Popular types
Maiden grape (Parhenocissus) unites 10 species common in nature in North America and East Asia. Three species are most often grown in gardens. These are large perennial vines. They are attached to the support with antennae or oval “suction cups”.
Virgin grape (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
Maiden grape five-leaf
The liana is native to the rainforests of North America. In the first years it develops slowly, then grows faster. Young shoots are reddish in color and can grow up to 15–20 m.
The leaves are palmate, consisting of 3–5 ovate leaflets with serrated edges and a pointed apex. In autumn they change green color. In the sun they turn bright red, in partial shade they turn yellow.
The plant blooms in early summer for 2 weeks. Small greenish flowers are collected in panicle inflorescences. The dark blue fruits ripen towards the end of summer. They are unsuitable for food due to the high concentration of oxalic acid.
This species has many advantages: it is winter-hardy, undemanding to soil and light, easily propagated by seeds, and cuttings root in 100% of cases.
In demand in vertical gardening. The most decorative garden forms :
- Engelmani with small foliage;
- hairy with delicate and soft fluff on young shoots and the underside of leaves;
- wall , capable, thanks to numerous branches with suction cups, to cover large areas, including smooth and steep surfaces;
- St. Pauli with pubescent shoots, branched tendrils and long inflorescences.
Maiden grape attached (Parthenocissus inserta)
Maiden grapes attached
A fast-growing climbing plant with shoots 3 m long; in nature, this species reaches 20–30 m.
Outwardly, it looks like a five-leaf maiden grape. But unlike it, the shoots are attached to the support with tendrils, and not with the help of sticky suction cups. Green shoots become covered with grayish bark as they age.
The leaves reach 5–12 cm in length. They consist of 3–5 shiny oval-shaped leaves with a sharp end. They are dark green above and light green below. In autumn the leaves turn dark red. The paniculate inflorescence consists of 10–75 small flowers.
Tripointed maiden grape (ivy-leaved) (Parthenocissus tricuspidata)
Maiden grapes
A 15–20 m long vine native to the Far East. It has large leaves 10–20 cm long of various shapes: heart-shaped, triangular, three-lobed. In spring the leaves are bright red, in summer they are dark green with a gloss, and in autumn they change color to purple and yellow.
Many tendrils with suckers grow on the shoots. The flowers of the plant are small and inconspicuous. This species is valued for its ability to grow into a dense, flat and durable green carpet. It looks especially beautiful in the fall, when the vines turn bright orange or purple.
Common garden forms :
- purple with dark red leaves during summer;
- Vicha with small leaves;
- golden with green leaves and yellow spots on them.
general description
Parthenocissus is a large vine that can be used both for landscaping the facades of buildings and in the interior.
The climbing shoots of this plant can reach fifteen to twenty meters in length, rising along the walls or falling beautifully.
It is attached to the wall with disc-shaped suction cups, so it does not need additional support.
The flowers of the plant are united in complex clusters, forming peculiar panicles at the tips of the branches.
In summer, the shoots of this beauty are densely covered with shiny dark green leaves, consisting of five lobes. As autumn approaches, the foliage turns a vibrant purple color.
Clusters of small bluish-black berries, , clearly stand out against its background .
ATTENTION! Parthenocissus berries are inedible.
Choosing a place and soil for planting
Maiden grapes are an unpretentious and hardy plant. The culture can grow both in well-lit areas and in partial shade or dense shade. But still, for him, places that are exposed to the sun for several hours a day are preferable.
Here the grapes grow faster, their leaves are large and their color is bright green in the summer, and in the fall it becomes red, dark burgundy, and golden-orange. In a shady place, on the north side, the plant can remain green all season until frost, without changing its outfit to a bright crimson.
Maiden grapes are undemanding to soil. Can grow on infertile and compacted soil. Lack of nutrients and deficiencies in soil structure are eliminated during planting.
Description of the creeping bush - girl's grapes
Maiden grape is a self-pollinating liana-like shrub. The leaves of the plant are dark green in color and consist of three or five leaves connected by one core. The edges of the foliage are variegated and may have an uneven, jagged appearance. The leaves are located on long single cuttings. A feature of the foliage is the ability to acquire a noble, rich red, brown color in the fall, which is often used for design purposes.
The plant blooms in July with inconspicuous white, greenish flowers collected in a crown-shaped inflorescence. Depending on the variety, grape fruits can be blue, black, orange and even white. The berries are often inedible. The fruits remain on the vine after the leaves fall.
Lighting does not play a big role for the development of the plant; it develops well in the shade and in sunny space. The amount of sun rays only matters for the color of the foliage in the autumn season. If the plant is in the shade, its foliage may fall off without ever losing its green color. In bright sunshine, the foliage of the shrub takes on more colorful shades, which is especially appreciated in garden design.
Planting in open ground
Maiden grapes are planted in spring or autumn. Before planting, dig up the soil well and prepare large holes with a depth and width of 50–60 cm. If several plants are planted, then the distance between them should be at least 1 m. The same interval is observed when placing seedlings near buildings, supports, and trees.
The earth is removed from the holes and mixed with humus, sand, and leaf soil. At the bottom, a drainage 15–20 cm thick is arranged from pieces of broken red brick and crushed stone. The prepared soil is poured into the hole, not filling it completely. The seedling is placed in the center of the hole and covered with the remaining soil.
The root neck of the grapes is not buried. It should be level with the ground and not rise above it. After planting, the seedlings are watered abundantly - 10–15 liters of water for each plant.
Maiden grapes are used not only for vertical gardening, they can be grown as a ground cover plant. On rocky slopes, in the shade or in dry open areas, it can quickly grow into green cushions. To do this, plants are planted at smaller intervals - at a distance of 40–50 cm from each other and 2–3 seedlings are placed in each hole.
The use of grapes in landscape design
Thanks to its unpretentiousness and intensive growth in our latitudes, virgin grapes have gained particular popularity in decorative and landscape design. This vine is ideal for original design solutions in the garden or personal plot. Most often, the vine is used to decorate the facades of residential buildings, gazebos, houses, balconies, and garden plots.
Maiden's grape is a real liana; it is well attached to brickwork and wooden surfaces with the help of its aerial roots. Alternatively, you can let it grow horizontally as a ground cover. If you don't want ivy to grow on walls, plant it 10 m away from any structure. Growing wild grapes near garden arbors and fences is also a smart practice. You can grow them on a trellis, especially if you need a screen for summer privacy in a specific area of the yard or property.
Don't let the grapes climb the tree. The shade cast by the vine will interfere with the tree's photosynthesis, thereby depriving it of nutrients.
Care
Watering
Maiden grapes are watered moderately, in a season with sufficient rainfall - 3-4 times. The water requirement is 8–10 liters for each vine.
In hot and dry summers, it is necessary to water more and more often. During prolonged drought without watering, shoot growth stops. In such weather, each plant will require up to 20 liters of water. Water the grapes in the morning or evening.
Feeding
Watering of virgin grapes is reduced, and fertilizing is eliminated completely, unless the task is to grow a spectacular plant with maximum height and volume.
Otherwise, grapes are fed 2 times per season. The first fertilizing is done with nitrogen fertilizers in the spring or early summer. Use nitroammophoska - 40–50 g per 1 sq. m, saltpeter - 20–25 g per 1 sq. m or an aqueous solution of urea. For re-feeding, use nitrogen or complete complex fertilizer after 1–2 months.
In addition to watering and fertilizing, weeds around the bushes are regularly removed, and the soil is loosened at least once a season to improve air exchange in the compacted soil.
Trimming and garter
Pruning controls the growth and decorativeness of grapes. In the middle zone, the plant can grow by 1–3 m during the year. Dry and damaged shoots are removed, overgrown shoots are shortened. It is enough to prune the plant twice a year to prevent it from growing beyond the support.
Maiden grapes need strong support. It is installed immediately after planting. Different types of supports are suitable for the plant: wooden and metal trellises, trellises, arches, pergolas. It is not advisable to use gratings made of plastic or metal mesh. They are too light for girl grapes. Over time, as it grows, it deforms such a support.
Tree trunks and buildings entwined with grapes look beautiful: walls of houses, fences, gazebos.
Shelter for the winter
In the central zone, only five-leafed maiden grapes overwinter without shelter; they are not afraid of low temperatures. Attached and tripointed girlish grapes can freeze slightly. They are removed from the support and covered with dry leaves and spruce branches.
Also, with age, the rhizome of the plant rises from the soil to the surface and becomes bare. A layer of new soil around the vine and hilling will solve this problem.
Characteristics of the variety that make it ideal for decoration
Maiden or wild grapes are deciduous vines. Sometimes the culture is found under the name Virginia ivy. Since the 17th century, the plant has been used to decorate the facades of houses and hedges.
The plant is a vine with wide decorative leaves. The length reaches 15-25 m. Belongs to the Grape family.
On a note! North America and Asia are considered the homeland of the vine. There are more than 10 varieties of the crop, but five-leafed, tripointed and ivy-shaped varieties have adapted to the temperate Russian climate.
Suitable for use in landscape design due to its advantages:
- Unpretentiousness. The vine grows even in difficult conditions (changeable weather, dust, smoke). In any weather and conditions, emerald shiny leaves will grow on it.
- The culture is not demanding on soil composition. They are grown without loss of decorativeness even on poor, rocky soil, where it is impossible to create even the most unpretentious flower bed.
- Fast growth. Every year, one vine adds approximately 3 m to its length. If you plant several seedlings, they will quickly cover the required area.
- Wide, dense foliage mitigates unfavorable weather. In a house whose facade is covered with vines, it will be cooler in the heat.
- Not damaged by pests, little susceptible to diseases - oidium and mildew.
- It has high frost resistance, copes with cold winters, and in the spring again pleases with lush foliage.
- The decorative effect of the leaves lasts for about six months (from May to September). In the summer the plant is green, but in the fall it begins to turn yellow and red, which makes it more interesting.
Despite the huge number of advantages when using virgin grapes in landscaping, do not forget that when growing a crop you need to carefully monitor the direction of growth. From a decorative plant, a vine can easily turn into an annoying weed.
On a note! The fruits and inflorescences are not particularly decorative. The berries contain poisonous components, so they should not be eaten. One piece will do nothing, but if you eat a large number of fruits, you will get poisoned, especially children.
Reproduction
The fruits of the five-leaf maiden grape
The main methods of propagation are seeds, cuttings, layering.
Seeds
Maiden grape seeds remain viable for 1 year. Before planting, planting material must be stratified. Seeds are dropped in the fall (stratification will take place in winter under natural conditions) or treated with cold at home.
To do this, they are placed in a small container with wet sand to a depth of 2 cm. The container is covered with film and placed in a cold place (refrigerator, basement) for 1.5–2 months. After stratification, sowing is carried out.
To obtain guaranteed germination, the seeds are first germinated. They are placed in a damp cloth and placed in a warm place with a temperature of 20–25°C. Every 2-3 days check for mold, signs of rot and moisten. The hatched seeds are placed in boxes with soil to a depth of 1 cm. The emerging seedlings are cared for as for ordinary seedlings.
Plants are planted in the garden when the threat of night frosts has passed. The first year they are grown in a common bed, and the next season they are transplanted into holes in a permanent place.
Cuttings
Maiden grapes are cut in spring or autumn. Cut green shoots 20–25 cm long and at least 0.5 cm thick. The lower 2–3 leaves with petioles are removed.
The shoots are planted in containers filled with a mixture of sand and earth in equal parts. The cuttings are watered moderately and placed in a bright place, but not in direct sunlight. Within 2 months, stepsons will begin to grow on the shoots from the sinuses. This means that rooting has occurred and the cuttings can be planted.
By layering
This method is used if there is already an adult vine on the site. In spring, several shoots growing low to the ground are placed in grooves 4–5 cm deep, pinned and covered with earth, leaving the top above the soil.
Layers are watered when the soil dries to stimulate root formation. The next year, young plants, along with their roots, are separated from the mother bush and transplanted to a new place.
Attached wild grapes
This species differs from its fellows by the serrated edge of the leaf blades, thanks to which the vine appears carved from afar. The top of the plate is dark green, glossy, the bottom is light. The palmately compound leaves have a sharp apex and a wedge-shaped base. Their autumn coloration includes predominantly reddish and purplish tones.
Representative of the attached species
Gardeners value the attached species for its moderate growth and easy-going nature. By the age of ten, the length of the vine reaches no more than 5 m. The perennial can withstand frosts down to -25°C and does not require special care. Thanks to its dense foliage, it perfectly decorates unsightly outbuildings, high fences and other vertical structures.
Pest and disease control
Maiden grapes are almost not damaged by pests and fungi. In rare cases, aphids may settle on it. Without the use of chemicals, you can get rid of pests by spraying the bushes with herbal infusions or rinsing them off with a stream of cold water.
In the garden, virgin grapes are combined with conifers, clematis and climbing roses. It gives not only beauty. The plant improves the microclimate on the site - protects from noise and dust. In hot weather it will provide coolness, and in rainy weather it will save the house from cold and dampness.
You will learn more about caring for virgin grapes from the video.
Benefits and harms
Application
Maiden grapes can be used not only for decorative, but also for medicinal purposes. Chinese doctors have long noticed that a decoction from the branches of this plant has hemostatic properties and also helps tumors resolve.
Parthenocissus is also beneficial from a practical point of view. Walls covered with its vines are less exposed to sunlight, rain and wind, as well as dust and excessive dampness.
Harm
If shoots get under tiles or slate, they can destroy them. Shoots located near drains can get inside the pipes, causing them to become clogged.
By covering the window, vines deprive the room of access to sunlight. The root system, stretching several meters underground, can damage neighboring plants.
If grapes grow near a plastered wall, they can cause damage to the plaster.
