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Am I crazy for planting creeping fig on my house?
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Posted by bzbmomof3 9 (My Page) on Wed, Jul 12, 06 at 18:52
| I have a big ol stucco house that needs some softening. Our two story sits on the corner for all to see its huge, bare, ugly stucco walls. I love creeping fig and want to set it loose on my house. Is this totally crazy? I promise to care for it, but I get the feeling that is not enough from what I read. Any suggestions on what to plant to soften the walls? Vines, trees, anything. Im very open to suggestions. Thanks! Jennifer |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Am I crazy for planting creeping fig on my house?
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| Yes, you are crazy. Look for something that won't attach directly to your stucco, it can be very destructive. Cat's another big no-no for the house. |
RE: Am I crazy for planting creeping fig on my house?
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| I dont understand, what is cat's? |
RE: Am I crazy for planting creeping fig on my house?
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| Perhaps Azreno is referring to Cat's Claw Vine, Macfadyena unguis-cati which is commonly grown in Arizona. It, too, can be a thug... Rather than have vines attach to your home, would it be possible to run some sort of twine from the roof over-hang to the ground for the plants to attach to? Or maybe installing lattice on a frame an few inches away from your exterior walls? Even some fast-growing shrubs or clumping bamboo could be planted a proper distance away from the foundation to obscure some of the wall. Without knowing where you live and what sort of exposure your wall gets it would be difficult to suggest particular plants that might thrive and give you the coverage you desire... Mike |
RE: Am I crazy for planting creeping fig on my house?
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| Thanks for clairifying Mike. I live in zone 9. Inland Southern California. Temecula, if that means anything! The wall will full get sun from 12 noon on. Our summer temps get up to 100. We never get a freeze. I could definately attach some wire. Ive read the lavender starflower will grow up. Any thoughts? Thanks again, Jen |
RE: Am I crazy for planting creeping fig on my house?
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| That's a tough one. You get some pretty hot temps down there in the summer, with the Santa Ana's and all... And the full sun of your near desert area... I really like a lovely Morning Glory species, Blue Dawn Flower. It may be a perennial for you, but here in Sacramento it dies back to the ground every winter. It has very nice green leaves that don't seem to yellow nearly as much as some of the annual species and the flowers are large and reminiscent of Heavenly Blues. It would probably need lots of water in your area and the blue flowers fade to a pinkish tinge when the hot sun begins bearing down... It also has excellent coverage in the right conditions. The first time I saw it was before it was readily available in this area. The vine was completely covering a large pine downtown. I saw it from a couple blocks away and drove out of my way to get a better look at it. It was gorgeous, but I'm sure it wasn't too great for the tree. Mike |
RE: Am I crazy for planting creeping fig on my house?
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| Oops! Yep, cat's claw :-) What about snail vine? |
RE: Am I crazy for planting creeping fig on my house?
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| Although I know alot of folks over in your area might hate these (due to the thorns), but why not try some bougainvillea up against that wall? If the stucco is (mostly) white, with full blazing desert sun reflecting the heat from it all day, bougies are long caning shrubs that certainly can take it. I've seen some beautiful pictures of them covering walls like that and they are gorgeous in bloom. You could slap up some kind of 2x4 trellis structure against the wall and let the canes lean against it (and you can tie them to it). Once established, you can prune the heck out of it and it will grow back. |
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