Plant Library

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

A vigorous ornamental climber with cone-shaped clusters of yellowish-green fruit; foliage emerges chartreuse and matures to golden yellow; tough and adaptable, use as a screen or quick cover; needs structural support; cut to the ground in spring

Ornamental Features

Summer Shandy™ Hops' attractive tomentose lobed leaves emerge chartreuse in spring, turning gold in color with showy yellow variegation and tinges of lime green throughout the season on a plant with a spreading habit of growth. It produces small clusters of buttery yellow hop-like fruit from mid summer to mid fall.

Landscape Attributes

Summer Shandy™ Hops is a dense herbaceous perennial vine with a twining and trailing habit of growth. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other garden plants with finer foliage.

This is a high maintenance plant that will require regular care and upkeep, and can be pruned at anytime. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Invasive

Summer Shandy™ Hops is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Hedges/Screening
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Summer Shandy™ Hops will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. As a climbing vine, it should either be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen! This is a dioecious species, meaning that individual plants are either male or female. Only the females will produce fruit, and a male variety of the same species is required nearby as a pollinator.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Summer Shandy™ Hops is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.