Are you sure that you want Virginia creeper? I think there are a lot of preferable alternatives. Honeysuckle, clematis, wisteria, morning glories, moonflowers, sweet peas, and climbing roses are all plants that I would rather have for their fragrant and/or attractive flowers. Ivy might provide more of a New England look. You might even consider planting climbing vegetables next to it such as beans, peas, tomatoes, or cucumbers.

Great choice! Virginia Creeper is a native with berries for the birds, and beautiful fall color. I'm currently encouraging it to grow along what is otherwise a rather sterile fence myself. You would be welcome to come look for seedlings to dig in my yard, but I'm afraid I live all the way down in Franklin.

But the good news is that if you can find seedlings, they can withstand being transplanted even in the heat of the summer. I transplanted half a dozen a year ago and thought I had killed them, but they are taking off this year. One of them has a runner that has almost reached my height.

M,

If you live anywhere near some woods, VC will come and find you, so you don't need to go looking for it!!

My fence and retaining wall was adapted by some VC about 7 years ago, creeping silently and relentlessly out of the woods in search of sunlight. First it was as innocent encounter with a single branching out vine, and now it's climbed up a 15 foot retaining wall and chainlink fence.

Upon hitting the sun it has really broken out with all out growth and vigor. I like the plant a lot, as the retaining wall is a nice gravity lock grey colored wall, but I am not fond of retaning walls at all.

My chainlink fence has been converted into a "fedge" (fenceh hedge), which looks great in season. In winter the VC defoliates and doesn't hide the fence. In season the VC totally grows all over another aggressive vines (japanese honeysuckle and english ivy).

I have seen some garden web-nurseries selling a variegated variety.

I wish you lived near me. I'd give you all you wanted. I caught it strangling my lilac . . . running all around the perimeter of my back yard. I wondered if at least I could feed my rabbits this invasive pest, but no way. It's juice & berries are poisonous to rabs. (least, that's what I've read, though I also know goats can eat it)
I hate it; saw it at Home Depot the other day, labelled 'spreading vine' hah! Got that right.
Sherry

Just a followup to this exchange: A few weeks ago, I discovered two Virginia creeper seedlings in my yard. One was in the lawn, and the other hiding in the strawberry patch! And I do mean seedlings--they had just gotten their first true leaves, and the seedling leaf pair was still showing. Were they from my original plant, which mysteriously disappeared? Were they brought in by a bird? Who knows. But I transplanted them to the general area of the chainlink fence, and in a couple years I should have more than enough to cover the fence and the ugly garage.

Marcia Morrison
in Salem, Massachusetts

I would go for the variegated variety if I was going to introduce such a monster to my yard. Not that I don't spend a lot of time cutting down what I have now!

Hey, I need to stick up for VC here!! :-) It may be aggressive but at least it is native to our region and its berries are a valuable food source for birds. And it has gorgeous fall color...nothing says New England better than Virginia Creeper sprawling over an old wall...

and to my eyes, it is SO much nicer than the invasive Asiatic Bittersweet that covers everything around here...

Lovely photo, ellen_s. I also like Virginia Creeper. I used to admire it in the New York Botanical Garden in the fall, where they had it climbing up mature trees, which were in no danger of being strangled.

Claire

Perhaps there is a way to control the growth. I would not let the vine climb up a tree I liked.

My brother is trying to remove it from his woods. The older trees are becoming overgrown and are housestomping size. Virginia Creeper does definitely strangle trees here. I read that it is invasive in some areas, so that implies that it is not invasive somewhere. Here you can see even the younger vines wrapping around trees and the trees growing into and around it. It definitely does kill them.

Some of the vines here are very established and are quite thick with vines the width of small tree trunks.

http://standley.shutterchance.com/blog.php?itemRef=149736

Here is a link that might be useful: Beautiful Red Vine Covering Tree

I should mention that it does look pretty in the fall with such a brilliant color of red.

Here is a famous painting for everyone.

Here is a link that might be useful: Edvard Munch's Red Virginia Creeper on House

Evonne, very strange that you say it kills trees; we have it growing up a huge silver maple to no bad affect and i have been told by very reliable mentor that it does NOT strangle trees.

Marcia, excellent choice for your fence/year round privacy (unlike the annual vines and less-coverage vines previously mentioned.) i have tons if you'd like some and we are 30 min. from you. why wait years w/ your 2 small sprouts? you can contact me directly at cottonarboretum@comcast.net
best,
mindy

I did say it strangled trees. I see it growing right into the small ones. It wraps around the smaller trees and the tree has to grow into them to expand. I don't see that on the larger trees. The larger trees seem to get deprived of sunlight.

When I look it up online, there are two warnings about Virginia Creeper. One warning is not to let it grow on a structure unless you want it to be permanent. The other is not to allow it to grow up a tree you enjoy. The articles do not say they strangle the large trees though. They say the vine deprives them of sunlight over time as they spread over the tree.

What I had to do on some of my trees is cut the base and wait for the vines to die and fall. The vines look yukky for a long time until they rot enough to fall. I still have quite a bit of it in my gardens spreading over the ground though. It comes up everywhere.

My neighbor does have one on top of a stone wall like the photo that looks nice in the fall.

{{gwi:1083960}}

I took a lot of photos of vines last year. This is one of many.

Before I knew any better I thought that this is a 'picture perfect', red VC on a green hemloks.

Four years after I eliminated that monster my hemloks are still in a recovery stage and at the current rate they'll need another 4-5 years to become a former self.

Mindy, beware!

i would definitely not want VC growing up an evergreen. Heck, even a medium sized clematis can ruin an evergreen by depriving it of too much light.(BTW George, my version of your VC/hemlock travesty involves a big hemlock hedge and one clematis paniculata. sigh.) We have it growing up a gigantic silver maple which i don't cherish but i do not wish to lose, so i will re-ask my mentor; thank you for the warning.
best,
mindy

I think the key here is that silver maples are excellent competitors (polite way of saying they are thugs, I guess) so the VC is evenly matched. THe surface roots of the maple probably keep the creeper from getting enough water and nutrients to really take off. I'd just beware of it popping up elsewhere, if I had it on a sturdy tree.

It does show up in my wooded area every year, and I remove as much of it as I can by hand. This seems to be keeping it under control, but if I'm away for any length of time I know it will take over that part of the garden.

It's no worse than sweet autumn clematis in this area of new england, actually it's a lot easier to remove since it doesn't grow so quickly and doesn't confuse me by looking just like something I've mail ordered. It's just another chore that needs to be done on a regular basis: scouting for VC while weeding.