Garden Guide With James Kilkelly - Fiery colours for walls

IT'S at this time of year that many gardeners come to the stark realisation that they have become far too hung up on flowering plants as a source of colour within their garden. Unless you've been very judicious in your plant selection you may find that vibrant blooms are quite literally thin on the ground throughout autumn and winter. Some gardeners may even go so far as to reveal a secret hatred of autumn and winter due to their supposed lack of garden colour. However, if your favourite colours happen to be red, orange or yellow, then autumn is the season for you. What autumn lacks in flower colour is more than made up for by the fiery leaf shades that many trees and shrubs produce at this time of year. Personally, I hold autumn as my favourite season due, primarily, to this glorious leaf colouration. Rather than look to trees and shrubs to provide me with my first fix of autumn colour, I instead look to a climbing plant. That colourful climber is the Virginia creeper, also known as the five-leaved ivy or to use its correct Latin name, Parthenocissus quinquefolia. A green-leaved plant, it spends the spring and summer hovering in the background of its flashier companion plants to suddenly burst onto the stage each autumn. I should be used to it at this stage, but I am annually amazed by the quick colour transformation of the Virginia creeper. Its leaf colour alters from Plain Jane green to warm hues of ochre, auburn, deep red and burgundy before leaf fall. All this happens because of cooling outdoor temperatures working on the sugars within the leaf to expose pigments, which up until now remained hidden. A range of uses Virginia creeper can be used as a self-clinging climbing plant on walls that are plastered or not. Unlike other climbing plants such as clematis or honeysuckle, Virginia creeper supports itself by means of small, forked, clinging tendrils. At the ends of these tendrils are strongly adhesive discs, which stick to the wall rather than penetrate into it. Because of this sticking or cementing rather than rooting, it causes no damage to the masonry of walls. The plant can, however, become a nuisance by climbing into gutters and under roof tiles or slates. So, regular pruning, which is best carried out in spring, is required to contain this beast. When pruning, don't go easy, Virginia creeper is very tolerant of hard pruning and can be cut right back to the base if required for plant rejuvenation. Left without pruning, Parthenocissus quinquefolia has been known to reach heights of 20 to 30 metres with new growth of six metres long produced in a year. Thankfully, if planted at the base of an Irish wall it will usually grow to approx ten metres in height and five metres in spread (smaller still with pruning). Virginia creeper is not just used to climb up walls as it is equally useful as a draping plant. Growing it on top of or in a wall will also help to soften what might otherwise be an imposing structure. When vines such Virginia creeper grow on top of a wall and hang down, for example, the eye travels downward and the wall seems lower and less imposing. Likes and dislikes Like many climbers of its type, it requires a well-drained but moisture retentive, fertile soil. It is a vine that grows best if planted in semi-shade on an east or west-facing wall. The moisture retentive soil and semi-shade location help to keep its roots moist when planted at the base of a wall, which is usually a bone-dry location. Because of the shelter in their native woodland, most climbers dislike strong winds. Virginia creeper happens to be reasonably resistant but strong winds may prevent them from clinging, so bear this in mind when selecting your planting location. If you are a lover of fiery colours, you can do a lot worse than include Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) in your overall garden scheme. I promise that its decorative, ivy-shaped leaves and their transition from green to molten red each autumn will not disappoint you. To continue the idea of broadening your focus beyond simple flowering plants, next week I will look at other colourful, leafy additions to your garden. Until then, happy gardening and remember that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.