Virginia Creeper

Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is also known as false grape, five-finger ivy, five-leaved ivy, and woodbine. It is native to eastern and central North America and eastern Mexico.

Virginia Creeper is vigorous growing vine easily adding 10’ – 15’ of growth annually. It is most often grown as an ornamental plant to create a visual barrier, hide a fence or wall,

as a ground cover, and even on walls of homes to help cool during summer months.

Virginia Creeper climbs using tendrils (like grapes) that have adhesive pads at their ends. These adhesive pads allow the plant to climb up smooth walls, telephone poles, trees, etc.

The leaves of Virginia Creeper are compound with usually 5 smaller leaflets.

Virginia Creeper is also grown for the beautiful fall color it produces. Leaves may be red to burgundy

and many different colors from red to green.

Virginia Creeper may smother or kill plants it covers by shading them and thereby limiting the plants' ability to get adequate sun to produce sugars from photosynthesis.

The fruit of Virginia Creeper is a berry that is poisonous to humans. Berries are blue-black when mature and are a favorite food of birds in the fall and winter.

Virginia Creeper can be grown in sun or shade with low to regular water. It is hardy to USDA zone 4.

Contact Trees That Please Nursery for availability and pricing.

Photos & Narrative By:

Stephen Sain
Staff Plant Physiologist

Comments

MaggieCr said…

Thanks for such a good description. You have saved my Virginia Creeper from my son, who thought it was poison ivy.

May 9, 2014 at 4:58 AM

Unknown said…

It is also poisonous to dogs.

September 6, 2014 at 3:36 PM

Weed Identification: Goatheads or Stickers

Goatheads ( Tribulus terrestris ) are native to Southern Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Goatheads are also called stickers, sticker weed, bullhead, devil’s weed, and puncturevine. Goatheads are easily recognized by their prostrate growth form, leaves with leaflets, yellow flowers, and stickers (Goatheads). If you miss’em visually then they will stab you painfully in the fingers as you work your garden, or stick to your clothing and shoes. Goatheads are the primary reason local bicyclists must get “thorn proof” tires for riding on area trails and streets. Goatheads have prostrate stems that radiate outward from one central point. Leaves are compound with smaller leaflets. Lemon yellow flowers form along the stems and fertilized flowers form fruits. Fruits consist of several attached structures called nutlets (Goatheads). Each nutlet is a single seed that becomes hard or woody when mature. Each seed has two sharp spines that easily pene...

All About the Shantung Maple!

The Shantung Maple ( Acer truncatum ) is also known as the Purple Blow Maple due to the color of its newly emerging leaves which are red-purple (see photo below). These young expanding red-purple leaves change to green as they mature. Leaves are small, about the size of Japanese Red Maple leaves, perhaps 3’-4’ wide at maturity. The Shantung Maple grows 1′-2′ annually reaching 25″ tall and wide. This is our tree for all planting situations. This Maple does well in heavy clay, sandy soils, full sun, or part shade. It can be planted in a lawn or next to a hot asphalt street (see photo below). It seemingly is a happy tree enjoying life wherever it is placed. One place we would not recommend planting this tree is in a rockscape which is just too hot and inhospitable to support this beautiful tree. A smaller tree, the Shantung Ma...

How does nitrogen work in the soil, and where does it come from when we don't have a bag of fertilizer to supplement it?

I've spoken many times on this subject at conferences and it was the main theme of my talk when I represented North America at the World's 1st Humus Experts Meeting in Vienna Austria back in 2013. Most of the Nitrogen used by the vast tropical rain forests, or the fastest growing biomass place on Earth, the Coastal Redwood Forests of California, comes from the production of protein by the Free-Living Nitrogen Fixing bacteria in soil and the massive biomass structure of the mycorrhizal fungi. The proteins as it breaks down in the soil into amino acids are the building blocks of life and the explanation of the Soil Food Web. However, in order for those amino acids to enter a plant and be part of the nitrogen budget of the plant they must have the assistance of the mycorrhizal fungi. It's much more efficient for a plant to uptake amino acids whose molecules include nitrogen needed to build tissues than to uptake just nitrogen minus the amino acid. ...

Trees That Please Nursery

Search This Blog