Cuttings of climbing plants

The Reef
1

hi all,

as we were talking about climbing plants in the last PM, i was thinking to try to make some cuttings, so in a few years we have some descent plants to plant. Now is a good time in the year to do it, or in autumn (i think)

@joannes : do you know if I could access some young branches from your beautiful climbing plant ?
Do you also happen to know the name of your plant?

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of course you can. It’s a “wilde wingerd” Wilde wingerd of Parthenocissus: Alles over snoei en verzorging or a “Virginia creeper” https://claude.ai/share/3ad99a23-6d1d-4ba4-a722-bf2a7f6fe6d1

Last weekend, I visited the van Buuren Museum in Uccle and look what I saw: another Virginia Creeper, this one maybe a century old.

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Hi there!

When I looked into this I unfortunately found out that “vigne vierge” is an invasive exotic species and that you actually can’t use it :disappointed_relieved:. You can see that in the guide of Bruxelles Environnement (right at the end):

Si des espèces indigènes ne conviennent pas au projet, on s’orientera vers des espèces ou variétés exotiques/horticoles qui devront nécessairement répondre aux exigences suivantes pour fournir une fonction écologique satisfaisante :

Ne pas être une espèce reconnue comme espèce exotique envahissante ou qu’il y ait des doutes sur son caractère invasif en Belgique ou dans des régions limitrophes. Exemples à proscrire : Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Fallopia baldschuanica, Akebia quinata…

From this document though, it looks like “vigne commune” (Vitis vinifera) might be ok (although it attracts wasps…).

A few other points to note:

  • you have to take into account the weight of the whole thing and mechanical constraints. Maybe we need to consult somebody on this (facilitateur?)
  • if we don’t want to have to add a supporting structure, the plants they suggest are ivy (lière) and climbing hortensia. Although in the PDF with the list they say that a support is recommended, but that’s not what is said in other places.
  • ivy we can get anywhere, and is even already on the site. I think it requires a lot of maintenance though (cutting).
  • climbing hortensia grows to a height of 5-10 meters and spreads up to 3-5 meters. I guess that’s enough in terms of height? And to cover the whole of the left whole we would need 15-20 plants (but I can’t remember for sure how long is the site?). And then for all the walls about the same??
    But anyway I saw one in the street and it’s possible to make boutures (see here)
  • ivy is an ever green plant so at some point you don’t see the bricks anymore

Other options maybe (unclear whether or not you need a support): bignone

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