Growing Shade. Vines on the Pergola.

The story 2009 through to 2015 and continuing.

Great beauty is one thing.  But the Iron Pergola along the north side of the house also has a practical use.  It provides important climate control.  Maximum warm sun into the house in winter is important. Summer provides a fierce challenge, so shade and shelter is necessary.

Getting quick growth is what we want and grapevines will do what we need.  "Ornamental" grapes are beautiful, provide autumn colour, but don't drop great wet dollops of fruit onto the terrace, nor do they attract the wasps.

The problem here is as always.  It's the ground.  Gravel is tough for any plant, especially establishing.   Cold winters and hot desert summers don't help.  Luckily we had the big digger so it only took a few minutes to get some big holes and then each had about half a trailer load of 'superdirt'ei

Vines on pergola.  December 2009.  Compost to replace the gravel

Largely the vines are selected for autumn colour.     There are five plants:

Three:        Vitis Amuriensis

One:           Vitis vinifera 'purpurea'  (Claret vine Tienturier grape)

One:           Vitis coignetiae.  (Japanese Crimson Glory Vine)

Planting was quick.

Vines on pergola.  27th December 2009

Growth was even better. Two months and about one meter.  Notice the second vine from the right (Claret Vine) is showing autumn colour already in February.  It's only going to go better as autumn comes on.  Notice the irrigation pipe for the drippers.  Later in the year a new sprinkler system for the lawn will do that job.

Vines on pergola.  21st February 2010.

By May 2010 the vines were well up over the pergola.  About two meters of growth in less than five months.  Notice the autumn colours.

Grape vines on pergola.  15th May 2010

Next summer the vine will be well along the pergola.  And providing lots of shade.

Grape vines on pergola.  May 2010.

When the leaves went, I trimmed all the side branches at the base of each vine right off.  Might not be the best thing for rapid growth.  Any leaf assists the plant growth.  But I also seek the vine to have a large standard trunk, with no leaves, right up to the canopy overhead.  I want all the leaves to be overhead on the canopy.  So it's a risk.

One clearly dumb thing I did though was to accidently snip the leader of the middle vine.  At about a meter from the ground.  A seasons growth lost.

Grape vines on pergola.  July 2010

30th December 2010.  One year after planting

Vine growth took off vigourously during late spring and early summer.

19th March 2011.  End of the summer growth and Autumn colour well begun.

Over the summer the prime task was to prune the wild laterals and ensure there was a sensible pattern of growth over the framework.  We did not want to end up with a nest of spaghetti.  Attention in the first year would make maintaining the vines in very easy future years.

10th April 2011.  Autumn leaf colour on an Autumn misty morning.

24th July 2011.  Winter Frost.  Vines trimmed back.  Ready for the next year.

The growth difference between varieties is quite marked. 

2011.  High Summer.  Vitis Amuriensis on left.  Vitis vinifera 'purpurea', Claret vine Tienturier grape on the right.

The Vitis Amuriensis on the left above is quite vigorous.  Vitis vinifera 'purpurea', Claret vine Tienturier grape, on the center right above has been quite disappointing.   The Claret vine is about to go.

Vitis coignetiae, Japanese Crimson Glory Vine on the left

The Vitis coignetiae, Japanese Crimson Glory Vine, on the left, has also been disappointing.

Colour has not been very interesting.  Leaves are often torn, grainy and unattractive, and the habit of the plant is scrappy with lots of gaps between leaf cover.  This one is about to go as well.

Grape vines for pergola.  12th April 2012.

In July 2012 plants two and four, (counting from the left) were removed completely.  Leaving only three vines, all Vitis Amuriensis.

Vines for pergola.  January 2012.  Doggie gets in the frame.

Grape vines for pergola.  9th April 2012.  Nice Autumn colour.

The 20 mm rods along which the branches are trained are about 700 mm apart.  Which may be too much of a gap.  See the photo above.

There would be full coverage if I allowed shoots and vine branches to cross and criss cross between.  But that ends in an untidy mess, and does not look good in winter.  So I am thinking of putting in three more rods between which means they will be about 350mm apart.  A vine branch along each rod will give very solid shade with it's leaves.

Winter 2012.  Three new rods added giving a new spacing of about 350 mm.

I will have to develop new branches along each new rod.  But given the vigour of the grapevine that will not be hard to do.  We will see how that develops.

March 2013.  Success with extra cover.

It worked.  There is a very good shade cover now.  Some of the new rods have yet to have a vine branch along their full length.  But we will get there.

The leaves will fall in May.  Plenty of sun will come in the winter.

April 2013.  Technicolour grapevines.  But why are they different colours.  Read below.

You can see in the photo above that there are different autumn colours on the pergola.  You might think it's because of different plants.  Or even soil.  But there are only three grape plants.  And the one in the middle grows left and right.  But left branches are pink and right branches are crimson.  Explain that to me.  Because I can't explain it.   

Winter sunrise.  August 2013

Winter August 2013.  Vines pruned right back.

Every year after the leaves fall the summer growth is pruned back.  Leaving only the trunks and main branches.

June 2014.  After the leaves fall.  Before the laterals are pruned

June 2014.  After the winter prune of the laterals.

The vines have grown well in four and a half years.   Eventually they will have trunks thicker than the leg of a human.  Which is the reason that they have been planted well away from the pillars.  They will become very large and will need the room.

June 2014.  the post is 50mm x 50mm

June 2014.  Thickness at four and half years

April 2015.  This summer has been very hot and there has been a drought.  But the vines have continued to increase coverage and now I can now saw coverage is complete.  April here is Autumn, and the colour is just amazing.

April 2015.  Coverage is good.

We live in the South Pacific and the light here is bright and the air is so clear it will burn your skin in minutes.  But this is enough coverage to give protection and we can live outside underneath.

April 2015

You will notice in the photo below the shade on the side of the house.  This means the summer heat and sunshine doesn't come into the house.  When the leave fall in the winter the sun will come inside, and in winter that is just what we want.

April 2015

April 2015

Before the sun came on in that morning the colour was quite surreal.   Quite appropriate for April 25th.  Anzac Day in New Zealand.  100 years after Gallipoli.

Every day several people around the world google the words "Grape Vine for Pergola"  or similar, and then end up reading this post.  I am most interested to hear what people think and how their own projects progress.  And I can answer questions.

Use the comments link below.

To be continued.