Vines can be classified in various ways. Vines, in a lot of cases, are planted to cover things up. Retaining walls, rock walls or any harsh surface that you would like to soften is a great place for a vine. Vines can also help give texture to pergolas and other landscaping structures.
Erik Helland of Landscape Garden Center in Sioux Falls categorizes vines into two types: the twiners variety and the little suction cup variety.
“The twiners are going to be ones that will, when they get their paws on something, just kind of curl themselves around it,” Helland said. “And what they're going to do is they're going to hold tight and then continue to grow and keep on searching for the next spot to fill in. The leaves are being used for moving food and creating food for the plant. Then the vines grow extremely, extremely fast when you have good moisture and the right sunlight. Another vine, I call these the little suction cups. They're almost like an octopus. They'll put little suction cups onto whatever surface. So these are vines that you can use on concrete walls, boulder walls, even wood structures. They'll also have cool fall color. And these types of vines, you are not going to be messing around with. You're going to let them go. And then when they die back, you might have to trim out a little bit of the dead the following spring or once they get going.”
Helland also says that vines like to have cool feet, which means it’s important to keep their roots from drying out during the day. Morning sun is great - or even afternoon or evening sun - but remember to mulch around the vines’ base so the roots are kept cool. Mulch also helps to retain moisture. Vines such as clematis or other twiners may need to be trained the first year to follow a trellis, and you’ll want to keep the vine from bunching up. As the plant gets established, it will grow along the arbor or trellis. If you are growing the vine up a fence or hard surface, a bit of chicken wire will give the vine a path to follow as it grows.