Any flowering vine recommendations? (SoCal Climate)

Tom

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Thanks all, I’m going to look for the flowers. I really don’t want to have to manage the gape vine esp if it grows large. Too risky for the dogs…
I don't know what would happen if a dog ate a stomach full of ripe grapes, but they are not toxic. We had an English bulldog that would work for grapes and he lived to be almost 15 years old. I have grape vines encircling a section of my back yard and I have all sorts of dogs coming and going back there every day.

I can assure you that growing grape vines will not harm your dogs any more than any of these other plants we are talking about. They are a terrific source of tortoise food. I use the leaves as substrate in my brooder boxes for starting hatchlings, and I clip branches to put into all the baby enclosures for them to nibble on and hide in. You are dismissing the best plant for what you are asking for for reasons that are not valid. Grape vines are a huge part of my tortoise keeping strategy, and I don't ever deal with grapes. I think you've got the wrong idea in your imagination and if you give it a try, you will see how easy and beneficial it is.

Another problem with any decorative vine is that all store bought decorative plants are grown with systemic pesticides that last for a year in the plant's tissues and cannot be washed off. That is why I was asking Rosemary about cuttings from her established plant. Because grape vines are intended for human food, they don't come with these nasty systemic pesticides in them.
 

SinLA

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True, but that would be the case with anything I plant that comes from a nursery.

In any case, I have friends who have grapevines in their yards and its just not the option for me...
 

Tom

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True, but that would be the case with anything I plant that comes from a nursery.

In any case, I have friends who have grapevines in their yards and its just not the option for me...
Okay. I surrender. Perhaps you can get leaves from them once in a while. Mulberry leaves are another good one to clip from friends and neighbors trees. They grow like a bad weed and cutting them back is a big chore, so most people who have a mulberry tree on their property will be happy to have you cut off branches for them.
 

SinLA

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I hadn't thought of that! I was actually at a friends on Sunday and she was complaining about her grape vine, but I didn't think to ask for leaves. Will do that next time!
 

RosemaryDW

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The ones for sale at the store will be full of the usually systemic pesticides. Cuttings from an established plant like yours would be good to go immediately. I want to plant them inside the enclosure, but with some protection around the base until it gains some size. I'm sure leaves and flowers will drop off and the torts will have access to them. I plan to start them in pots when I find a good source plant, and transfer to the ground when they outgrow their pots.
Ah. It's been a while but I imagine we bought ours at the Tree of Life nursery in San Juan Capistrano. Native plants only, no pesticides; we get our milkweed there so it can go straight to the caterpillars. But you want more than one and probably no long drive. :)
 

SinLA

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Updating this old thread - I planted honeysuckle a year ago and no regrets! Much less messy than grapes and though it is not blooming hugely right now, but does have some flowers and they are a big favorite of Fezzik's... (the giant bush next to it is a type of blue hibiscus, alyogyne huegelii, which has different types of leaves from the tropical ones but it grows super fast in my yard).

Here is a video of him going first thing for the honeysuckle this morning:

 

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RosemaryDW

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Thanks for the update! Is this "regular" yellow honeysuckle? We've been working hard with a California native chaparral honeysuckle (such pretty flowers) but it's been slow growing. Then last spring we rented a house in central California had a huge one only a couple of years old. Makes me feel we are doing something wrong.
 

SinLA

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Thanks for the update! Is this "regular" yellow honeysuckle? We've been working hard with a California native chaparral honeysuckle (such pretty flowers) but it's been slow growing. Then last spring we rented a house in central California had a huge one only a couple of years old. Makes me feel we are doing something wrong.
It is called Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). but it looks like its native to the SE USA, not CA:

 

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