Vaccinium macrocarpon

Large cranberry, American cranberry or bearberry is a low growing vine or trailing broadleaf evergreen with white to pink blooms in late spring to early summer. Best grown in damp to boggy soil, it can be used as a ground cover for boggy or marshy areas with acidic soils. The berries mature in August-November. This plant is intolerant of heat and drought. The leaves are a larval food source for the bog copper butterfly, the flowers are visited by bees, and the fruits are eaten by birds.

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• Height:  0.25 to 0.50’

• Spread: 1.00 to 6.00’

• Pot size: 1 qt.

• Bloom time: May to June

• Light: Full sun

• Moisture: medium to wet

• Attracts: Flowers are visited by bees, and the fruits are eaten by birds

• Deer resistant:  high to moderate resistance

• Companion plants: Highbush blueberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons

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‍ ‍Photo: Lady Bird Johnson, Anderson, Wynn

Apios americana ‘Treasure’

This is a climbing vine with maroon or reddish-brown pea-like showy flowers.  This legume has a rootstalk with edible tubers that Native Americans gathered for food. The Pilgrims also relied on them for food. The tubers  can be used in soups and stews or fried like potatoes. The tubers have 3 times the protein of potatoes with a nuttier flavor.  The flowers are lovely.

• Height: Stems can grow up to about 15 feet long

• Pot size: 3 qt

• Bloom time: July, August, September.  Blooms are brown/copper, red/burgundy

• Light: Full sun to part shade

• Moisture: Moist, wet

• Attracts: Host plant for Silver-spotted Skipper. Wildlife food source

• Deer resistance: No

• Companion Plants: Elderberry, black eyed Susan, purple coneflower, sunflower, ferns

Photo by MGV Ginger Hughes

Adlumia fungosa

Delicate, biennial, climbing vine with fern like foliage with pinkish-white, tubular, hanging flowers similar to bleeding hearts (Dicentra) that bloom throughout summer. The vine is fast growing and can reach 13 feet in height if given something to climb on. Although the plant readily self-seeds, it is listed as endangered or threatened in most of it’s range Northeastern North America.

• Height: Climbing stems can reach 13’

• Pot size: 3 qt

• Bloom time: June to September

• Light: Sun, Part Shade, Shade

• Moisture: Moist to Average

• Attracts: Hummingbirds and other pollinators

• Deer resistance: Yes

• Companion Plants: Maidenhair fern, wild columbine, bee balm, purple coneflower, phlox, bellflower, ninebark

Photo Credit: Glover Perennials

Clematis virginiana

Rapid climbing, twining vine with sweetly aromatic, pure white flowers that bloom in late summer to fall. Once the flowers fade, they give way to attractive, plume-like seed-heads. Northeastern U.S. Native.

• Height: 12 - 20’

• Spread: 3 - 6’

• Pot size: 4 qt. trellised

• Bloom time: August, September, October

• Light: Full sun, part shade

• Moisture: Average, Wet

• Attracts: Provides nesting material for birds, provides cover for wildlife

• Deer Resistance: Yes

• Companion Plants: Foxglove, bellflower, American elderberry, button brush, white dogwood, spotted Joe Pye weed

Photo: Glover Perennials

Wisteria frutescens ‘Amethyst Falls’

This is a long blooming climbing vine with fragrant blue lilac-colored flowers and glossy foliage that can be trained on deck railings, pergolas, arbors or fences. Can climb up to 30’. Vines need regular pruning to train and shape. This cultivar is considered a dwarf wisteria.

• Height: 6’ plus

• Spread: 10’ - 15’

• Pot size: 4 qt.

• Bloom time: June, July, August

• Light: Full sun

• Moisture: Average, Moist

• Attracts: Butterflies, pollinators

• Deer Resistance: Yes

• Companion Plants: Little bluestem, ferns, bee balm, Labrador violet

Photo: Glover Perennials