Garden owners who want to green their pergola with a perennial, easy-care and robust climbing plant are making exactly the right choice with hops. The deciduous climber grows very quickly, forms a dense privacy screen in summer and provides plenty of shade.
How to green a pergola with hops?
To green a pergola with hops, you need an easy-care climbing plant that requires a climbing aid in the form of wires or plant stakes. Hops grow quickly and provide thick privacy and shade in summer. Regular watering, fertilizing and pruning are required for maintenance.
Green pergola with hops
Hops are an easy-care alternative to climbing roses or clematis. The climbing plant is not very demanding and requires little care.
Hops need a climbing aid to grow. To do this, you can simply stretch wires or set up plant stakes.
The leaves of hops are similar to those of grape leaves. The flowers of female plants are inconspicuous, the flowers of male plants are more noticeable. The cones that form at the end of summer are decorative. When ripe, they can be harvested and stored for teas or natural remedies (€29.00 on Amazon). You can even brew your own beer from the hop cones.
Proper care for hops
Hops only need a little care:
- water regularly
- Avoid waterlogging
- fertilize once a month
- cut back in autumn or spring
Hops wrap around the trellis in a clockwise direction. Occasionally you will need to support the vines as they twine.
The right location for the hops
Hops like it sunny. He doesn't mind a spot on the south side.
The soil should be a little moist. The roots must not dry out completely. Waterlogging is even worse than drought.
In compacted soils, drainage should be created before planting. If the hops are grown in a bucket, there must be a sufficiently large drainage hole.
Disadvantages of hops for pergola greening
Of course, hops also have a few disadvantages. The plant spreads rapidly and is difficult to remove later. The spread can be prevented if the hops are grown in the bucket.
Hops are a summer green plant. It dies down in the fall, leaving only the dried stems behind. It then does not form a tight privacy screen. If possible, the stems should not be cut back until spring so that the hops can draw the nutrients into the roots.
Tip
Did you know that hops are edible? The young shoots that emerge in spring can be harvested and prepared like asparagus.
