# Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)

> A fast native vine that climbs by sticky pads, turns crimson early in fall and feeds birds through the winter with blue-black berries.

Also called woodbine, five-leaved ivy, American ivy. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/virginia-creeper/

![Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) five-leaflet leaves on a vine climbing a shagbark hickory trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/virginia-creeper-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AVirginia_Creeper_on_Shagbark_Hickory_20-05-31_019.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 30 to 50 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 10
- Grows wild in: The forest understory, stream banks, rocky ground, old fields and edges
- Native range: 36 states and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), north to [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC)). Also recorded, not native, in [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO) and [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT)
- Sun: Full, Part, Shade
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry, Wet
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: May to August
- Fruit: Berries, August to February
- First crop: —
- Mature spread: 10 ft
- Traits: Fall color, Wildlife value, Tolerates shade, Drought tolerant, Erosion control, Salt tolerant
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Virginia creeper is a woody vine of the grape family, at home in woods and thickets across the eastern half of North America. Each leaf has five leaflets spread like the fingers of a hand, where poison ivy, which often grows beside it, has three. Its branched tendrils end in sticky pads that cement it to bark, brick or stone, so it climbs a wall with no trellis or runs along the ground. On shaded banks and slopes it makes a ground cover that holds the soil. Grow it up a stone or brick wall, a sturdy fence or a large tree.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Virginia creeper grows fast, nearly three feet a year in our growth estimator. It climbs 30 to 50 feet on a wall or a tree, and wild vines reach 60 to 75 feet into the treetops. One plant spreads 5 to 10 feet wide. Its leaves open purplish, turn dull green and change to crimson and purple early in fall, among the first vines to color.

Greenish white flowers hide under the leaves from May into August, and bees visit them. Blue-black berries about a quarter inch across ripen from August into October on red stalks and hang on into February. Birds eat them through the winter, among them chickadees, woodpeckers, thrushes and bobwhite. Its leaves feed the caterpillars of several sphinx moths.

It grows wild from Nova Scotia and Quebec south to Florida and west to Minnesota, South Dakota and Texas. Beyond the United States it ranges through Mexico to Guatemala. It lives in open and shaded woods and climbs along fencerows, forest edges, stream banks and rocky bluffs.

## How to grow Virginia Creeper

Virginia creeper grows in full sun, part shade or full shade, and its fall color is brightest in sun. Any soil that drains suits it, from sand to clay and from acid to limy. Once rooted it rides out drought, heat, compacted soil and salt, and it stands occasional flooding. Its sticky pads hold fast to brick and stone, and once fixed they are very hard to remove and can ruin paint. Keep it off wood or shingle siding, where the tendrils work in between the boards and the dense leaves keep the wood wet after rain. Keep it off gutters, shutters and wiring too, and cover a masonry wall only where the vine is to stay for good. Plant it 5 feet from a wall it should not climb, and set plants 3 feet apart along a fence or trellis. It burns readily, so where wildfire is a risk keep it out of the planting zone next to a house. It will climb utility poles, so keep it more than 50 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Lead the first shoots onto the wall, fence or trunk the vine is to climb. Pick the berries once they turn blue-black, and clean the seed from the pulp. Sow it outdoors in fall, about 3/8 inch deep. For a spring sowing, hold the cleaned seed damp in the refrigerator for 60 days first. Softwood cuttings taken in summer root easily too.

Water weekly through the first summer, and in a long drought soak the soil 6 inches deep each week. Once settled it grows fast, so trim it every year to keep it in bounds. Pull shoots off gutters, shutters and wiring before their pads take hold. Deer browse the leaves and stems in spring and summer, but the vine is moderately resistant to them.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Mildew, leaf spots, canker and wilt turn up now and then. Japanese beetles, scale insects, leafhoppers and caterpillars can leave the leaves ragged. Left to climb, it can shade out and slowly kill a shrub or tree it covers. Birds eat the berries, but they are highly poisonous to people and can be fatal if eaten.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Parthenocissus quinquefolia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/parthenocissus-quinquefolia/)
- [University of Florida IFAS Extension, FPS454: Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Virginia Creeper (Gilman, Klein and Hansen, 1999, revised 2023)](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FP454)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Parthenocissus quinquefolia](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PAQU2)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Parthenocissus quinquefolia](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=l490)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Virginia creeper](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/virginia-creeper/)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Coladonato 1991)](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/vine/parqui/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (Agriculture Handbook 727, 2008): Parthenocissus, creeper (Gill, Pogge and Bonner)](https://rngr.net/publications/wpsm/genera/p/at_download/file)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_paqu2.pdf)
- [Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide: Virginia creeper](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/virginia-creeper)
- [Flora of North America, Volume 12: Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Moore and Wen)](http://floranorthamerica.org/Parthenocissus_quinquefolia)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: Virginia creeper](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=126)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Parthenocissus quinquefolia](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.133085/Parthenocissus_quinquefolia)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Parthenocissus quinquefolia](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/PAQU2)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Poison ivy and the native plants that look like it](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/poison-ivy-and-its-native-look-alikes/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [What a young tree looks like: first-year seedlings of oak, walnut, hickory, chestnut, maple and redbud, and the weed trees to pull](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-young-tree-looks-like/index.html.md)

## Related

- Trees to plant it under: [Common Hackberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hackberry/index.html.md), [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md) and [Sugarberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sugarberry/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Virginia Creeper, add ?species=virginia-creeper with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 3, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=virginia-creeper&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Virginia Creeper](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=virginia-creeper): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Virginia Creeper as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=virginia-creeper (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Virginia Creeper is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=virginia-creeper (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Virginia Creeper needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=virginia-creeper:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Virginia Creeper where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=virginia-creeper&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Virginia Creeper goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=virginia-creeper&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Virginia Creeper flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=virginia-creeper