Add a vertical touch to your garden by growing Climbing Plants in Pots. These 35 Best Vines for Containers are perfect for both small and big gardens!
Here’s an exclusive list of the Best Vines for Containers that you can grow in the smallest of spaces. Adorn your patio, balcony, rooftop or backyard garden with these today! Growing these climbing plants in pots will also save you from controlling their invasiveness.
Check out some cool Indoor Vines & Climbers here
Best Vines for Containers
1. English Ivy
Botanical Name: Hedera Helix
USDA Zones: 4-10
English ivy is one of the best climbers for containers in the shade. Its ability to adapt to all types of conditions makes it an excellent choice for beginners. You can learn how to grow English ivy indoors in this article!
Note: All parts of English ivy are toxic if ingested.
Discover the best English ivy varieties here
2. Morning Glory
Botanical Name: Ipomoea purpurea
USDA Zones: 3-11 (Perennial in warmer zones, but can be grown as an annual in all climates)
Morning glories are a good option and one of the best creepers or vines for containers. This old-fashioned plant is easy to grow and can even survive in a standard 12 inches pot.
Check out the names of the best morning glory varieties here
3. Clematis
Botanical Name: Clematis
USDA Zones: 4-9
Clematis is the perfect plant to add vertical height and interest to any container garden. Fertilize this plant regularly and make sure to always water it thoroughly and deeply. Check out some of the best clematis varieties here!
Learn how to grow clematis in pots here
4. Virginia Creeper
Botanical Name: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
USDA Zones: 4-9
Virginia Creeper’s foliage turns into a beautiful crimson red in the autumn. You can also grow it in a pot, even on a balcony. It improves privacy too!
These are the best red foliage plants
5. Climbing Hydrangea
Botanical Name: Hydrangea anomala petiolaris
USDA Zones: 4-9
Climbing hydrangea is a great option if you live in the USDA Zones 4-9. It is shade tolerant and can be grown in partially shaded spots.
6. Trumpet Vine
Botanical Name: Campsis radicans
USDA Zones: 4-10
This fast-growing vine is considered a weed in some parts due to its invasiveness. Trumpet vine is more suitable for warm temperate zones, but it can easily acclimatize and grow in cooler regions.
7. Bougainvillea
Botanical Name: Bougainvillea
USDA Zones: 9-11
Bougainvillea is not a vine but a climbing shrub. You can also grow it as an annual to give a tropical touch to your container garden. It grows best in full sun in medium to large pots.
See the best drought tolerant plants here
8. Honeysuckle
Botanical Name: Lonicera
USDA Zones: 5-9
Most of the honeysuckle varieties are evergreen in warmer climates. When growing honeysuckle in pots, place the plant in full sun and do regular watering.
9. Wisteria
Botanical Name: Wisteria
USDA Zones: 5-9
Wisteria is one of the most popular vines and it grows best in a moderately cool climate. By providing solid support to the wisteria vine and some space you can grow it in a large container.
10. Common Jasmine
Botanical Name: Jasminum officinale
USDA Zones: 7-11
It is easy to grow in containers and requires well-draining soil and warmth to thrive. This most fragrant flower usually blooms in summer in cool climates, but jasmine flowers for almost all the year in warm, frost-free climates.
11. Confederate Jasmine
Botanical Name: Trachelospermum jasminoides
USDA Zones: 8-10
Similar to other jasmines, it also likes a warm climate and exposure to the sun. The beautiful star-shaped flowers appear in clusters.
12. Climbing Rose
Botanical Name: Rosa
USDA Zones: 5-11
Climbing roses bloom prolifically and many varieties have a pleasant rosy scent too. Prune the plant regularly to keep it looking attractive.
13. Mandevilla
Botanical Name: Mandevilla spp.
USDA Zones: 10-11
Its funnel-shaped flowers appear all summer. It requires a warm climate to thrive, but you can still grow it as an annual in cooler zones.
14. Cup and Saucer Vine
Botanical Name: Cobaea scandens
USDA Zones: 9-11
Cup and saucer vine is a fast-growing flowering plant that is native to Mexico. It blooms prolifically but to do this the plant needs an optimal bright location.
15. Passion Flower
Botanical Name: Passiflora
USDA Zones: 5-11
If you prefer an exotic flair and extraordinary flowers, the passionflower is the right choice for you. It is important that you provide it sufficient sun.
16. Black-Eyed Susan Vine
Botanical Name: Thunbergia alata
USDA Zones: 10-11
It is a perennial vine hardy in frost free regions that requires a sunny place and a trellis to climb on. Black-eyed Susan is ideal if you want colorful flowers and privacy in your container garden.
17. Dutchman’s Pipe
Botanical Name: Aristolochia durior
USDA Zones: 4-10
If you are looking for an unusual plant for your container garden, plant the Dutchman’s pipe. The heart-shaped foliage also provides interest apart from flowers.
18. Butterfly Pea
Botanical Name: Clitoria ternatea
USDA Zones: 10-11
Butterfly pea is a tropical vine and grows best in USDA Zones 10 and 11. In a cold temperate zone, grow this perennial as an annual.
19. Moonflower
Botanical Name: Ipomoea alba
USDA Zones: 10-12
Moonflower is a fantastic night-blooming plant with large trumpet-shaped fragrant flowers. Place the pot near your patio or bedroom window to enjoy its fragrance.
20. Snapdragon Vine
Botanical Name: Maurandya scandens
USDA Zones: 9-10
You can also use this vine in hanging baskets or as a groundcover. This is more of a warm climate plant and is often grown as an annual in temperate zones.
21. Canary Creeper
Botanical Name: Tropaeolum peregrinum
USDA Zones: 9-11
The canary creeper has a long blooming period from summer to fall and even more in warm subtropical regions where it is perennial (USDA Zone 9 and higher).
22. Sweet Pea
Botanical Name: Lathyrus odoratus
USDA Zones: 3-8
Grow sweet peas in warm zones in fall and winter. In temperate zones, plant this fragrant vine in spring or summer. When growing in containers, choose bush-type varieties.
23. Sweet Autumn Clematis
Botanical Name: Clematis terniflora
USDA Zones: 4-11
Sweet autumn clematis vine forms masses of amazingly fragrant flowers from late summer to fall. You can grow this vine in both the cold and warm climates (USDA Zones 4-11) as an annual or perennial.
24. Snail Vine
Botanical Name: Cochliasanthus caracalla
USDA Zones: 9-11
This beautiful tropical vine has rare snail-like fragrant flowers that are white in the beginning and later unfurl to lavender-pink.
25. Cardinal Climber
Botanical Name: Ipomoea × multifida
USDA Zones: 10-12 (Can be grown as annual in cold climates)
This beautiful annual vine blooms during the day and closes in the evening in mid-summer. It offers cardinal-red flowers and fern-like foliage.
26. Common Grape Vine
Botanical Name: Vitis vinifera
USDA Zones: 6-11
Native to Southwest Asia, it offers harvestable delicious fruits that can be consumed fresh, dried into raisins, or pressed into wine. Select a sunny location and use well-draining soil.
27. Boston Ivy
Botanical Name: Parthenocissus tricuspidata
USDA Zones: 4-8
This easy-to-grow climbing vine looks stunning with its colorful foliage. It thrives well in full sun to partial shade in dry to medium, well-draining soil.
28. Mexican Flame Vine
Botanical Name: Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides
USDA Zones: 9a-11b
This fast-growing annual vine flowers vigorously and produces daisy-like blooms. Keep the pot in full sun and well-hydrated.
29. Purple Bell Vine
Botanical Name: Rhodochiton atrosanguineus
USDA Zones: 10-11
This beautiful vine offers purple, dangling, narrow-shaped blooms in your container garden on thread-like delicate stems. The heart-shaped green leaves enhance its overall beauty.
30. Nepal Ivy
Botanical Name: Hedera nepalensis
USDA Zones: 7-10
Nepal ivy is a woody, evergreen, trailing, perennial vine. It shows off lacy gray-green, heart-shaped leaves in deep shade to full sun.
31. Cypress Vine
Botanical Name: Ipomoea quamoclit
USDA Zones: 11-12
This flowering vine boasts small, dainty, papery, star-shaped blossoms in red, pink, or white shades and feathery fern-like leaves. Grow it under full sun in well-draining soil.
32. Sky Blue Cluster Vine
Botanical Name: Jacquemontia pentanthos
USDA Zones: 9-11
Native to Florida, the sky blue cluster vine is an evergreen perennial. You can plant this climber in partial shade to full sun. It displays green foliage and funnel-shaped sky-blue flowers.
33. Bluebell Creeper
Botanical Name: Billardiera heterophylla
USDA Zones: 10-11
Grow this semi-hardy, climbing, evergreen vine in a lightly sheltered location in well-draining, humus-rich soil. This vine flowers in spring through summer.
34. Pandora Vine
Botanical Name: Pandorea jasminoides
USDA Zones: 9-11
This fast-growing vine offers tubular pink-white blooms in spring and summer. Grow it in full sun near a patio or porch in containers.
35. Tropical Bleeding Heart Vine
Botanical Name: Clerodendrum thomsoniae
USDA Zones: 9-11
Tropical Bleeding Heart Vine is also popular as a bleeding glory bower, bag flower, and glory bower. It shows off blooms like a drop of red blood emitting from the heart-shaped calyx. You can also grow it as an annual in colder regions.
Some lovely suggestions there. I am a huge fan of the scented snail vine for around patios, and also climbing rose Zephrine Droughin which is the only true thornless rose and has the added bonus of being very fragrant.
There are a few (morning glory and cup and saucer vine and certain varieties of clematis) that are banned in our country of New Zealand as our climate is too temperate to cause die-back and so they seed too freely and smother our native forests.
I have 4 cats and wonder if any of these vines are toxic to cats and dogs and children.
Morning Glory is poisonous for cats.
Black eyed Susan, toxic to catd
i love hydrangea
I live in Daly City ca. which is nr, san Francisco a. what is the best climbing vail to grow (near the beach)in container Lucy Rios
Your area will love sweet pea or passion flowers. Happy growing!!
Watch out for the Virginia Creeper. It affects somed people like Poison Ivy.
Can you suggest how to make your vine grow around a basket? My plant is in a pot, I live in rented house and don’t want to leave it here in case.. Its honeysuckle I think, we call it madhabilata. Please tell me the material best for the basket, plastic or metal or bamboo and caring for the plant after its wrapped around the basket. Thanks a lot for your time.
That is a great idea. How can be
Keeped in winte?
You can also use these climbing plants as a decoration to make your house beautiful.
Gud article but from where we can buy these plants at reasonable prices
The clematis are so beautiful! I would love to grow some of them in a pot with something purple. It’s pretty cold where we live, so I guess it could be an indoor plant in winter.
WARNING!!!! INVASIVE PLANTS listed here should ALWAYS be managed in a pot. The “trumpet vine” and the “wisteria” for starters. YES some are poisonous to animals. PLEASE do your research before planting weather it be in pots or in your yard
vine. They may even be sold as the same plant in some garden centers. Dipladenia plants are slightly more shrubby in appearance, with smaller leaves that are a deep glossy green. Both plants are grown the same way and can be used for similar purposes in containers.
How wide / deep should cedar box be built to accommodate Virginia Creeper to successfully overwinter? (Box would be 38 – 40″ long). Thank you.
Where can you find Dutchman’s pipe? Or how to you grow a cutting from a plant? I love it but cannot find it in any of the garden stores.
I had a small vine that I grew in a container with a heart shaped support for it to vine around. I had 1 pink and a red one. I can’t think of the name of it and can’t find it in a catalog. Can anyone tell me what it was?
great i think dutch rose is more beautiful flower that i knoww
@Angel: I’m glad you pointed out the invasive nature of several of these vines. I once lived in a home where I continuously battled trumpet vines. They popped up all over the yard. Mowing them seemed to only strengthen their root systems, which are massive. Pulling each one and trying to follow the roots seemed to be the only way to remove them. On the other hand, I once had a Sweet Autumn clematis on my back fence. I didn’t know what it was at first. The fence was overgrown with various vines and I cut them all back. The next fall, much to my delight, I had a huge cloud of tiny white flowers that appeared to float just above the fence. The main thing is for everyone to do their research before planting! My aunt and uncle loved trumpet vines and actually took some starter plants from my yard to plant in their yard.
@Dotti Timkey You can buy seeds on Etsy (and probably other places). I’ve never seen the plant in a nursery but they are available online for shipping for about $15. Good luck!
I grew the Mandevilla spp. in pots on my front porch with a small trellis in each one. Fast growing vine like growth with Beautiful burgundy flowers all summer that the humming birds loved. It can overwinter if you bring indoors or garage for the winter here in Georgia. Left mine out this past year & the freeze killed them.