Best of the bunch
Parthenocissus YOU may have seen this red plant covering distinguished looking buildings at this time of year.
You take notice because its cloak of green seems to turn a warm crimson colour which deepens to purple.
It’s not generally suitable for your average house because it’s a very vigorous self-climber, using its self-adhesive pads to cling to walls. It’s a vine, related to the grape family, and produces black berries after flowering.
The difference between a Virginia Creeper and a Boston Ivy lies in the shape of their leaves – the former has five leaflets on each leaf stalk, the latter is a single maple-shaped leaf.
If you do a have a large wall to cover, these perform well on those difficult north and east-facing walls. Spread the stems in a fan shape when planting to encourage horizontal coverage.