Food idea thoughts

[Mary from Kansas]

We have a trellis connected to the porch that we finally took out the bushes around it and am wanting to plant something there next spring. Any ideas on what climbing plant/flower I can plant there that is ok for Geronimo to eat? He is a Hermann. Other ideas besides a climbing rose bush. We have a lot of roses already.

 

[Lyn W]

We have a trellis connected to the porch that we finally took out the bushes around it and am wanting to plant something there next spring. Any ideas on what climbing plant/flower I can plant there that is ok for Geronimo to eat? He is a Hermann. Other ideas besides a climbing rose bush. We have a lot of roses already.

A vine? They grow well and torts like the leaves.
See www.thetortoisetable.org.uk for tort safe plants.

 

[Yvonne G]

grape vine, any of the squash plants

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Grapes here.
Do they grow out there?

 

[Pearly]

Grapes here.
Do they grow out there?

There are cold hardy varieties. I recall some people growing them in Poland. I'm not sure if their fruit was any good to eat, but did look pretty in summer and fall when leaves turned yellow and red

 

[Speedy-1]

I go along with a grape vine , they are high in calcium and Speedy just loves them ! We had a huge grape vine when we lived in Wisconsin and it always did well in spite of the frigid winters !

 

[dmmj]

another Vote for great plan. Mine has been providing free food for 15 plus years

 

[BrianWI]

I believe there are several cold hardy varieties. I would try Valiant.

 

[Mary from Kansas]

Grapes sound like a good idea, yes they grow here well.

 

[Gopherus Guy]

Cape Honeysuckle might work

 

[Lyn W]

Grapes sound like a good idea, yes they grow here well.

I'm not sure if the grapes themselves are good for torts - may depend on the species, but the leaves definitely.

 

[dmmj]

I eat the grapes myself best damn grapes you'll ever have

 

[Tom]

Grapes sound like a good idea, yes they grow here well.

You only want to feed out the leaves, not the actual grapes.

 

[Tom]

Cape Honeysuckle might work

They can't take the cold. Mine dies off every year at the first hint of frost.

 

[dmmj]

They can't take the cold. Mine dies off every year at the first hint of frost

die off or go dormant?

 

[Speedy-1]

We used to have tons of grapes ! my wife used to make all kinds of grape jelly and jam , she even canned up a bunch of grape juice one year ! I even made some wine , vintage stuff even better than ripple "Pagan Pink" ! As you can see I am a connoisseur ! Still had tons of Tort leaves !

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Cape Honeysuckle might work

Not so cold hardy, but they are really nice looking.

 

[Tom]

die off or go dormant?

In areas near here where it doesn't get too cold, I see them green and growing all year long. Up hear, the whole thing dies off completely. No signs of life. Every spring it sends up a few weak shoots, but it never really comes back. It just sort of lingers for the summer and then dies back again.

So technically, I suppose we could call it dormancy, but since the plant fails to thrive any time of year, I call it dying off. Just a little south of here, they survive and grow into giant bushes.