Wild Vine Plants

High-Climbing Vines

• Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) uses tendrils to climb trees and vertical surfaces. Rapidly growing from 30 to 50 feet, it has glossy, deciduous green leaves. The foliage brightens autumn woods from Maine to Florida with shades of red and purple. The vine's greenish-white, early-summer blooms give way to blue-black fall berries. Cold-tolerant Virginia creeper survives to minus 30 degrees F in U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone 4. Sticky-tipped tendrils allow Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) to ascend or sprawl as much as 50 feet. Another Eastern woodland native, crossvine draws hummingbirds with fragrant, orange-red trumpetlike spring flowers. In harsh winter climates, its compound green foliage becomes reddish-purple before dropping. Crossvine tolerates temperatures approaching minus 20 F.

Moisture-Loving Vines

• Climbing hydrangea (Decumaria barbara), native to swamps and riverbanks across the South, reaches up to 30 feet high. It blooms only when growing vertically. Clinging to surfaces with rootlets, the vine has glossy, round foliage that obscures its stems from bottom to top and fragrant, flat cluster of white, spring-to-fall flowers. Flood-tolerant, it thrives in partially shady locations with moist, acidic soil. Blue jasmine (Clematis crispa), also native to Southeastern wetlands, grows up to 10 feet high. Its single light-blue to purple flowers open against compound green leaves from late spring to midsummer. The white-throated blooms have a mild fragrance. This Zone-6-hardy clematis relishes root-cooling, moist or wet soils and full sun to partial shade.

Heat-Loving Vines

• The American Horticulture Society's Heat Zone Map divides the United States into 12 zones depending on regional numbers of days above plant-stressing 86 degrees F. Two ornamental wild vines flourish in AHS Zone 9, where the thermometer tops that mark between 120 and 150 days. Trumpetvine (Campsis radicans) grows across the southeastern United States, producing deep green, fernlike compound leaves and showy, yellow, red or orange trumpet flowers. The 30- to 40-foot vine requires strong support. Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), at 10 to 20 feet long, has spring clusters of yellow-throated, scarlet tubular flowers. Birds eat the red autumn berries that follow the blooms. The vine's oval blue-green foliage is evergreen where winters are warm. These vines flower best in full sun and moist, loamy soils.

Edible Vines

• Pea family perennial vine groundnut (Apios Americana) winds through thickets and shady, moist, eastern and Midwestern woodlands. Its butterfly-attracting dark red flowers open above airy, compound foliage during summer. Six- to 12-foot groundnut's edible tubers were a dietary staple for Native Americans and the early colonists. Sharing much of groundnut's native range, maypop (Passiflora incarnata), or wild passionflower, pairs eye-catching, white-stamened purple summer flowers with tendrils of shiny, deeply lobed green leaves. Its flowers give way to edible egg-shaped fruits, or maypops, that ripen to yellow-orange. The up-to- 25-foot vine likes fertile, sandy or loamy soil and sun to partial shade.