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.