Flowering vines that climb nicely over fences, arbors, and trellises are very aesthetic, but the wait before seeing pretty flowers appear can be long.
While some vines require special care and can take several years to establish, but fast growing flowering vines will quickly scale dreary walls or fence, transform trellises into shaded seating areas and keep prying eyes away with their lavish abundance of flowers and magnificent ornamental leaves.
Climbing up at speeds that reach 20 feet a year, or 6.0 meters, perennial vines like showy passion flowers or easy to grow annuals like sweet pea are the perfect solution if you’re after quick results.
Whether they grow in pots or in the ground, flowering climbing plants are an essential element to any garden, and if they grow fast and vigorously, you can enjoy their colorful blooms and decorative leaves in a short time, sometimes even weeks!
Plus, many of them are really easy to grow and suit various soil types and spaces, from sunny spots to shady gardens. You can even grow them as ground cover in some cases, and some are super fragrant as well!
In addition to offering year-round color and fragrance, flowering vines can add a little bucolic and even intimacy to your back or front yard.
Exotic or wild-looking, in all the colors of the rainbow, fast-growing climbing plants are a miracle of Nature, so don’t thank us for finding them… Just read and see what they can do for you!
15 Fast Growing Flowering Vines To Take Your Garden To Gorgeous Heights without the wait
Fast-growing flowering vines bring an ‘instant’ color and dimension to your fence, trellis or arbor, perfect for filling outdoor arbor or trellis ASAP while slower-growing varieties get established.
To grow quickly, you should place them in their favorable places and choose species that are in tune with your hardiness zone.
These 15 climbing vines will grow fast and strong, and they will also give lots of brightly colored and even fragrant flowers without the wait!
1: Morning Glory (Ipomoea indica)
Growing fast well above your head, morning glory will bring its showy blooms high up on your trellises, pergolas or fence within a year. In fact they can grow up to 3 o 6 feet (90 to 180 cm) in a matter of weeks!
And they will open continuously from spring to frost! Trumpet shaped, blue violet with a pink center, the blossoms renew every day, changing color in the afternoon before closing, hence the name.
Each head can be up to 3 to 4 inches across (7.5 to 10 cm), and a single cine will produce loads! This perennial climber is generous with both flowers and leaves, which are heart shaped and deep green.
It will manage any structure, even impossible fences, covering them in a very short time. You can make it grow up on supports, or even use it as a cheap and quick solution for bare soil, as ground cover.
Winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society, morning glory will spring up to the top of your harbor from a simple small seed, which makes it a very cheap choice, but only in terms of money: the display it offers you is all but “cheap”.
2: Passion Flower (Passiflora spp.)
With a growth rate of 20 feet per year (6.0 meters), plant a passion flower by your fence, wall, gazebo or pergola in spring and you will get its exotic flowers in full bloom by the summer, and with vigorous vine that climb up fast and strong.
The very unusual blossoms of this perennial, with their filaments, can be in any color from white to purple, always bright and very eye catching. You will get great results within the first year, including the delicious fruits that dome later in the season.
The leaves are mid green palmate and quite decorative as well, and it is a magnet for pollinators and birds.
Despite its tropical look, passion flower can grow well – and fast – even in fairly temperate regions. A sure stunner, this vine does not even require high maintenance to transform your gate or wall into an exotic haven.
3: Dipladenia (Mandevilla boliviensis)
Growing up to 10 feet (3.0 meters) in its first season, dipladenia, or mandevilla, is a fast success gardening vine that’s seeing a massive explosion of popularity in recent years…
Its large funnel shaped flowers in colors from white to flaming red are surely a reason for this and you can now find it in most shops, even supermarkets.
From Bolivia and Ecuador to your garden where it will cling to trellises, suitable for containers, it also has very shiny, dark green leaves, elliptical and about 4 inches long (10 cm).
Winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society, it requires average maintenance and pruning in late winter by cutting side shoots for a great blossom comeback next year.
Suitable for exotic gardens, dipladenia can also adapt well to any informal garden style, with few exceptions, like naturalized or wild looking green spaces,mas long as you live in a warm region.
4: Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus)
Being an annual, sweet pea will reach maturity and its full height, up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) in a few months! And it will also start its huge display of colorful blooms literally in weeks!
Plant the little peas and you will get a sea of scented flowers in a range of colors that is literally mind blowing: from white to dark purple including warm shades as well as blue and violet.
The foliage on the vine is bright green and fresh looking, which is really in tune with the overall look of this marathon bloomer. And don’t forget to collect the seeds to plant them again next year!
Sweet peas are ideal for low maintenance natural looking spaces or even in vegetable gardens; it brings you a corner of heaven without any hassle, and it has been a garden favorite for centuries now, so, the range of cultivars and hybrids is huge as well.
5: Clematis (Clematis spp.)
Some varieties of clematis can climb up to 20 feet (6.0 meters) in a single year! That will cover even the tallest trellis or pergola. And with the most showy flowers ever, in colors from white to purple with cold range (blue, violet) included.
Some cultivars like the white and magenta rose ‘Doctor Ruppel’ have blossoms of up to 8 inches across (20 cm)!
Their floral displays will last for the whole season, especially if you choose an early flowering type. For the rest, just pick the shape and colors you like most, and enjoy its magnificent shows.
Shade loving and reliable, clematis can work well in both exotic and temperate looking gardens. Make sure its roots are in a fresh spot, because that will enhance its blooms.
6: Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
Growing fast to up to 10 feet (3.0 meters) mainly between May and June, Japanese knotweed can even become invasive in some regions, thanks to its natural strength and vigor. But this also means big and generous blooms early on, and high up in the air.
The little cream white to very pale yellow flowers come in large clusters, like delicate clouds against the dense, regular and decorative bright to mid green foliage. The leaves are large and heart shaped, a beauty in their own right.
Japanese knotweed is a fast growing vine that suits informal, temperate looking gardens, thanks to its wild appearance, like you would find in a forest, under the tall canopied of trees.
7: Rambling Rose (Rosa spp.)
Unlike English or hybrid tea roses, rambling varieties grow very fast and produce long stems each year.
Of course, these fill with beautiful, often fragrant blooms, in all warm shades and white, some single, some double and sometimes blossoming for months on end!
Popular varieties are the white to soft yellow ‘Malvern Hills’, the simple looking ‘Kiftsgate’, and the very romantic ‘Kew Rambler’ with pink petals that fade to white in the center.
Great producers of hips, which you can eat, and with lush foliage, this type of rose is usually also healthier than smaller varieties.
Rambling roses can easily be trained to grow on trellises, or you can use them to grow big shrub like clumps – the choice is yours. They are suitable for informal and traditional looking styles, like English and cottage gardens.
8: Nasturtium (Tropaeolum major)
Nasturtium will reach its full length, up to 10 feet, or 3.0 meters, in a single year. An annual, in fact, with generous blossoms of sweet looking and fresh smelling, round and funnel shaped bright orange, yellow or red flowers that pop their little heads just above the foliage.
The leaves are very attractive as well… Round (or orbicular) and bright green, with a tender look, they form a perfect shelter for other plants, especially bulbs.
And you can eat both the flower buds and the unripe seed pods! Actually, do because they are very nutritious…
Nasturtium is a great creeper and a reliable climber, so you can use it on trellises and walls, but also as ground cover, in any informal, natural looking (even vegetable) garden setting.
9: Honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.)
Honeysuckle vines can grow between 9 and 12 feet every year (2.7 to 3.6 meters), depending on the variety, but still, quite a lot!
Vigorous but not invasive, it offers you elegant, long and arching trumpet shaped flowers in clusters, in many colors, from white to purple, and the orange cultivar ‘Mandarin’ has received the famous Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.
The lush foliage appears as copper in spring, but then it turns to glossy and dark green, and the oval shape of the leaves give it a very soft and welcoming texture.
Ideal for arbors, trellises and wall sides, honeysuckle is a low maintenance vine that grows fast and blooms regularly, with a herbaceous look that also adapts to exotic looking gardens, but it is cold hardy!
10: Potato Vine (Solanum laxum ‘Album’)
Closely related to the humble potato, this fast growing ornamental vine has an extra touch compared to the vegetable garden variety… It produces large clusters of snow white, star shaped flowers with a golden dot in the middle.
The blossoms can even last all year round in midl climates, and even in colder ones, they will keep you company from early summer to frost. Dark fruits will follow, quite decorative but inedible.
The foliage is semi evergreen, glossy, small and dark green. It has also received the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Vigorous but well behaved, potato vine will soon climb over your partition wall or trellis, as long as you grow it in a south facing and sheltered position.
11: Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans)
Taking only six months to one year to reach its mature height of 10 feet (3.0) meters, trumpet vine is both fast growing and flowering – and a lot! It is also self clinging, so you don’t need to train it.
And the blooms, 3 inches long (7.5 cm) and, of course trumpet shaped, come in small clusters at the tips of the stems with their orange beauty that displays shades of pale and dark.
These point up, and they are favorites, even synonymous with hummingbirds. The pinnate, bright to mod green foliage, forms a dense backdrop with a lovely, fine and elegant texture.
Very popular in Mediterranean gardens, trumpet vine is also excellent against soil erosion. But don’t worry if your green space has a different style: it will fit in anyway and it’s also fairly cold hardy!
12: Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius)
Everlasting pea, or perennial sweet pea, will grow to 9 feet (2.7 meters) in two years, most of which in the first one. With larger blooms than the annual variety, about 1 inch across (2.5 cm), the pink, magenta and even white blossoms will open on racemes for a shorter time, but they come back year after year!
The vines are vigorous, healthy and strong. If you like the sweet pea look, and you want a permanent solution for your trellis, pergola or fence, it is the climber you need.
However, this low maintenance winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society does not have the fragrance you get from its close relative.
Deadhead the blooms of everlasting pea after they are spent to prolong its blossom all through the warm season. Grown since the 18th Century, this old garden classic can even function as ground cover.
13: Star Jasmine (Travhelospermum jasminoides)
Growing faster than common jasmine, star jasmine is a strong vine with super fragrant small white flowers. And really loads of them! They will literally cover the whole plant in spring, but their display does not end here.
In fact, the blossoms come back literally all year round, though in smaller numbers. It can grow to a considerable size, and you can smell it from a distance.
This too is a self clinging climber, with small, dark green and very glossy elliptical leaves. No wonder it has won the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society!
Native of China and Japan, star jasmine is ideal for privacy, to climb walls and pergolas, and you can propagate it by semi hardwood cuttings. It needs some pruning in spring to keep strong and generous with its intoxicating blooms.
14: Swamp Leather Flower (Clematis crispa)
Closely related to clematis, swamp leather flower does not look like it, but it grows fast and vigorously, especially in its first year. The blooms are nodding, bell shaped and on the blue to violet range, and they come individually on the vine for a very, very long time!
They attract lots of pollinators, especially early and late in the season, an added bonus for your garden! And they are followed by decorative and fluffy seed heads. The foliage is finely textured, thanks to the pinnate leaves with 3 to 5 ovate leaflets each.
Swamp leather flower is a self clinging vine, and many gardeners like it to grow over shrubs, but you can use any support you like, a trellis, a pergola, or even walls. Prune back in late winter or early spring for best results.
15: Chocolate Vine (Akebia quinata)
Maybe not as fast growing as the other vines in this list, chocolate vine will still reach important heights in a fairly short time. And we want to add it because it has a unique look, fresh and lush at the same time.
The unusual blooms with three petals that open like deep spoons are of a vibrant purple color, and they smell of chocolate… This contrasts but also fits in harmoniously with the bright green, and rich foliage, that loos very much like that of peas and beans.
Sausage shaped, violet seed pods will then close the season with a final show, and a point of interest that lasts till late in the season.
The judges of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society have recognized its exceptional garden value by awarding it the important prize.
Perfect for privacy thanks to its dense foliage, chocolate vine will climb over pergolas and trellises giving you shade and that very appetizing aroma for open air breakfast or early garden parties.
Fast Growing Vines for Flowers, Shade and Privacy
…Or sometimes as ground cover… These vines will grow fast and blossom profusely, and they will solve your privacy, shade and it will soften walls and fences.
All vigorous and reliable, they offer you a fast, colorful and sometimes even very fragrant solution!
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.
Japanese Knot Wood should be removed immediately from this list. Knot weed is banned in many states, and is always frowned upon because It’s a super invassive species ruining property (banks won’t give loans for property if Knot Weed is found there because it’s so hard to get rid of).
Please DO NOT USE or RECOMMEND using knot weed. Why don’t you add the beautifully non-invassive Major Wheeler Honeysuckle , which is not only not invassive, it’s native to North America.