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jenica_gw

Suggestions for a climbing plant in shady spot

jenica
18 years ago

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone can suggest something edible that would grow up a trellis in an area that gets mostly shade? The soil there is really bad right now but I'm not going to plant until next year so I'll have time to amend it. The trellis is at least 12ft tall and 40 ft wide and looks pretty sturdy so it could handle something vigorous. I was thinking about kiwi but I'm not sure it would fruit with so little sun (probabably only 2-3hrs sun per day).

I'm in west Tn, zone 7, pretty mild winters, hot and very humid summers.

Comments (7)

  • Ina Plassa_travis
    18 years ago

    I got my kiwis from a girl who had them growing in full dappled shade- they may have gotten a flutter or two of direct sunlight, but that's about it. and hers fruited just fine (cute little things, I might add, since they're a third the size of the supermarket kind)

    and I'm all the way up where zone 6 becomes zone 5, so you should be fine...

    you might want to check the passiflora forum to see if there's a shade- tolerant passion flower for you (one of my favorite fruits in the whole world!)

  • jenica
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thanks a lot for responding. I'm looking foward to my crop of kiwis ;^)

    I've never had a passion flower fruit before. I didn't even know there were such fruits until I read about them on this forum. I'll have to check into one for shade.

    Thanks again for the advice!

  • tcstoehr
    18 years ago

    I suggest Arctic Beauty Kiwi. It is designated as a shade-loving plant. I have never grown it myself but I have tasted them and they're not bad as kiwis go. It also has really cool pink/white/green mottled leaf variegation.

  • bigeasyjock
    18 years ago

    Wellllll Let me tell ya all about the joys of the maypop (native passionflower of the south).
    Full sun, rambling vine, dies back to the ground over winter, beautiful flowers, and I use the pulp around the seeds to make a fruity tastin' drink that I like lots.
    One negative and thats that the vine shoots up in different locations as the roots spread under ground. That is one year here next year there.
    An orange butterfly (sorry forget name) uses the vine to lay eggs on (munch munch goes the vine ;o)
    I'll save ya some seed this summer just ask :o)Should do fine in z7 I'd guess.
    Mike

  • jenica
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    bigeasyjock,

    I would love some seeds if you could save me some. One side of the trellis gets more sun than the other and I think the passionflower might do well there. In the really shady end I think I'm going to put the Artic Beauty Kiwi that tcstoehr suggested.

  • lives2grow
    18 years ago

    I grow hardy kiwi in zone 5 in dappled shade. Occasionally a late frost gets the blossoms here, but should be fine in your zone. I think they're delicious! You'll need both male & female plants if you want fruit. Only the males are variegated. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Carla

  • fairy_toadmother
    18 years ago

    bigeasyjock- do you think placing them in a container in the ground would work? i have been wanting a maypop, but not sure about the surprise pop-ups.

    good luck, jenica!

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