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Tuesday - August 13, 2013

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Vines
Title: Vine to cover pile of tree limbs
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I have a pile of tree limbs in my yard. I'd like to find a (flowering or not) vine type plant native to the Austin TX area that will eventually grow all over and cover this pile. Thanks for any suggestions you can provide.

ANSWER:

There are several possibilities. We'll start with evergreen vines first:

Lonicera sempervirens (Coral honeysuckle) is evergreen and will grow in sun and part shade. It will climb or also make a good groundcover. Hummingbirds love it.

Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina jessamine) is evergreen and will climb or mound in sun and part shade. It attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.

Bignonia capreolata (Crossvine) is evergreen and grows in sun and part shade and attracts hummingbirds.

Ipomoea cordatotriloba var. cordatotriloba (Tievine) is NOT evergreen, but is described as an aggressive grower. You might pair it with one of the evergreen vines above to have varied coverage of your pile of tree limbs. Here is more information from University of Florida Extension Service.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) is NOT evergreen, nor does it have showy flowers, but it is a good fast grower in sun, part shade and shade and would make a good cover over your pile of tree limbs.

Clematis drummondii (Drummond's clematis) is NOT evergreen. It grows in sun and part shade and happily covers fences and shrubs. It has very showy silvery plumes that are part of the seeds in the late summer.