Invasive vines

While looking through my collection of plant books, I came across one titled How to Eradicate Invasive Plants by Teri Dunn Chace. Since someone had recently asked me to identify a vine for them, I immediately turned to the section on vines to see if that vine, which happened to be Virginia Creeper, were listed. Sure enough it was. Virginia Creeper, also known as Woodbine, is not at all uncommon in our area. Its leaves are palmate in leaflets of five with toothed edges. In the fall, these leaflets, which had been dark green, turn red or wine-purple. I have one of these vines. Sure enough the leaves are turning a lovely shade of red..

Virginia Creeper resembles poison ivy, but the major difference is that poison ivy, another invasive and much worse vine in my opinion, fulfils the “Leaves of three, Let it be” description. The person who had asked me to identify the Virginia Creeper vine had provided the description that its leaves looked like marijuana leaves, if you know what those look like.

Like nearly all invasive vines, their fast growth and thick cover crowd out other trees and shrubs as well as more desirable native plants. As you know, vines not only can quickly cover live shrubs and ground covers and so on, but they also cover pipes, walls, screens and anything else that gets in their way..

Other invasive vines that are quite common in our area are bindweed, (also known as wild morning glory) with its lovely white flowers, the pervasive and popular English Ivy, Japanese Honeysuckle,, and the beautiful fragrant Japanese wisteria. The primary problem with all of these vines is their smothering of other native and acceptable, non-invasive alternatives.

How do you get rid of these vines? For the most part, pull out the roots as best you can and keep pruned, pruned, pruned. Good luck.

Written by Martha Knies