing is foolproof when it comes to deer!

Not when it gets this dry out there. This is the first year that I have seen deer browse on my salvias. TRUE only on my Salvia penstemonoises. The greggiss and Blue and black seem un effected. Maybe it was those spit bugs.

You have to feel sorry for the deer in such dry conditions, but it's hard on the gardener, too. We are not nearly as dry as you are, although our drought indicator is creeping up. I will plan on adding more greggiis and black and blues. Thanks for the tip. Most of my garden is fenced off, but this portion is quite large - I could either purchase plants or fencing. i chose plants!

Wild honeysuckle is heavily browsed during winter. Why not one of the ramblers with thorns instead of thornless Peggy Martin? The thorns should deter browsing to some degree. Browsers prefer young or regrowth stems and leaves. Ever wonder why deer hang out along roads? Looking for a ride,,,,,,,NOT. Late in summer when weeds are mature and rank,mowing cause's a burst of tender regrowth that deer like. If you were able to fence/cage until plant gain's some maturity,it might be less attractive. At the least,if plant has enough growth above reach,it might survive losing some lower leaves.

Interesting thought, Kelm1. I have two New Dawn roses (in different areas), that are notorious for their thorns. They are not where the deer can get to them, so not sure if the deer would eat them, but you are right that the deer go for young, tender growth. Having battled my two New Dawns for numerous years (a cuss-fest twice a year), I am not really interested in having another (or six more) thorn-monsters. (One reason I chose Peggy Martin.) But, you are right, it would give me the look I wanted. If I didn't already know what I have to go through now to prune my two New Dawns, I would probably give that a try.

I'm going to try very hard to protect these new plants until they reach a certain size, then hopefully, as you state in the second part of your paragraph, they move on to something more palatable. Having seen deer on their hind legs reaching up for something to eat, I am not sure I believe the four foot rule, but it's worth a try!

How about making a 2/3 three ft. wide and about 5 ft. high cages with rebar and chicken wire to keep the deer from browsing the bottoms of the roses or other vines that may not be totally deer proof? It would virtually disappear with the green growth behind the wire. You could even spray paint the stakes and chicken wire a dark green.

If you don't want to invest in more roses you might want to consider Coral vine. It's not evergreen, but once established it grows back very quickly in spring, blooms all summer, and the cascading flowers on the chains would look gorgeous. The stems become brittle and it's easy to pull down after it dies back in winter.

I wish it were so, but unfortunately I know from experience that thorns to not deter deer from eating roses ... :-(

Roselee, I have never heard of Coral vine, although it should be perennial here. My daughter lives in SA - I wonder if she could find it for me more readily, or if I could grow it from seed. I read up on it a little bit - do you feel it is invasive?

The idea of making something to protect the vines is a great one, and I may do something like that just to get things started. They could be removed once the vines grow up, and the deer get in the habit of going elsewhere (that's the hope anyway).

Coral vine is my favorite, favorite vine of all time! Native to Mexico it's an old standby in San Antonio. My grandmother grew it and called it Queen's Crown.

I don't consider it invasive in the least. A few sprouts will come up from seed, but that's what plants do.

It's readily available in San Antonio nurseries. Rainbow Gardens (two locations) always has it and I imagine Fanicks, Milbergers, Shades of Green, etc. also stock it.

It makes a big root which apparently stores water so is very drought tolerant. It's just beautiful

Post showing butterflies on Coral vine.

Here's a photo of one of mine growing up a tree ...

It might be a good companion vine with Crossvine since the cross vine does most of its blooming and growth in the spring and early summer, and the coral vine is deciduous (where I am) and is a little slow getting its act together and looks a bit ratty in the spring. It gets its foliage and bloom in late summer and fall. Their bright green foliage and bloom might be really set off by the dark green foliage of the cross vine. HMMMMM. I might try it myself. I have just the spot.

It might be more invasive in East Texas than further west. There are many complaints in Florida and Louisiana. Invasion of wild lands due to the seeds are eatable so they are carried by animal life of all sorts .

Good ideas Mara. As for blooming times my mature Coral vines were already several feet up on the trees where they're growing and showing color a month ago.

The heaviest bloom from the cross vine are end of March - mid April with blooms spurts after that. In East Texas , I think you will have more bloom spurts timed to your rains than I experience here. This picture was taken on 4/24 of this year. That is one plant and it expands out my walkway behind me, a long way. The color combination if they bloom at the same time might be eyeopening. My kind of color combination.

Thank you both, Roselee and wantonamara for your insights and pictures. I had never heard of coral vine, but it's now on my wish list. I plan on going to SA in a few weeks - I will make certain I make a trip to one of the nurseries you recommended. I expect with our freezes this vine will take some time to leaf out in spring, but it should look gorgeous in late summer/fall when the muhly grasses turn pink. I have things blooming all year in this bed, but it was originally designed as a fall-blooming bed, and still looks best at that time of the year, so I'm quite excited about its potential.

I like your idea of combining the coral vine with the crossvine, reminiscent of a crossvine-passionflower combination I saw once and loved. I am still trying not to do the orange thing in this area, though, so I probably won't try that combination here. If you do it, wantonamara, I hope you share pictures. I agree that the evergreen leaves of the cross vine will help cover the un-leafed-out coral vine early in the season.

I also read that coral vine is not really deer resistant - it just grows so fast, they can't keep up. I hope that's true!

I am not planting anything till it cools down and RAINS.

Yes, that's probably for the best. But I can still buy plants! I already have a large pot ghetto going for a new area going in this fall. Right now it's in the "kill the grass" phase. The dry weather is helping that out. Here's hoping all of us getting some much needed rain.

We are (rain). A few days ago, the forecast was days upon days of high 90s to 100+, not a cloud. Woke up this morning to thunder, rain, and only supposed to get in the 80s! I’m doing the Happy Rain Dance. :D We mowed yesterday — I so love when it rains right after. :)

Congratulations!!! It has been overcast here yesterday and today, which has been helpful. There is a small chance of rain on Tuesday, but not holding my breath. We have quit mowing, the grass is just about burnt up. (We don't irrigate the lawn.)

That just goes to show, though, in Texas, you never know when it will rain. Hopefully we will all get a good surprise like that soon!

No rain here as yet, but it is very dark and I hear the thunder.................hopefully, it won't go around me as it sometimes does. Radar shows that I will get rain today.

I hope you get lots of rain, carrie. Where I live, they put in a lake maybe 40 years ago (yes, I'm old enough to remember that, LOL). Anyway, that really changed the rain pattern here - it gets to the lake, then stops right before it gets to us. Very frustrating. We are always thrilled when the fronts that come through are strong enough to break through and actually rain on this side. Hope your rains are nice and slow and long!

Thank you, holleygarden, same to you. I did get a very nice shower, and then a heavy mist for a period of time. The skies are beginning to lighten a bit, so it may be over for me, but I am so grateful for what I did get. All my plants got their little faces washed.

Last night we got the light show , they got the rain.... .33" 5 miles away The lightening went on for hours. We got cool winds. What a tease.

White Passion flower and Wysteria. I have only read about Passion flower but I know for a fact that Wysteria are actually deer proof. The clan in our 'hood never has once tried them. but they've tried everything else 'they don't eat'. Plus pollinators love them.

Carrie - I went to a meeting, and came back - so excited - we got 1/2 inch of rain! Wahoo! As you say, the plants got their faces washed. Keeps me from having to water the potted plants today.

wantonamara - How frustrating for you! Although I bet the cool winds felt refreshing. Hope it's your turn soon!

Tiffany - what a beautiful combination that would be! I am so afraid of planting wisteria - that it will get away from me, start chocking our trees, etc. If I could find the American Wisteria (six of them) at a good price, I just might try your combination. It would be gorgeous. I wonder if the white passionflower is as hardy as the purple. I planted a red one once, it didn't make it though the winter, although I thought it was supposed to.

I would vote against wisteria. I had ONE on a fence with yellow Lady Banks roses. beautiful combination in the Spring, but a costly one. They tore the fence down and I am still fighting sprouts from the wisteria.

Carrie - and that is why I'm afraid of wisteria! Too bad, because they are so beautiful. But the American wisteria is not supposed to be so bad, right? Or is that just wishful thinking? That combo with Lady Banks sounds dreamy. Too bad it turned into a nightmare.

holleygarden- Yes, that's correct. It is a heavy vine, requiring ample support and it does reseed easily. I've read that American is not as much a concern. Sorry I didnt' mention that. (I have a huge problem with Japanese honeysuckle so the wisteria is the least of my problems!) :) I'm not sure which we have, but the seedlings seem to be easily gotten rid of if you can mow/ weed eat the area.

Carrie- Getting rid of it wasn't too hard in one spot we didn't want it. It was also ripping down parts of our house. Previous owners decision. I used a spot treatment of brush killer after cutting it all back. killed it one shot. This year we finally dig up the remaining roots to redo the area. used a Sawzall for that.

Thanks, Tiffany, for additional information on wisteria. I think I'll have to pass, even though it would be spectacular - and, as you say, actually deer-proof!

I'm thinking about wisteria or crossvine for our long, bare chain-link fence line (with pipe posts at corners, regular metal stakes in between) down at the cabin. Do you think the fence will support wisteria? Not really any trees for them to grab on to on that fence, so their invasive growth habit may be kept in check. Here's the fence in question:

I have never grown wisteria, but from what I see of it, I'm afraid it would tear that fence down. I would grow crossvine instead. And, crossvine is evergreen, so that is always nice.

One thing I read, which may or may not be correct, is that crossvine does not bloom until it gets to the "top" of what it's climbing. I know the crossvine I grew on my garage wall didn't, which took several years. Perhaps wantonamara will weigh in on growing a crossvine along a fence.

Good luck with your project. It will be beautiful! And a great hummingbird attractor!

I was just reading this afternoon that wisteria can bother cattle if thy eat the seed pods. We've got 11 heiffers leasing the pasture, so maybe I better get crossvine for more than one reason. And I don't know how deep the metal stakes are since the fence pre-dates our purchase of the place. The wisteria I have here in Temple is braced on a well-installed steel arch over the back driveway. And I've grown them elsewhere and KNOW how woody and aggressive it can be and how it can tug supports right down to the ground. I have to trim my Temple wisteria off the corner of my roof (gutter visible upper right photo) twice in the growing season without fail.

I never heard that about cross vine. It bloomed every year for me from the very beginning. I think I bought a i gallon plant. Did I mention that is one plant.

buttoni - your wisteria is beautiful! I admire anyone that can grow it without it taking over. I am very bad about not getting around to all my garden chores, so I would not be a good candidate for growing it.

Here is a picture of my crossvine that grew up the side of my garage:

It covered the entire side - the angle of the cross vine is the angle of the roof. It was beautiful, a joy every spring, but it died suddenly this winter, no explanation I could come up with. I of course replaced it - the new vine is now only about six foot tall. I am interested to see if it gets to the top of the roof before it starts blooming again! As I said, not sure if what I read was correct or not, but it will be interesting for me to "test" out the theory.

Passiflora "incense" would look great intertwined with cross vine...

Omar

I agree, Omar. I hope Buttoni sees your comment.

@Holleygarden..........thank you. Former owner got it started on the yard wide and I potted a fallen seed in a big pot for the driveway side to climb up and meet the larger plant. Your crossvine is gorgeous!

I agree on the Passifloro "Incense", Omar, but it looks too exotic for me to have success with it. I can't even get more than half a dozen blooms on my double clematis. LOL

I think I'm going to try crossvine on the fence at first and wait and see how it takes off for me only going to the cabin to water once every 7-10 days. Then I might add other things that will complement it color-wise. I had thought about yellow Carolina Jasmine, too, at opposing ends of the fence, growing toward the crossvine in the middle. The hubs liked the sound of that. The fence lines are VERY long, so they might never meet in the middle, but they would look nice in close proximity. I just love all the growing "space" I have down three. As long as I keep a mower's width from inner yard plantings to the fence so my husband can get the riding mower between them easily, he's giving me free reign to plant whatever I like however and wherever I like. On the other hand, I have to carefully select places in my front and back yards in Temple, as both are very small actually. We were looking for little mowing and yard maintenance when we bought this place. But planting spots are severely limited for my pretties, since the previous owner was a planting crazy Master Gardener. She didin't leave many blank places for me. :)

“Incense” passiflora can be a thug and its flowers are mesmerizing.

Omar

buttoni - I think your plan of having a cross vine on one side and a Carolina jessamine on the other sounds very pretty, and very attractive to hummingbirds. My crossvine is planted where it is quite dry - it developed quite a large stem on it, and I assumed deep roots because it never blinked except that year that we had 112-113 degree weather every day for a month or so. Then, its blooms turned yellow from the stress! But, it went back to its old self after the weather cooled. I think you'll really like it. I have a Carolina jessamine, too, (even though I also have a bee hive), and its yellow flowers are lovely. Both are evergreen, so they will complement each other even in the winter.

Omar - I agree that the passionflower's blooms are mesmerizing. I love them, although I don't have any planted now. I could probably add one to the garage area with my new crossvine. The crossvine has little tendrils that dig into the brick (probably not good for the brick, but it makes it easy for me to have it be self-attaching). How does the passionflower attach to a wall? I think it has tendrils that corkscrew around something else, am I right? So I would probably need to grow the crossvine first, then after it has some height, I could add the passion vine and let it hang onto the crossvine. Is that how you would recommend it?

Crossvine grabs on without digging in, so no structural damage, not even to roof shingles. Your plan for getting crossvine established first so other vines can piggy back is exactly how I set up my living wall. Several years later, I can no longer see the wall.

Thanks for that info, Irving. I am glad to know crossvine won't do any structural damage. I just knew it didn't have to have a support system to hang on to - it uses the wall itself. Now, my creeping fig on another wall might be doing some damage? Or no?

I would love to see a picture of your living wall! I love seeing walls covered in plants. What vines do you have on it?

Crossvine and Incense passionflower pretty much dominate the wall these days. Star jasmine puts on its show in late spring. Annual moonflowers are creeping their way up; it shouldn't be long before their blooms are feeding sphinx moths. Because dogs like to wallow in damp earth, all these species grow in containers fitted with drip irrigation. Two frost-tender climbing cacti, queen of the night and vine-like moonlight cactus, access the wall from mounted pot rings. Before they come inside during cold weather, I sever the stems to a manageable length. One recent winter was so mild that the cuttings left on the wall took on a life of their own — literally. That had to be one of the most bizarre phenomena I've ever witnessed. I'll make every effort to take a picture once the sun stops beating down on that area for the day.

I found out the hard way what kind of damage creeping fig aka fig ivy can do when you yank it off a structure. Not pretty at all.

holley, yes Passiflora incense has tendrils that grab anything that dares to pass by. Be aware this plant is very prolific. However, I think it is easy to control if you keep an eye on it and make sure to pull out any unwanted shooter.

Omar

Irving - your wall sounds beautiful. I love moonflower vine, need to grow it again. Look forward to seeing your photo. I hate to hear that about creeping fig. But I only have it on one wall, so hopefully my house is safe.

Omar - Thanks for the additional info. Growing it alongside the crossvine sounds like a fun plan. For many years, I grew only mild-mannered plants, but lately I've been trying to fill a large space and have introduced several plants that have a reputation for taking over. I figure they can fight it out among themselves. I will probably regret that in a few years.

Wow - that is fabulous! You get a lot of interest out of one area. That is incredible - something I would have never thought to do. But they seem to do well together, and you gets lots of different blooms at different times.

Thanks for showing your vine wall to us! Much prettier than just having fig ivy there.

Irving Those are exciting! I will be checking out the Incense. I didn't know there was a variety that smells good. I love beautiful flowers with scent. ( as I'm sure many do!)