Vines of Missouri

Lavender-Flowering Vines

• American wisteria (Wisteria fruitescens), tolerates winters in U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone 5 and temperatures to 20 below 0. The up-to-30-foot climber twines its way over any nearby support. A woody plant, American wisteria bears cascades of butterfly-enticing, lavender-lilac summer flowers. It thrives in sunny to partly shady spots with organically rich, moist soil. Marsh clematis (Clematis crispa), at a compact 6 to 10 feet high, has lush, green foliage. Blooming later than those of most clematis, its fragrant lavender flowers open in early summer. Like most clematis, this USDA Zone 6-hardy vine flowers best in full sun, but benefits from having its roots in shade. These vines grow wild in the swampy woodlands of Southeastern Missouri.

Red-Flowering Vines

• Cross vine (Bignonia capreolata), another vine native to Southeastern Missouri, illuminates the springtime woods with heavy clusters of 2-inch-long, trumpet-shaped orange-red flowers. The blossoms give way to 7-inch, green seedpods in late summer. Its deep green, compound foliage assumes red or purple tones in autumn before dropping. The tendrils growing between each of its leaflet pairs let the vine climb from 35 to 50 feet. Trumpetvine (Campsis radicans) uses aerial rootlets to scramble as much as 40 feet up forest trees across Missouri. Its compound, glossy green leaves make an effective backdrop for summer's hummingbird-attracting, red trumpet flowers. The Zone 4-hardy pair flower best in full sun and averagely fertile, moist well-drained soils.

White-Flowering Vines

• Southern Missouri is home to the 6-to 8-foot the wild passionflower vine (Passiflora incarnata). This vine lights the surrounding landscape from mid-summer into early fall with fragrant, showy purple-centered white blooms. Cold-tolerant to Zone 6, wild passionflower vine also produces edible, yellow-green autumn-ripening fruits. They account for the vine's other name of maypop. Exceptionally hardy woodbine (Clematis virginiana) withstands temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero. From late summer until midfall, fragrant, white flowers almost obscure the vine's compound green leaves. Feathery white seed capsules follow the blooms. Woodbine climbs or spreads from 12 to 20 feet. Both plants grow in moist, low woodland soil

Vines with Fall Color

• Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) adorns fertile woods and rocky ravines with greenish-white spring flowers, blue-black berries and deep green, compound foliage with brilliant red-to-purple autumn color. The up-to-50-foot vine ascends brick walls and other flat surfaces using adhesive-disked tendrils. Twelve- to 20-foot America bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) also peaks ornamentally in autumn, when it brightens woods and thickets with glowing red berries and golden-yellow leaves. The fruit develops from pollinated, greenish-yellow spring flowers on female vines. These Zone 3-hardy vines grow throughout Missouri, performing best in average, well-drained soils and full sun.