Picture the most obnoxious high rises in your town. The Government Plaza Building in Mobile. The 1967 Madison County courthouse. The Interstate 65/59 spaghetti in Birmingham. Walmarts and Home Depots most anywhere.

Now imagine they were covered in butterbean shade.

Yes, the South’s high climbing vines can improve the appearance of humankind’s most outstanding messes. But more importantly, vines are indispensable for gardening. Cross vines, trumpet vines, Carolina jessamine produce more showy flowers per plant than any other flower, shrub or tree in your garden. Many of our most delectable fruits are produced on vines – tomatoes, pole beans, climbing squash and cucumbers, asparagus beans, muscadines, the aforementioned butterbeans.