For autumn colour in the garden, it’s hard to find better than the rich burgundy-red foliage of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia).
We grow this versatile vine on a rustic cedar trellis (that’s it in the photo) to screen the view of our house from the neighbouring barnyard — but it also looks beautiful when grown as a groundcover plant, tumbling down a sunny hillside or over a low rock wall.
Hardy and practically pest-free in our Atlantic Canadian climate, the Virginia Creeper quickly grows to 30 feet or more. Keep it away from the base of valuable trees and shrubs or it can overwhelm them. The vine’s thick growth of grapevine-like tendrils and compound leaves provide safe cover for birds, however, and bees visit its late-summer flowers, while a number of bird species eat the small purple berries that ripen in the fall.