Gardening with Native Vines - Missouri Prairie Foundation

Gardening with
Native Vines
By Scott Woodbury
Native vines add another
dimension to landscapes
and expand gardeners’
options of plant choices that
Native yellow honeysuckle (Lonicera flava)
provide beauty and wildlife
I
’m often asked if grape vines can
kill a tree. The answer depends on a
number of things. In mature woodlands they happily coexist. At the edge of
the woods, in fencerows, and overgrown
fields, however, grapes may completely
cover trees, shade them out, and cause
harm. In a garden or vineyard, if grape
vines are heavily pruned, they will fit on
a trellis or nursery wire laid out in rows
on a hillside.
The take home message is that
strong-growing vines like grape, trumpet
creeper, cross vine, pipe-vine, bittersweet, and Virginia creeper may have
a place in the landscape, but should be
carefully located with the understanding
that they may grow to the treetops or
need regular pruning to keep them from
taking over.
habitat. Selecting the species
appropriate to your landscape’s
SCOTT WOODBURY PHOTOS
size and features is key.
Leather flower (Clematis versicolor)
22  Missouri Prairie Journal 
Vol. 34 No. 2
Small-growing Native Vines
Fortunately for the home gardener, there
are a number of low-maintenance native
vines that are small enough to train on a
lamppost, small arbor, or let ramble gently through a flower border.
The bell-shaped leather flowers (various Clematis species) top out at 6 to 8
feet tall. Clematis pitcheri blooms in June
and July. Its purple flowers are followed
by curly clusters of seeds. Clematis versicolor has slightly larger flowers that are
pale purple and lavender with feathery
whorls of seeds. Two similar but harder
to find leather flowers are Clematis viorna (purplish) and Clematis crispa (pinkish-lavender flowers). In spring, protect
the emerging leather flower stems with
chicken wire as they are a favorite food
of rabbits.
Native honeysuckles grow 6 to 7
feet tall. These are not to be mistaken
with the highly fragrant evergreen
Japanese honeysuckle vine, which
is invasive. The native honeysuckles
typically have yellow to golden flowers.
Limber honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica)
has clear-yellow flowers in late spring
followed by bright orange berries (this
species is not readily available to gardeners. Look for it at Shaw Nature Reserve
in coming years). Yellow honeysuckle
(Lonicera flava) is similar, but has darker
yellow to apricot flowers and prefers dry,
rocky, or well drained soils. Both are tolerant of part shade and require little to
no pruning. For a natural look, leather
flowers and vine honeysuckles may be
grown without support, allowing them
to ramble over a boulder or between
perennials and grasses. Vining stems
may be moved by hand to where you
want them to ramble.
Medium-growing Native Vines
Vines in this size range require pruning
every two to three years to keep their size
in check in a garden. At woodland edges
or in full sun or where soils are rich, they
tend to grow more vigorously and may
take over their supporting trees or trellis. Supple-jack (Berchemia scandens) is
desirable for its ornamental and wildlife
value (nesting and fruits eaten by birds).
It has tiny, dark green leaves and green
woody stems that are most noticeable
in winter. Plants are dioecious—meaning that male and female flowers are on
separate plants. You will need one of
each to get fruit set. Fruits are enjoyed
by humans (to look at) and birds (to eat)
in autumn. They tolerate nearly any garden soil and moisture type.
American bittersweet (Celastrus
scandens) is the most mistakenly identified native vine because the invasive
Oriental bittersweet looks very similar. In addition, garden centers often
unknowingly sell Oriental bittersweet
labeled as American. American bittersweet grows to 20 feet. Oriental
bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) may
grow to 50 feet and once introduced
spreads vigorously in creek and river
bottoms. American bittersweet has
fruits (red berry with an orange capsule)
clustered at the tips of short branches
and Oriental more typically has fruits
(orange berry with a yellow capsule)
scattered along the stems. To make matters worse, these two species hybridize to
Supple-jack (Berchemia scandens)
form intermediate individuals that are
tricky to separate.
Carolina moonseed’s vines can
climb to 20 to 30 feet. Its most attractive
feature is its fire-engine red berries. Birds
scarf them and humans take notice when
they appear in late summer. The name
moonseed (Cocculus caroliniana) comes
from the crescent shape of the seed. Its
least attractive quality for gardeners is its
tendency to sucker moderately. We have
found that growing a number of plants
may encourage better fruit production.
Large-growing Native Vines
In nature, the highest-climbing vines
reach into treetops 40 to 70 feet and
often are of greater interest to wildlife
than people. They may suit your landscape if you have some acreage or the
time to keep these brutes pruned back.
Also, I’ve seen home gardeners surround
Vol. 34 No. 2  Missouri Prairie Journal 
23
these vines with mowed lawn to keep
them in place on a trellis or tree.
Some species can’t climb mature
trees and so grow up together with the
tree from adolescence. Grapes, pipevine, and lady’s eardrops (Brunnichia
ovata) climb this way or leapfrog from
shrubs to understory trees to larger canopy trees. Others attain such great heights
by generating “sticky” aerial rootlets or
clinging tendrils that climb mature tree
trunks like Spiderman. Virginia creeper,
cross vine, trumpet creeper, and poison
ivy rise up to the sky this way.
Poison ivy, a native vine, produces
tiny white fruits loved by birds; gardeners may consider allowing it to grow just
beyond human touch. Wooly pipe-vine
leaves are the larval food for pipe-vine
swallowtail butterflies. Cross vine flowers are visited by hummingbirds and
then by humans when the showy orange
and yellow flowers dehisce and fall to
the ground fresh and whole. Trumpet
creeper flowers are similar to cross vine’s,
but produce seed pods, each half of
which resembles a dugout canoe. Lady’s
eardrops attract so many pollinating
bees (mostly honeybees) that the plants
seem to buzz. Virginia creeper adorns
cliff faces and tree trunks in autumn
with its bright red and burgundy foliage. For some reason it doesn’t grow
on smooth concrete walls, but prefers
rough surfaces or stone. They hide
ugly concrete block walls and buildings effectively and produce copious
amounts of berries that bring in the
birds in autumn.
Planting large native vines is like
planting acorns. You have to trust that
someone or something will appreciate them down the road or just out of
sight in the treetops.
Horticulturalist Scott Woodbury is the
Curator of the Whitmire Wildflower
Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve, where
he has worked with native plant propagation, design, and education for more
than 20 years. Scott also serves on the
Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Grow
Native! Committee.
Carolina moonseed (Cocculus caroliniana)
Small-growing Native Vines (up to 10 ft. tall)
Clematis pitcheri*** Leather flower
Clematis versicolor*** Leather flower
Lonicera flava° Yellow Honeysuckle
Lonicera dioica° Limber Honeysuckle
part shade to full sun, dry to average soil
part shade to full sun, dry to average soil
part shade to full sun, dry soils only
part shade to full sun, dry to average soil
Medium-growing Vines (10-30 ft. tall)
Berchemia scandens° Supple-jack
Celastris scandens* American bittersweet
Cocculus caroliniana* Carolina moonseed
part shade to full sun, dry to average soil
part shade to full sun, dry to average soil
part shade to full sun, dry to wet soil
Large-growing Vines (30-70 ft. tall)
Aristolochia tomentosa* Wooly pipe-vine
Bignonia capreolata**# Cross vine
Brunnichia ovata° Lady’s eardrops
Campsis radicans*# Trumpet-creeper
Parthenocissus quinquefolia**# Virginia creeper
part shade to full sun, average to wet soil
shade to full sun, average to wet soil
shade to full sun, average to wet soil
part shade to full sun, dry to average soil
shade to full sun, dry to average soil
*Vines that spread by underground runners
**Vines that spread by ground-trailing stems
***Plants perennial/not woody (they sprout from the ground every spring)
# Plants that climb tree trunks with “sticky” clinging tendrils or aerial rootlets
° Vines that are woody
Visit www.grownative.org, Buyer’s Guide, to find nurseries and garden centers that carry native vines,
as well as landscape professionals knowledgeable about designing and gardening with them.
Cross vine (Bignonia capreolata)
24  Missouri Prairie Journal 
Vol. 34 No. 2