Not sure if I like the idea or not. Wife has mentioned she would like a vine on our fence out front. Brought up Virginia Creeper as a possibility. I'm nervous about how strong of a grower it is. In your experience how tough is it to control or kill? Will it strangle trees if it gets into them.
Virginia creeper isn't as bad as trumpet vine or wisteria once it gets established. I hate trumpet vine. Anything growing on a wood fence will cause it to rot faster because the vine will hold moisture after rains. Pressure treated or not.
Dont do it!!! Not on the fence at least if she wants a nice pretty vine growing on something get her an arbor or a swing or something free standing away from the house and other trees and let it grow on that. Ive got Va creeper growing on my barn and its a constant struggle to keep it back and off. My wife wants wisteria so in the spring were going to find some and plant it on an arch her dad built for us and if it makes to leave that arch it gets chopped. I abosolutaly hate vines growing on fences and houses and trees they are very destructive theyve been slowly dragging my fence down out at the back of the property. There thats my $.02 worth about it.
On parents property I kill every one of those vines I see.It can get as big as poison ivy & is equally as destructive.When going for a walk always have a sharp hatchet with me,along with the camera.Have seen some big old Red Oaks & a few other trees that were pretty much toast thanks to them.
Generally speaking, anything that grows as a vine is very vigorous. They can climb up whatever to get to wherever growing conditions are best, often at the expense of whatever they are growing on. Growth rates vary, but you can bet they are strong growers, and damm near impossible to kill without chemical warfare if you change your mind later. Just be sure you want it.
Personally I wouldn't want anything growing on a fence. That's just more to maintain during the growing season! Side note, my mom is crazy allergic to virginia creeper. It's like poison ivy times 10 for her.
Plant some bamboo too while your at it. It's fun, everybody's doing it... Sarcasm of course. Consider the fence a sacrifice if you do plant about any vine on it... On purpose?
I HATE anything invasive. My wife likes to put Chocolate mint and various mints in, and once they grab hold, they just spread like crazy and are almost impossible to get rid of. You will be assimilated.
Greenstick , I previously lived in harsh climate, and planted Virginia Creepers with great success. Is ND harsh too? Then I was at 5600 feet, with bedrock, minimum soil, and an almost 2 decade drought, and frequent high winds and gusts. I have an extremely green thumb but my climate prevented clemantis or even trumpet vine from growing, the creepers did MUCH better. We bought two 15' trellisses, took about 15 years but both made it up almost the entire 15'. They did not spread outside of the planting area (one was a corner of the front yard, the other two were tires 1/2 dug into the ground with the trellisses in the back yard. I thought I would share since they gave me much pleasure when I had them
ND climate in a basket...temp 100º+ to -30º, drought to flood, wind gusts of 60 mph and in a summer storm microbursts of 100+mph. However we have some of the best soil on the planet. I have saw a few clumps of Va Creeper growing here so it will make it. Just leery to bring something home the way people talk how aggressive it is but our climate will help control it compared to warmer places.
Its aggressive yes but if you plant it out away from stuff it will stay pretty localized to that spot it will grow up and out kind of like a bush. or if you give it something to grow on you can train it on and around that. I would just highly recommend not letting it grow on buildings fences or trees. Also make sure its already been introduced to your state/area We have kudzu down here and its gone absolutely insane taking over everything and I think at this point the only thing that might touch it is Agent Orange and I have my doubts about that.
Virginia creeper isn't too bad to keep under control. But I hate pulling vines as much as raking leaves so I don't really like vines. We have a lot of English ivy in our yard and that stuff is a pain. I don't find virginia creeper to be a very "attractive" vine anyways, so I'm not sure Id choose that as a fence vine. We have some kind of vine on our fence and as long as we keep it trimmed it's fine. Not sure what it is though
