Could it be a Crimson Glory Vine Vitis coignetiae ?

thanks for the suggestion! But my plant does not have tendrils to grab hold with... also my plant is furry all over..
but the crimson glory sounds like a very interesting plant, I'm glad to know about it :)

A picture would really help.

I had something similar to yours.Mine was identified as 'Poison ivy vine'

Probably not poison ivy (fortunately!!!) - that has hairy vines (at least the really old vines are hairy), but not hairy leaves and petioles. Also poison ivy has slightly lance shaped leaves, not heart shaped.

Does it die back to the ground every year? This sounds like it might be hops vine (Humulus lupulus)- possibly a male if you've never seen flowers (the male does have flowers, but they're quite small and easy to overlook). They got really popular a few years ago and a lot of people have never seen one growing...

BP

yes I know a photo would do it... I'm very inexperienced at that ...I'll try...

can't be hops, I googled til I found a photo, my vine's leaf is truly heat-shaped...

does anyone know of a website that takes you through identification, one characteristic at a time? Like leaf vein pattern etc? (I'm not very knowledgeable about this...and am hesitant to bother people if I don't have to...) I'm new to this site, haven't come across it here...

and I think several years ago I used a site like this...

sorry, that would be HEART-shaped...;)

I can't remember if it does back... I have a feeling it doesn't, just gets real ratty-lookin'....

You could go on google, type out the description example, heart leafed vine, fuzzy, hardy -- and you should be able to come up with several suggested vines. If you do a google image search, you will be presented with images of several vines. Perhaps this will help. I suspect a form of a potato vine that is semi hardy.

Does it die back to the ground completely? Stems woody or not?

Ianna

thanks for your suggestions!
I have taken photos, just don't know how to put them here??
sorry, don't know what 'woody' stems are...

'semi-hardy' seems right

I have googled with descriptives several times before I tried this website... nothing useful seemed to come up

I'll check potato vines..

how can I get my photos here, do you know?

Climbing hydrangea is kind of hairy and has heart shaped leaves - when it's small it doesn't flower. But it doesn't die back in your zone.

I'm all curious as to what it is now :-)

how can I get my photos here, do you know?

Follow the instructions I posted in this thread here.

BP

src='http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc71/celiadeliaophelia/P1010040.jpg' border='0' alt='Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket'>

I had the photo exactly right for the preview...what happened?!

I selected
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc71/celiadeliaophelia/P1010040.jpg
and dragged it to the address bar and viewed your picture, but sorry I don't know what it is.

Here you go:

{{gwi:327549}}

(you cut off some of the html somehow)

As to what that is - beats me! I've never seen that before - it looks kind of cool though!

I'll post this in the Name that plant forum for you too. Someone there is bound to know what it is.

BP

That was fast - someone identified it as a kiwi vine (Actinidia). Neat! I've read about them but I've never seen one!

BP

I have seen Actinidia kolomikta growing in several gardens in our area. This is a very attractive variety I would like to try in the future.

{{gwi:538772}}
(Not my photo)

Cheers,
MG

Here is a link that might be useful: Our website

thanks so much for the help, everyone! and now I think I know what I did wrong, photowise...that was a learning experience...
can you see how furry it is? sort of like velvet... and the red blush, I guess the fur is reddish in colour?

You can learn more by messing up than by doing it right :-) At least in theory - if that were completely true, I should be a super genius by now... :-)

Yours is probably not the edible sort that you see in the grocery stores (A.deliciosa), since they're not hardy here unless you are lucky like MG is and live in the "canadian Tropics". There are a couple of hardy ones that do produce edible fruit though and it might be one of those ones - you'd also need both male and female plants. Even if it doesn't give you anything you can eat, it's still cool looking!

MG - that's stunning! I've never seen one of those before either! I just did some reading on it and it should be hardy to my area - I'm going to have to hunt one down (looks like only the male has that variegation). Having a small back yard with tall fences means vines are always welcome :-)

BP