General Description | Virginia creeper is a deciduous climbing vine with deep green foliage which grows to cover walls and structures very quickly. Leaves change to a showy red in early autumn. |
ID Characteristic | A climbing vine, distinguishable by its palmately compound leaves composed of five obovate leaflets, and thick sucker-tipped tendrils growing opposite leaves which permanently attach to surfaces. Dark blue berries 4-7 mm in diameter are visible upon loss of foliage. |
Shape | Climbing spreading vine. |
Landscape | Virginia creeper is a climbing vine which upon establishing itself is easily trained up walls and other structures to produce impressive vertical green spaces. It can climb 20 m or higher, limited only by the structure it grows on. Dramatic autumn foliage as the leaves turn an intense red, purple-red in shade to scarlet grown in full sun. Dark blue berries remain after leaves have dropped for further aesthetic value until early winter, and attract many species of songbird. It is also used as permanent groundcover for controlling soil erosion in steep areas where grasses are insufficient and trees and shrubs are difficult to establish. |
Propagation | Virginia creeper can be propagated by seed, clonally or via layering. Seeds must either be sown in autumn at 1 cm depth, or stratified for 6-8 weeks at 5°C, allowed to germinate in moist soil in a warm location, and grown indoors for one full season before being transplanted outside in late spring. To grow clones, cuttings taken in summer should be rooted in moist soil and allowed to grow indoors over winter. After the last frost in late spring, they can be transplanted to their final position. Virginia creeper grown as groundcover often self-layers but layering can be forced by sharply bending a softwood stem in spring and staking the bend into the ground, covering with a thin layer of moist soil and leaving the end exposed. |
Cultivation | Although it favours acidic soil this vine will readily grow in dry, alkali soils, and is also quite tolerant of urban conditions such as air pollution and salt. It grows in full sun to full shade. Vigorous growth of 2-3 m per growing season must be pruned strongly to prevent overgrowing walls and choking eaves troughs, climbing unwanted onto nearby trees, or creeping along the ground into nearby gardens. Prevention is key, thinking ahead to note how far the vine will grow and what is in the way. Removing a large amount of growth (1-2 m) once or twice per year is preferable to simply trimming around the edges as Virginia creeper will quickly make up for lost ground. |
Pests | None major. Japanese beetle, and in the southern United States the larvae of the Virginia creeper sphinx moth, are defoliators. Powdery mildew. |
Notable Specimens | City Hall of Quedlinburg/Saxony-Anhalt, Harz, Germany. Fanshawe College, London, Ontario, Canada. Joany’s Woods, West Williams, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada. |
Habitat | This vine grows naturally in moist acidic soils throughout the eastern United States and is part of the ecology of climax forests in that area. It can be found in open and shaded woodlands, on riverbanks and along streams. |
Bark/Stem Description | Bark on large stems is deeply furrowed and light brown. Younger stems are reddish brown and finely pubescent with clear lenticels. |
Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Virginia creeper has sessile, collateral buds which have a broadly conical form. The unobtrusive buds are brown in colour, clearly scaled and only 1-2 mm in length. |
Leaf Description | The leaves of Virginia creeper are palmately compound consisting of five pinnate leaflets varying in size from 3-15 cm long and 2-8 cm wide, on petioles from 2.5-10 cm long. Leaves are alternately arranged, serrate to doubly serrate at the margin, with a shape from lanceolate to obovate. |
Flower Description | Virginia creeper has determinate inflorescences consisting of green to yellow-white cymes. These cymes occur in large numbers, taking a form similar to panicles. Each flower is perfect and approximately 6 mm in diameter. |
Fruit Description | The flower produces a fleshy berry containing 1-3 seeds. The berries are blue-black to dark purple with a size of 4-7 mm, and a round form flattening slightly at the apex. They contain oxalic acid, making them toxic to humans and many other mammals although birds are unaffected. |
Colour Description | Foliage is dark green in summer, changing very early in autumn to a spectrum of red from dark purple-red to bright scarlet. Stems are light brown, though young growth has a reddish tinge. The berries are dark purple to blue-black, with a clear bloom when ripe. |
Texture Description | Medium textured from spring to autumn, coarse in winter when defoliated. |