Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Virginia Creeper

Q. I have a garden area getting about a half day, morning sun, until the sun crosses over the top of my 3-story house. I am thinking of getting rid of my Burford Holly, which were supposed to grow tall and flank my back door, and replace them by moving my Virginia creeper from the shaded deck to where it could train over and around the door. Can you supply any information to assist my decision?

A. Virginia creeper:
Native woody vine (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) of the family Vitaceae (grape family), tall growing and popular as a wall covering in the temperate United States. It has blue-black berries and clings by disk-tipped tendrils, some branches hanging free in graceful festoons. The five-fingered leaves-brilliant yellow to red in the fall-are sometimes confused with the three-fingered poison ivy. The Virginia creeper belongs to the same genus as the Boston, or Japanese, ivy. Other names are American ivy, woodbine, and ampelopsis.

www.encyclopedia.com/articles/13514.html

Virginia Creeper [Parthenocissus quinquefolia] Family Vitaceae

Characteristics:
* A climbing vine.
* Leaves fan-compound with 5 leaflets, rarely 3-7 leaflets.
* Leaflets dull, toothed, arranged like spokes on the stem.
* Tendrils long, disk-tipped, with several branches.
* Twigs hairless, buds scaly.
* Flowers small, greenish, clustered.
* Fruits blue berries.
* Height: Can climb several stories.

Natural History:
* Flowers June - August.
* Fruits August to February.
* Habitat: Woods, thickets, and walls.
* Range: Eastern half of the United States. Ag. Zones 3-9.
* Berries of the Virginia Creeper are a favorite of birds, mice, skunks, andchipmunks. The twigs are eaten by white-tailed deer.
* In autumn, Virginia Creeper is one of the first plants to change color.

Look for it covering the walls of buildings all over campus.

Good pix here, too:

http://www.wellesley.edu/Activities/homepage/web/Species/pvirginiacreeper.html