Flowering Vines by Zone: Clematis, Wisteria, Jasmine and More

Updated September 2026 · Garden Advice Guide

Picking flowering vines by zone means checking two things the tag rarely puts side by side: whether the vine survives your winter, and whether you can build something strong enough to hold it. Clematis, coral honeysuckle, climbing hydrangea and trumpet vine all handle zone 4 winters. Asian wisteria and English ivy start at zone 5, maypop passion flower at zone 6, and blue passion flower at zone 7. The support question is just as decisive. A clematis will not climb a 4 inch post, a mature wisteria will crush a vinyl arbor, and climbing hydrangea and trumpet vine glue themselves to whatever they touch. Most vines that fail were planted in the right zone on the wrong structure.

Know your zone before you buy. Look up your USDA hardiness zone free, since every range on this page is anchored to that number.

Updated September 2026

Flowering vines by zone: the master table

Ranges below are for the plant group as a whole, stated at the conservative end where nurseries and references disagree. Individual cultivars shift a range, and the notes flag where that matters.

Jasmine is the one vine not in the table because it has its own page: star jasmine, the vine most people mean, is hardy in zones 8 to 10, and our star jasmine hardiness zone guide covers it in full. Climbing roses are also left out, since they are shrubs trained as climbers, and their hardiness and cane protection rules are on our shrubs by zone page.

How each vine climbs decides the support it needs

Every flowering vine uses one of four climbing methods, and the method tells you exactly what structure works. A trellis that suits one vine is useless or even dangerous for another.

Three structural rules sit on top of that table.

Weight grows faster than people expect. A 15 year old wisteria, trumpet vine or climbing hydrangea weighs hundreds of pounds, more when wet or carrying snow. Anchor into posts set in concrete, into masonry or into framing, never into siding or thin lattice.

Twiners keep squeezing. A twining vine thickens every year around whatever it wrapped as a young shoot. Wisteria wrapped around a downspout crushes it, and wisteria wrapped around a porch rail can pull the rail off its fasteners. Keep twiners away from gutters, downspouts, shutters and anything you will ever want to remove.

Clingers stay put. Rootlets and adhesive pads leave marks when pulled off and can work into soft mortar, painted surfaces and the gaps behind siding. Put clinging vines on something you are happy to have them on permanently.

Clematis by zone

Clematis covers the widest zone range of any flowering vine group on this page, from alpine species in zone 3 to evergreen C. armandii in zone 9. What makes clematis confusing is not hardiness but pruning, because the three pruning groups flower on different wood, and the wrong cut removes the year's flowers.

Cold zones should favor Group 3. In zones 3 and 4, winter often kills the top growth of a clematis anyway. A Group 3 vine loses nothing, because it flowers on growth made that same summer. A Group 2 hybrid in the same garden survives, regrows and flowers late and lightly, because its main flush of buds died with the old wood.

Warm zones reward evergreen and viticella types. In zones 8 and 9, many large flowered hybrids weaken in the heat. C. armandii and the viticella types handle southern summers better, especially with afternoon shade.

Roots in shade, flowers in sun. Clematis wants six hours of sun on its leaves and a cool root run, and our guide to full sun vs partial shade shows how to count those hours on a fence or wall. Shade the base with a low perennial or a flat stone, and mulch the root zone. Our mulch guide covers which materials keep soil cool without holding water against the crown.

Plant large flowered hybrids deep. Set the crown 2 to 3 inches below the soil surface. If clematis wilt collapses the stems, buried buds regrow from below ground instead of the plant being lost.

Support: clematis leaf stalks only wrap around thin things. Staple plastic or galvanized mesh over a lattice, run a grid of thin wire across a fence, or let the vine scramble through a sturdy shrub. A clematis planted at the foot of a bare 4 by 4 post piles up at the bottom and never climbs.

Wisteria by zone

Wisteria survives winters from zone 4 to zone 9, but survival and flowering are separate questions. The two Asian species, Chinese and Japanese wisteria, set their flower buds the summer before and open them in mid spring, often before the leaves. In zone 5 a single late frost after the buds swell can take the whole display. American and Kentucky wisteria bloom later, after leaf out, and form flowers on the current season's growth, so a hard winter or a late frost does far less damage.

Why wisteria refuses to bloom. A seedling wisteria can take ten years or longer to flower, so buy a named plant grown from a graft or a cutting. After that, the usual causes are too much shade, too much nitrogen from lawn fertilizer washing into the bed, pruning at the wrong time, and in zones 5 and 6, frost killing the buds of Asian species. Our page on fertilizer numbers explained covers why a high first number on the bag produces leaves instead of flowers. When a spring frost is forecast during bud swell, a frost cover thrown over the lower framework saves part of the bloom, and our guide on how to protect plants from frost covers the technique.

The two cut pruning routine. Asian wisteria flowers on short spurs, so prune twice a year to build them. In summer, after flowering, cut the long whippy new shoots back to about five or six leaves. In late winter, cut those same shoots back again to two or three buds. The fat buds left on the spurs are the flower buds.

Support: wisteria needs the strongest structure of any vine on this page. Use a pergola or arbor built from posts of at least 4 by 4, better 6 by 6, set in concrete, or heavy galvanized pipe. Never grow it on a house wall with gutters, on a vinyl arbor, or up a living tree, which it will eventually girdle and pull down. American and Kentucky wisteria are lighter, but still need a real arbor rather than a decorative trellis. All wisteria is toxic if eaten, and the seeds and pods are the most dangerous part, so keep dropped pods cleaned up where children and pets play.

Climbing hydrangea by zone

Climbing hydrangea is the flowering vine for shade and for cold. It is hardy from zone 4 to zone 8, flowers in early summer with flat white lacecap clusters, and blooms well on a north or east wall where almost no other flowering vine performs. Its peeling cinnamon bark gives it winter interest too.

The catch is patience. It spends one to three years building roots with little visible growth, then climbs quickly, and it can take three to five years to flower. It blooms on old wood, so prune only right after flowering, and only to keep it off windows and eaves.

Support: its rootlets cling to masonry, stone, rough wood and tree bark with no help. Tie young stems to the surface for the first season, since new plants attach slowly. The best surfaces are brick, stone or concrete walls, stout board fences and the trunks of large, healthy trees. Avoid painted siding and wood clapboard, where the vine holds moisture against the house and has to be torn off whenever you paint. Plan for real weight: a mature vine on a freestanding fence needs posts set as firmly as a gate post.

Honeysuckle vine by zone

Honeysuckle is two very different stories. The native and garden hybrids are well behaved, long blooming hummingbird plants that cover zones 3 to 9 between them. Japanese honeysuckle is one of the most invasive vines in North America, smothering native woodlands from New England to Texas, and it is banned from sale in some states. The fragrance is tempting, but it should not be planted anywhere.

• Zones 3 and 4: 'Dropmore Scarlet' is the reliable choice, with coral honeysuckle hardy from zone 4.
• Zones 5 through 8: coral honeysuckle and its cultivars such as 'Major Wheeler' and the yellow 'John Clayton', plus goldflame and woodbine for fragrance.
• Zone 9: coral honeysuckle stays semi evergreen and blooms nearly year round. Woodbine and goldflame fade in the heat.

Honeysuckle vines are prone to two foliage problems. Powdery mildew coats the leaves in late summer, especially in shade with poor air movement, and our powdery mildew treatment guide covers prevention and control. Aphids cluster on new shoot tips and flower buds in spring, handled as in our guide on how to get rid of aphids. Full sun and open air prevent most of both.

Support: honeysuckle twines, so it needs wires, a trellis with narrow members, a mailbox post wrapped in mesh, an arbor or a chain link fence. It is moderately heavy and much easier on a structure than wisteria. Prune right after the main spring flush, removing a few of the oldest stems at the base every couple of years to keep the vine flowering from top to bottom instead of only at the tips.

Passion flower by zone

Passion flower hardiness splits cleanly by species. Maypop, the native Passiflora incarnata, dies to the ground every winter and comes back from roots, which makes it a perennial rather than a woody vine. It is reliably hardy in zones 6 to 10 and survives zone 5 winters under a thick mulch in a sheltered spot. It emerges very late, often not until late May or June, and people dig it up thinking it died. Mark the spot.

Blue passion flower (P. caerulea) is woody and semi evergreen in zones 9 and 10, dies back to the roots in zone 7 winters and regrows, and usually loses only its top growth in zone 8. The fruiting passion fruit (P. edulis) is a zone 10 and 11 plant, and in 9b it survives only against a warm wall with protection on the coldest nights. Maypop fruit is edible too, but for a more dependable harvest from a trellis in cold zones, trained blackberries and raspberries are the better bet, and our berry bushes by zone guide covers their wire supports.

Both maypop and blue passion flower spread by root suckers that pop up several feet from the original plant, sometimes on the far side of a path. Plant them where that is welcome, or in a large sunken container. Both are larval host plants for the Gulf fritillary and other butterflies, so chewed leaves in late summer are a sign of success rather than a pest problem. Our guide on how to attract pollinators covers pairing host plants with nectar plants.

Support: tendrils coil around thin supports only. Chain link, galvanized wire netting, a string trellis or a thin wire grid all work. A wooden lattice with wide slats needs netting stapled over it. Because maypop regrows from the ground each spring, it needs a support that reaches down to soil level.

English ivy by zone

English ivy is hardy in zones 5 to 9, with a few cultivars such as 'Thorndale' and 'Baltica' surviving zone 4. It grows in deep shade, stays evergreen and climbs anything rough with no help. It also flowers, though almost nobody sees it: only the mature, shrubby adult growth at the top of a climbing vine produces the greenish fall flowers and the black berries birds spread into woodlands.

That flowering habit is the core of the problem. Ivy kept as a flat ground cover rarely fruits. Ivy allowed to climb a tree or a wall reaches the adult stage, fruits heavily and seeds into natural areas. It is listed as invasive across much of the country, Oregon prohibits its sale, and Washington restricts several common forms. The leaves and berries are toxic if eaten by children or pets, and the sap can cause an itchy rash, so wear gloves and long sleeves when pulling or pruning it.

On houses and trees. The rootlets work into cracks in older, soft lime mortar and behind siding, and they hold moisture against wood. On trees, a heavy mat of ivy adds weight, hides decay and catches wind, which raises the risk of limb and trunk failure in storms. If ivy is already on a tree, cut every stem at the base in a band at about shoulder height and let the top die in place, rather than tearing it down.

For evergreen coverage on a wall without those problems, star jasmine in zones 8 to 10 needs a wire support rather than clinging to masonry. For a clinging vine in cold zones with spectacular fall color, Virginia creeper (zones 3 to 9) and Boston ivy (zones 4 to 8) cover a wall, though neither flowers in a showy way.

Trumpet vine by zone

Trumpet vine grows in zones 4 to 9, blooms from midsummer to fall with orange to red trumpets that hummingbirds visit all day, and is native across the eastern half of the country. It is also one of the most aggressive vines a homeowner can plant. It climbs by clinging rootlets and twining, reaches 25 to 40 feet, and sends up root suckers many feet from the main plant, including through lawns and under paving.

• Zones 4 and 5: tops can die back in hard winters, and it regrows and flowers on new wood the same summer.
• Zones 6 through 8: fully woody, very vigorous, and the zone where its spread is hardest to manage.
• Zone 9: still vigorous. Chinese trumpet vine is an option here and in zone 7 and 8, with bigger, softer colored flowers and less suckering.

Seed grown trumpet vines can take several years to flower, so buy a named cultivar. Because it blooms on new wood, prune hard in late winter, cutting side shoots back to two or three buds from the main framework. Mow or pull suckers as soon as they appear. Wear gloves and long sleeves for all of this, because the leaves and sap cause an itchy rash in many people, which is why trumpet vine is also called cow itch vine.

Support: trumpet vine belongs on a freestanding structure well away from the house: a heavy post, a steel arbor, a pergola or a masonry wall with nothing behind it to damage. On a house it works under shingles and behind siding, and its weight can pull down a light trellis. Posts should be set in concrete, as for wisteria.

More flowering vines by zone

Flowering vine shortlists by zone

• Zone 3: Clematis alpina and macropetala, virgin's bower, Group 3 clematis in a sheltered spot, 'Dropmore Scarlet' honeysuckle, and Kentucky wisteria 'Blue Moon' as a gamble.
• Zone 4: add large flowered clematis, coral honeysuckle, climbing hydrangea, Kentucky wisteria, trumpet vine and Dutchman's pipe.
• Zone 5: add American wisteria, Asian wisteria for foliage with occasional flowers, Japanese hydrangea vine, goldflame and woodbine honeysuckle, 'Madame Galen' trumpet vine, and maypop under heavy mulch.
• Zone 6: add Clematis montana, reliable Asian wisteria bloom, maypop and crossvine.
• Zone 7: add evergreen clematis, blue passion flower and 'Incense' passion flower as root hardy dieback plants, Carolina jessamine and Chinese trumpet vine.
• Zone 8: add star jasmine, reliable blue passion flower, and climbing hydrangea only in shade.
• Zones 9 and 10: blue passion flower and star jasmine in both, coral honeysuckle, crossvine and Carolina jessamine in zone 9, and in 10, passion fruit, bougainvillea and mandevilla.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most cold hardy flowering vine?

Clematis alpina and macropetala, virgin's bower and 'Dropmore Scarlet' honeysuckle all survive zone 3 winters. Kentucky wisteria 'Blue Moon' is sold as zone 3 hardy, though zone 4 is the safer expectation. For cold climate clematis, choose Group 3 types such as 'Jackmanii', which flower on new growth and lose nothing when winter kills the old stems.

Why won't my wisteria bloom?

The usual causes are a seedling plant that can take ten years or more to mature, too much shade, too much nitrogen from nearby lawn fertilizer, and pruning that removes the short flowering spurs. In zones 5 and 6, a late spring frost can also kill the buds of Chinese and Japanese wisteria. Buy grafted or cutting grown plants, prune in summer and again in late winter, and consider American or Kentucky wisteria in cold zones.

What flowering vine grows well in shade?

Climbing hydrangea is the best flowering vine for shade, blooming on north and east walls in zones 4 to 8. Japanese hydrangea vine does the same in zones 5 to 8. Coral honeysuckle and clematis tolerate part shade with at least four to six hours of sun, though both bloom less in deep shade. Dutchman's pipe grows well in shade but is grown for foliage rather than flowers.

Will climbing hydrangea or trumpet vine damage my house?

They can. Both climb with clinging rootlets that hold moisture against wood, mark painted surfaces and work behind siding, and trumpet vine can push under shingles. Grow them on masonry walls in good condition, stout freestanding fences, pergolas or arbors rather than on wood or vinyl siding. Twining vines such as wisteria cause a different kind of damage by crushing gutters, downspouts and railings.

When should I prune clematis?

It depends on the pruning group. Early spring bloomers such as C. montana and C. alpina are pruned right after flowering. Large flowered hybrids get a light trim to strong buds in late winter. Summer and fall bloomers such as 'Jackmanii', viticella types and sweet autumn clematis are cut back to 12 to 18 inches in late winter, because they flower on new growth.

Is trumpet vine invasive?

Trumpet vine is native to the eastern United States, so it is not classed as invasive there, but it is extremely aggressive. It spreads by root suckers that emerge many feet from the plant and by seed, and it can take over a fence line or a corner of the yard in a few years. Plant it on a freestanding structure surrounded by mowed lawn, and pull suckers as they appear.

Which flowering vines are evergreen?

Evergreen clematis in zones 7 to 9, Carolina jessamine in zones 7 to 9, star jasmine in zones 8 to 10, crossvine as a semi evergreen in zones 6 to 9, and coral honeysuckle and blue passion flower as semi evergreens in the warm end of their ranges. English ivy is evergreen from zone 5 to 9 but is invasive and not recommended.

Is passion flower hardy in zone 6?

Maypop, Passiflora incarnata, is. It dies to the ground each winter and regrows from its roots in late spring, flowering the same summer. Blue passion flower is not reliably hardy below zone 7, and passion fruit needs zone 10. In zone 6, mulch the maypop root zone 4 to 6 inches deep in late fall and mark the spot so the late emerging shoots are not disturbed in spring.