Facts on the Virginia Creeper

Geography

• Native to most of the eastern United States and with its distribution extending into Mexico, Virginia creeper survives from U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness Zones 3 through 9. In the wild, Virginia creeper thrives in a damp soil with good drainage, but it also does well in dry soils and even in sandy ones. Tolerant of the shade, this vine still prefers an open, sunlit place to grow. It withstands exposure to salt, making it a viable option for coastal areas.

Size and Features

• Virginia creeper grows between 30 and 50 feet long, climbing up trees, walls, trellises, arbors and the side of buildings with its branching tendrils. These extensions from the vine's stem attach themselves to whatever is handy, using a suction-cup-like adhesive disk at the end of the tendril that sticks to any flat surface. The leaves are compound, with leaflets arranged like the spreading fingers of a hand from one central point on a stem. Three to five 4-inch long leaflets make up a single leaf. Virginia creeper blooms from May into August, but the green-white flowers, obscured by the foliage, are hard to notice. However, the flowers generate small blue-black fruits by September.

Uses

• The quick growth of Virginia creeper makes it a tool to prevent soil erosion on slopes. When no structures are close by, the vine grows on the ground, making it suitable as ground cover. The Missouri Botanical Garden suggests using it to hide stumps or piles of unsightly debris and rocks. Train the vine to fences, trellises and walls, and watch it grow, covering them in short order. The fall foliage of Virginia creeper gives it an ornamental value, as the leaves turn to colors such as crimson and purple. Wildlife, especially birds, eats the berries, and the leaves provide a hiding spot for small mammals and birds to take refuge in.

Cultivars

• Parthenocissus quinquefolia var. engelmannii is a form of Virginia creeper that differs from the normal type, with smaller leaflets that change to a bronze shade of red in fall. "Monham" is the most common form of Virginia creeper outside the parent species. The leaves of this vine have blotches of cream, white and green, and they feature a pinkish tint. Both of these forms grow more slowly and to a smaller size than does the parent vine.