Georgia
Virginia creeper is native and provides an important source of food for birds in the winter. (But don't eat them they're toxic to mammals!) While the sap is irritating the leaves don't harm you so I find Virginia creeper to be a welcome resident in the woods and tree line around the house.
I have a fair amount of that stuff growing around my property. Perhaps not coincidentally, I reside in Virginia.
I find it's relatively easy to control.
Don't get me started on wiregrass. That stuff is pure evil.
Creeper is fast-growing, and a beneficial plant, but it can take over things pretty fast. About once a year I just pluck it off wherever it's growing, or I cut the base of the vine and let it whither.
Hey, not 15 minutes ago we had a visit from someone who specializes in native Florida plants.
Yep, Virginia creeper is native and good for the local animals, she said. Just don’t let it smother the trees, she added.
Any square inch it's growing is a square inch not used by poison ivy, so I do have to appreciate it in the sense of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" kind of way
TJL (Forum Supporter) said:Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:Virginia Creeper
Yup, and Berk virginia creeper.
As said, native. I guess you like kudzu better?
P3PPY said:Any square inch it's growing is a square inch not used by poison ivy, so I do have to appreciate it in the sense of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" kind of way
Good way of putting it.
Potato vine, though, is a major enemy down here.
Potato vines were thick around my house when we moved in about 12 years ago. Not long after that, the air potato beetle was released into the environment. I haven't seen air potato vines here for several years.
The Virginia creepers, on the other hand, are thick. It's an ongoing problem for me.
We started pulling the potato vines when we first noticed them and still yank them. We participated in the beetle release program a few years ago. When I talked to someone from UF a month or so ago, they said enough beetle were out in the field. Still, I know we have some that need to be pulled....
TJL (Forum Supporter) said:Yup, and Berk virginia creeper.
Trade ya any time you'd like:
wish I had enough of a problem with a plant like virgina creeper, to be cussin' mad.
Several varieties of poison vines, thorny vines, and the non native kudzu. Let it get a bit farther these last couple years, so as I pull them all down from the trees, and get as much out of the ground as I can, I'm blessed to have never been allergic to the poison types...
at least I never was before...
This getting old business sucks.
A walking path passes behind our house. On either side, there are some woods. Periodically, you’ll find me back there clipping vines.
I once stumbled out of the woods–scraped up and covered with bits of trees–to come face to face with some people walking down the path.
He was like, Hey, don’t you work for Grassroots Motorsports?
Awkward.
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