Hardy Vines

Vines add amazing colour and texture to the garden and also create a great sense of privacy. Hops, Clematis and Virginia Creeper are by far the most popular choices, but here are a few other choices that are just as reliably hardy:

Autumn Revolution Bittersweet

Before this new variety of Bittersweet came along, you needed to plant both a male and female vine close to each other in order to get berries on your vines in fall. This new variety is self pollinating, so you get a thick blanket of dark green foliage all summer, followed by bright yellow fall colour accented by orange berries.

Kiwi Vines

We’ve carried these for several years, but many gardeners still don’t know about them. You do require a male and female vine to be planted within 10 feet of each other for good fruit production. Leaves emerge in spring with unique splashes of silver and pink on them. The fruit is smooth skinned and does not require peeling. This vine will actually tolerate partial sun.

Prairie Star Grape

Bluebell Grape

Grapes

This fast growing vine will not only provide you with excellent privacy and shade, but will produce hundreds of clusters of flavourful grapes. Though not all varieties are hardy for our area, the following are great choices. Be sure to provide plenty of sunlight and a strong trellis to grow on – small cedar lattice designs will not suffice.

Prairie Star
This hardy white grape produces medium clusters in late September of white grapes suitable for wine making.

Bluebell
Among the very best of the blue grapes. Produces fruit that is good for eating, juicing and jellies.

Frontenac
A cross between a French Hybrid grape and the native riverbank grape. Very cold hardy, produces medium clusters of purple black fruit suitable for making red wine.