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Native Plants for Georgia |
| Botanical Name | ||
| Bignonia capreolata | Parthenocissus quinquefolia | |
| Campsis radicans | Smilax pumila | |
| Decumaria barbara | Smilax smallii | |
| Gelsemium sempervirens | Wisteria frutescens | |
| Lonicera sempervirens |
Characteristics: Crossvine is a semi-evergreen to evergreen vine, medium in texture, with a fast growth rate. It climbs by twining and tendrils or grows along the ground. The foliage is dark green in summer with a purplish cast in winter. Trumpet-shaped orange-red flowers are borne from April to June. Its common name refers to the cross pattern seen when the stem is cut.
Landscape Uses: Crossvine is a good plant for quickly covering trellises and fences. It is easy to grow when provided with adequate moisture and full sun to light shade. Crossvine is a tough plant that will tolerate environmental extremes. It needs training for the first few years after transplanting.
Size: A climbing vine growing to 30 to 50 feet
Zones: 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Moist, forested areas
Native To: Maryland, Virginia and southern Illinois; south to Florida and Louisiana
Comments: A good hummingbird plant. Cultivars are available.
 Photo: Hugh & Carol Nourse |
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 Photo: Ed McDowell |
- |  Photo: Ed McDowell |
Characteristics: Trumpetcreeper is a deciduous vine with medium texture and a fast growth rate. It is a twining, clinging and climbing vine; it will also spread along the ground. The leaf is compound, and flowers are trumpet-shaped, orange to red. They bloom from June to August in clusters of four to12 flowers. The fruit is an elongated capsule bearing numerous seeds.
Landscape Uses: Trumpetcreeper is easy to grow and useful for quickly covering fences or trellises, particularly when a deciduous vine is needed to allow for winter sun. It does well in almost any situation, from wet to dry, full sun to partial shade. Full sun is best. Trumpetcreeper is aggressive and will climb poles or other plants, so plant it where it will not become a pest. It will require pruning.
Size: A climbing vine reaching 30 to 40 feet
Zones: 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Upland wooded areas, fencerows
Native To: Pennsylvania to Missouri, south to Florida and Texas
Comments: A good hummingbird plant
 Photo: Theresa Schrum |
- |  Photo: Gary Wade |
Characteristics: Climbing Hydrangea is a deciduous vine with medium-coarse texture and a medium growth rate. It climbs by aerial root-like holdfasts. Fragrant, small white flowers are borne in terminal clusters from May to June. The unusual fruit is a capsule shaped like a small urn.
Landscape Uses: Climbing Hydrangea does best when planted in moist soils with good drainage and partial shade. Fertilize regularly for best growth. It does not do well in dry, poor soils. It will climb trees and masonry structures but is not overly aggressive.
Size: A climbing vine growing 30 to 40 feet
Zones: 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Moist, fertile woodlands and along sandy streams
Native To: Virginia to Florida, west to Louisiana
 Photo: Hugh & Carol Nourse |
- |  Photo: Ed McDowell |
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 Photo: Gary Wade |
 Photo: Gary Wade |
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Characteristics: Carolina Yellow Jessamine is an evergreen vine with fine texture and a fast growth rate. Fragrant, yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers are borne in February and March. It climbs by twining around branches of other plants.
Landscape Uses: Use Carolina Yellow Jessamine on trellises, fences, mailboxes, etc. It may need training. It prefers moist, well-drained soils in full sun or partial shade. It can be used as a groundcover in full sun, but flowering will be sparse. It will look spindly in shade.
Size: Climbing vine growing 10 to 20 feet. It also can be allowed to ramble on the ground.
Zones: 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Moist, wooded, deciduous forests
Native To: Virginia to Florida, west to Arkansas and Texas; south to Central America
Comments: Attractive to hummingbirds and songbirds. Other species, such as the popular repeat-blooming Swamp Jessamine (Gelsemium rankinii) are available. Swamp Jessamine flowers are not fragrant.
 Photo: Gary Wade |
- |  Photo: Gary Wade |
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 Photo: Ed McDowell |
 Photo: Ed McDowell |
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Chacteristics: Trumpet Honeysuckle is an evergreen vine with medium texture and a medium growth rate. It climbs by twining. Orange to scarlet trumpet-shaped flowers, two inches long, are borne in March and April. Fruit are red and moderately showy.
Landscape Uses: Use Trumpet Honeysuckle on arbors, trellises, fences and walls. It does best when planted in moist, fertile soils in full sun. It is not aggressive and can be kept within bounds with regular pruning. For best flowering, do not over-fertilize.
Size: Climbing vine growing 10 to 20 feet
Zones: 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Roadsides, fencerows and forest margins in moist, fertile soil
Native To: Connecticut to Florida, west to Nebraska and Texas
Comments: Birds eat the fruit, and hummingbirds enjoy the flowers, which are pollinated by birds, not bees. Trumpet Honeysuckle is a good choice for people allergic to bee stings. Several cultivars are available.
 Photo: Hugh & Carol Nourse |
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 Photo: Hugh & Carol Nourse |
- |  Photo: Hugh & Carol Nourse |
Characteristics: Virginia Creeper is a deciduous vine with palmate compound leaves, medium texture and a fast growth rate. It climbs by branched tendrils (slender, curling extensions along the stems) that have adhesive-like tips that attach to a structure. Blue berries are borne in fall. Autumn leaf color is scarlet red.
Landscape Uses: Virginia Creeper is a good plant for quickly covering fences, walls and arbors. It is easy to grow and is tolerant of most sites and soil conditions. In nature, it may be somewhat invasive. For landscapes, it is a low-maintenance vine with excellent fall color.
Size: A climbing vine growing 30 to 50 feet
Zones: 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Bottomlands and oak hickory forests in moist shade
Native To: New England to Florida and Mexico; west to Ohio, Illinois and Missouri
Comments: Birds eat the seeds.
 Photo: Ed McDowell |
- |  Photo: Gary Wade |
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 Photo: Shirley Denton |
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Characteristics: Dwarf Smilax is a thornless, broadleaf evergreen vine with medium texture and a slow growth rate. It is a ground cover plant rather than a climbing vine. It spreads by underground stems. Foliage is a lustrous, dark green. It bears bright-red berries in fall through winter.
Landscape Uses: Use Dwarf Smilax as a ground cover plant. It looks particularly nice when combined with flowering bulbs or perennials. It requires adequate moisture and some shade for best performance. It does not like hot, dry, exposed locations. It can be established by division or from container-grown plants.
Size: 6 to 8 inches tall and slowly spreading
Zones: 8a, 8b
Habitat: An understory plant on hardwood forest slopes with good moisture and sandy soils
Native To: Coastal Plain from Georgia to Texas
Comments: Birds eat the berries.
 Photo: Fred Nation |
 Photo: Shirley Denton |
Characteristics: Lanceleaf Smilax is a climbing evergreen vine with spineless stems. The leaves are lance-shaped, two to three inches long and about one inch wide. Male and female flowers appear in April and May and are borne in umbels at the leaf axils. The female flowers produce berries about ¼-inch in diameter; they change from white to orange, then to black by late summer.
Landscape Uses: Lanceleaf Smilax will complement arbors, trellises and fences in full sun to partial shade. Plant in well-drained soils.
Size: 8 to 10 feet
Zones: 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Usually found in sandy, floodplain forests
Native To: Virginia to Florida; west to Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas
Comments: The cut vines hold up well and are used by florists. The plant is a good food source for wildlife.
 Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock, USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database |
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 Photo: Chris Evans, Bugwood.org |
- |  Photo: Chris Evans, Bugwood.org |
Characteristics: American Wisteria is a twining, deciduous, woody vine that bears light lavender flowers in spring. The flowers are pea-like and borne in two- to four-inch long clusters, called racemes. Leaves are pinnately compound with five to seven pairs of leaflets. Seeds are borne in a legume-like pod.
Landscape Uses: Use American Wisteria on arbors, trellises, fences and walls. It is not nearly as aggressive or invasive as the exotic wisterias, and it is a much better choice for the landscape. It performs best in moist, fertile soil.
Size: A climbing vine growing 15 to 30 feet
Zones: 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Along stream banks of creeks and rivers, and at woodland borders in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont
Native To: Virginia to Florida and Texas
Comments: Cultivars such as "Amethyst Falls" are available.
 Photo: Gary Wade |
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 Photo: Ed McDowell |
- |  Photo: Ed McDowell |
Bulletin 987/May, 2008
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
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