This rampant vine was growing on the back and side fences when we moved in. The first gardening chore I did in our new house was to hack it back. It had grown out into the gravel and into the shrubs in front of it.
It's a nice green wall dividing our yard from next door, and giving us privacy. In October it had started to turn scarlet red, but we got an early frost and it quickly browned.
The drawback is that in winter it is ugly brown. By May 1 it greens up again, but all winter it's awful to look at.
It needs constant pruning to keep it in bounds, but that's pretty easily done.
In early October 2018 there was one, and only one, red pop of color on one branch, showing what the fall color could look like.
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| October 3, 2018 |
But overall the whole vine just turns a mixed rusty brown, not red. There has been no hint of frost yet, but the leaves are browning and large patches have leaves that have dried up already. Not a great fall color show.
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| October 5, 2018 |
In the summer of 2019 it got a case of mildew -- a gray fuzzy look on most of the leaves. We'd had a wet winter and wetter spring, then a dry summer. It didn't seem to hurt it, but didn't look great.
In early October 2019 we got two nights of hard freezes and the vine gave up, without ever coloring red at all. It is just such an ugly dried brown sight all fall and winter . . . .
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| October 14, 2019 |
Finally, in 2020 it had some nice fall color!
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| October 13, 2020 |