Wednesday
September 18, 2024 
Travel is a marvelous way to mix things up a bit. I see new vistas, and I come home ready to create a new garden or redo old ones! This time I returned from Sicily, inspired by structures and native plants that enfold, envelop, and enchant.
Mediterranean people have long lived with intense heat. In response they’ve developed ingenious designs that use nature for shelter. Vines drape over trellises. Arbors are in back yards, and even alleys have plant-filled pots and flowering overhangs.
Italy enthralls. I gazed upon humble structures with bamboo roofs. Birds nested there; bees swarmed. I relaxed in an outdoor library half built into a hillside. There was a wall of books, nestled in stone, and a view that stretched to the horizon. Seated in my outdoor bower, I marveled how utility was married to comfort and beauty.
The word “arbor” comes from the medieval word for a shaded nook or bower made of intertwining trees. It’s an old-fashioned concept of place; a shelter in which we feel enveloped yet open to the elements. On a recent tour of Doylestown native gardens, I saw a day bed on a swing, suspended from a sturdy arbor. One could fall into that bed and spend a week, dreaming.
In the heat of summer we look for cool. Perhaps that is why there are umbrellas in so many back yards; they create instant shade, are inexpensive, and don’t require much maintenance. Native vines and shrubs can do a similar job, but they also introduce a living environment. The natives, which are chemical-free, attract the bees and butterflies. Flowering vines, in addition to providing shade, support the life around us. Sit under an arbor, and birdsong grows louder; bees and birds provide a video of summer.
One hardy and fast-growing native vine is the coral bell honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). It is related to the much more invasive white honeysuckle, but it has clear boundaries. Coral bell honeysuckle is sturdy; it can grow in part to full sun, and it attracts hummingbirds. Its bright orange flowers are a magnet for these zooming hover birds, and I never see one without feeling witness to a miracle.
Another native vine is wild grape (Vitis riparia), which in the woods can be invasive. Left untended it can take down a tree. Properly trained, these vines climb where you want them. They provide shade, leafy structure, flowers, and fruit. Both leaves and fruit are edible, but I leave them to the birds, who probably appreciate the harvest more than I do. This vine, like all natives, is a friend to our pollinators, and it has a natural place in our gardens.
Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is another fast-growing vine that offers yellow and orange flowers beloved by pollinators. Hummingbirds and butterflies love this vine, and its sturdy canopy can be trained to flower almost anywhere. It twists over pillars, climbs over sheds. Books say it can be invasive, but I have not found that to be the case. Grow it in partial sun, and it will climb to the light.
Understory trees or bushes are often overlooked, but I believe them to be the true workhorses of woodland gardens. Many native shrubs are deer resistant, sturdy, and fast growing. All the native viburnums (of which there are several) are on my list. They thrive in partial shade, provide flowers in late spring and summer, and give berries for the birds in fall. My favorite is the cranberry viburnum (Viburnum trilobum). It can grow tall, and its graceful branches can be trained to make an arbor. Late spring brings fragrant flowers akin to the lacecap hydrangea. Red berries come later. If preference is given to this native, you will find pollinators swooning over the flowers.
Itea (Itea virginica) or sweetspire has gorgeous wands of scented white flowers in June. It likes wet feet, but it is hardy and will reach 10 to 15 feet tall in just a few years. Give it some sun, and it will grow tall and swift to the light. Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) is more like a dogwood; it will become a small tree. It has white fragrant flowers in late summer and provides a living arbor all on its own.
Plant any of these natives or find your own. There are many other vines and shrubs waiting to be discovered. Make a living space. Surround yourself with a bit of Mother Nature. You will be rewarded, knowing you have just brought vitality and sustenance to the fragile web of our natural world.
Susan Talia Delone, Ph.D., a member of the Bucks County Chapter of the Woman’s National Farm & Garden Association, is a psychologist living in Buckingham. Her garden has been featured on the annual native plant garden tour offered by the organization every June.
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