Five Native Vines

The entrance to the North Carolina Native Wildflower Garden is an arbor. On this arbor are five vines native to North Carolina. They are small now, but in a few years they will transform the wooden frame into a shady passageway to the wildflower garden.

American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) is the first vine on the right. It can climb as high as 45 feet and rarely injures the trees it winds up. The alternate, compound pinnate leaves have 9 to 15 leaflets and are 7 to 12 inch long. The lavender flowers are held in a tight four to six inch long raceme. This is the wisteria to plant. It is well behaved, grows in partial shade with average moisture, and is not invasive and destructive like its Asian cousins. It blooms May through August.
Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) twines for about 10 to 20 feet. It is the middle vine on the left. It has opposite leaves with the pair below the flower fused around the stem. The clusters of slender trumpets are orange-red to red on the outside and yellow to yellow-orange on the inside. Each whorl of flowers is borne at the end of a shoot. They attract hummingbirds, but are not fragrant. It has red berries in September to November. It takes part shade and average moisture. This vine does not climb on its own. You must provide support and tie it up or it will grow in tangles on the ground.
Cross Vine (Anisostichus capreolata or Bignonia capreolata) is the last vine on the left. It can climb to the tops of tall trees (30 to 50 feet). It has showy yellow/orangish tubular flowers in cymes of two to five flowers in April and May. They have a mocha fragrance. The semi-evergreen, pinnate leaves consist of two leaflets and a terminal tendril that clings to bark. In winter the leaf color changes to reddish purple and is more purple on the underside. It likes full sun and moist soil. The flowers produce many winged seeds that the wind carries widely. The disks on the tendrils enable this vine to climb concrete, brick, and wood. It can become invasive, so be careful where you plant it.
Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla) is the first vine on the left of the arbor. The common name describes the flowers of this vine which have sepals curved into a pipe-shaped blossom, a yellow-green tube with a brownish purple flared orifice. It is another high climbing vine (20 to 30 feet) and has alternate heart-shaped leaves with 1 to 3 inch-long petioles. It blooms in May and June, takes full sun to part shade, and likes moist, well-drained soil.
Yellow Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is the last vine on the right. It is the earliest to bloom with fragrant, funnel-shaped yellow flowers February into April. It has opposite, lanceolate, evergreen leaves. This vine can climb 10 to 20 feet. It likes full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained, organic soil.

All these vines do well here. They will tolerate part shade, but will bloom more profusely in full sun. Add a few to your garden to provide lovely flowers, cooling summer shade, and interesting foliage.