Does the view from your dining room include a less-than-attractive garden shed? Do you enjoy sitting outside on the deck but feel exposed to the curious glance of the neighbors? Need some shade by the pool but don't want to contend with tree roots or leaves?

A vine might be the solution.

Compared with trees and shrubs, vines offer gardeners nearly instant gratification. Fast-growing, they can provide privacy and shade in a season and camouflage for buildings and ugly walls in two or three.

They're also great for adding interest above eye level to architectural elements like balconies, arbors and stairs.

And they can be permanent addition to the landscape, or a seasonal one depending on whether you plant a woody perennial like wisteria, or a tender annual like sweet pea.

Now, while your plantings are lush and blooming, is the time to think about adding a vine. Look around with a critical eye. Would the garage wall make the perfect background for a trellis, maybe two, of colorful, fragrant roses? Is the chain link fence between your yard and the alley crying out for some concealing foliage?

Plan now. Decide what you'd like to try. For ideas, talk to friends, take one of the garden/pond tours coming up in the next few months, or contact the Washington State University Extension Master Gardeners -- 509-736-2726, weekdays. Ask for recommendations, their success stories and -- even better -- their failures.

Take note how each vine grows and on what. Some grow easily on almost anything, others need help to get started, and a few require a sturdy structure for support.

Before you can decide how to support your vine, you need to know how it climbs. There are three main types: tendril-climbers, twiners and clingers.

Clingers, like English ivy, practically adhere themselves to walls, fences and other rough surfaces by sending out aerial rootlets called holdfasts.

They're very good at covering a broad expanse -- say, a castle -- but be careful, those rootlets are tiny but mighty. They can loosen the mortar on brick walls and damage the wood on frame buildings.

Better choices are vines that fasten themselves to objects -- and other plants -- using tiny tendrils or twine 'round and 'round them. Tendril-climbers and twiners naturally head upward so to grow them horizontally, train them to grow along lattice, wire mesh or a net.

Tendril-climbers can't wrap around thick supports such as fence posts. Instead coax them skyward by draping or propping the seedling vine up against wire, twine or even thin wood stakes.

Twiners reach for the sky by simply growing around supports. They're excellent on wire, mailboxes, trellises, lattice and arbors. Generally, they're heavier than tendril-climbers, so the support structures need to be stronger.

To get you started, here are three vines recommended by Marianne Ophardt, horticulturist with the Washington State University Extension:

Scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus) is an annual twining vine that's as easy to grow as pole beans because it is a bean with decorative red flowers and edible pods.

Trumpet vine or trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) is a perennial clinging-twining vine, having aerial rootlets and twining stems. This vine is perhaps one of the easiest, foolproof vines to grow in our area. It's a vigorous perennial vine that grows up to 30 feet tall. It produces large, 2 1/2- to 3 1/2-inch-long, trumpetlike bright orange flowers. It flowers best in full sun and tolerates heat and drought. Watch out -- it suckers profusely.

Clematis, a perennial twining vine, is one of the most stunning vines you can grow, when it is in full bloom. Most gardeners grow the large flowered hybrids (Clematis hybrida).

Generally, they do best with a slightly acid to slightly alkaline soil that's well-drained and consistently moist. They do best in full sun in a protected location away from wind. One of the keys to making clematis happy is keeping its roots cool by shading, mulching or both. It also helps to plant the crown of the plant about 2 inches below the soil surface. Stake plants immediately to prevent their brittle stems from breaking.

* Loretto J. Hulse: 582-1513; lhulse@tricityherald.com