Funky Junk Interiors

Looking for a gorgeous yet easy vine to grow? Discover the beauty and ever changing characteristics of growing Virginia Creeper on garden arches. Get tips and take a summer yard tour to see its stunning effects!

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Back in April of this year, I landed the most amazing garden arbors from a very generous neighbour!

Read Part 1: See both arbors being setup in spring HERE

While they didn’t look like much quite yet, I’ve seen the stems and leaflets of this native vine in their full glory and had coveted getting some ever since.

But now I was the proud owner of not just one, but TWO garden arbors covered in Virginia Creeper!

Read Part 1: See both arbors being setup in spring HERE

So I’ve been busy repainting the arches, and getting the flowerbeds in order for their grand summer appearance. 

And while I still think the best is yet to come in fall, here’s the current summer August version!

Here’s one. Can you EVEN?!

This garden arch is covered in a virginia creeper vine, which is outstandingly beautiful! Doesn’t this garden arbor look like it’s always been here?! Even the current garden themed walkway I meant to redo works as-is, so I didn’t even bother to change it! Yet.

All the other lush plants such as the tall grass, hostas, and japanese maple are huge, which marry the scale of the Virginia Creeper covered garden arch so perfectly!

So allow me to fill you in on why I needed this vine in my life, how they started and what both arbors look like now!

What is Virginia Creeper?

 

Virginia Creeper, native to North America, is a rapidly-growing vine, with the ability to climb structures and walls thick enough to resemble a blanket. It’s known to reach heights of up to 100 feet and can spread aggressively if left to its own devices.

The stages of Virginia Creeper

 

And here’s why I love it! This amazing vine has some cool ever changing characteristics that are incredibly visual that also becomes an attractant to nature!

Winter:

When dormant or during winter, Virginia Creeper is basically just twigs or bare vines. I love the rustic look of it when it’s bare!

Spring through Summer:

However, by spring, the vine jumps to life with a zillion little leaves starting to form.

Summer:

Early summer, the leaves are tight, layered and amble, providing a good amount of shade if I were to sit inside the arbor.

Late summer or come September, buds start to form that will later bloom, attracting bees drawn to their nectar.

Fall:

In fall the flower petals flip into blue-black berries birds love. Around October, the leaves flip into a thick and vibrant red wall I cannot wait to see!

As for diameter, I find it grows where you want it to. I just keep it maintained from start and finish on the arbors and they appear to behave themselves with occasional trimming throughout the growing season.

This arbor sits in a North facing front yard, however it does get sunlight exposures for most of the day. 

Front yard Virginia Creeper arbor in summer

 

This garden arch is actually plastic lattice panels tied to a metal frame. I started spray painting it black to reach all the tougher nooks and crannies, but then finished it up with Fusion Mineral Paint in Coal Black (get 10% off) with a brush. It covered so nicely!

The wooden garden walkway actually sits on part of the bottom arbor frame, helping to keep it upright and in place.

I love walking through the Virginia Creeper tendrils that fall straight down to the ground within the archway opening. It’s sort of like walking through a beaded curtain into a secret garden!

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Take a peek at some garden arbor options HERE

Shop for some Virginia Creeper seeds HERE

Close up view of Virginia Creeper leaves

 

The shape of virginia creeper reminds me of smaller leaves that resemble maple leaves but split up. The leaves are super lush and mound tightly together creating quite an effective shade screen. I think they are SO pretty!

Growth tendencies of Virginia Creeper

 

Virginia Creeper also does like the name states… it creeps along arbors, fences, and walls of buildings if you allow it. I think it’s perfect for an arbor vine, since an arbor gives it a specific start and finish zone. 

The vine is also thick enough to provide some decent shade, which would be perfect to vine overhead a sitting area.

I also found the vine to be very resilient. All I’ve really done was watered it now and then after first being planted, then let it be. I’d rate Virginia Creeper to be a very easy keeper in a wide range of soils myself! We’ve experienced some drought conditions in the front yard in which I did not water it and it’s done amazingly well.

Since we’re in the front yard, let’s take a mini tour of the surroundings as well, since everything did so well!

Hydrangeas in late summer

 

The hydrangea bush became so large this summer. The colours started out in a very vivid pink, then slowly turned to faded shades of purple.

I haven’t dried hydrangeas in quite some time, but I may this fall. Do you remember my hydrangea filled dresser HERE? Or this hydrangea wreath HERE?

HERE is how to dry hydrangeas so they last for a very long time!

The larger birdhouse was a curbside find found earlier this year. It’s the perfect scale peeking out of the honeysuckle, hydrangeas, hostas and bachelor buttons I allow to grow with a slightly natural, rambling effect.

I use to do lots of decorating with birdhouses, so it’s like the old hobby is coming back again! You may remember this fairy garden barn birdhouse setup, which was one of my favs!

So let’s head into the backyard next to check out that garden arbor!

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Shop for other unique birdhouses HERE

See both arbors being setup in spring HERE

Backyard Virginia Creeper in spring

 

Here’s how the this virginia creeper vine arbor looks while dormant. This arbor is black metal which also came with an attached gate!

Backyard Virginia Creeper in summer

 

And here’s the same arbor in summer! 

We have a gate in the backyard that leads to a little park. The arbor is the perfect size for this gate and gives this run of fence more varied height to keep it interesting. 

This arbor sits in full sun all day along although the roots tend to be in the shade for the majority of the time. The roots are tucked into an open ended barrel for needed elevation, with the grapevine shading it. I tend to naturally water this vine more so because it’s closer to flowers that also require irrigation. 

I also think the elevated roots in the barrel help with conditions that aid to well-drained soils.

It’s honestly the perfect companion to this backyard run of plants which helps to also camouflage chain link fences (thank goodness). Isn’t it something?!

I even hung solar lights inside it which look so pretty at dusk.

I plan to cut more flower beds around the arbor and of course create a memorial pathway for Lake (our cat, read the story here) since this is is resting place. 

Grapevines growing along chain link fence and shed roof

 

Running along the same fence line are the grapevines that lead and cover the garden shed roof.

Take a late summer tour of the garden shed HERE (best one!)

Grapevines can really ramble quickly, so I do need to keep them diligently snapped back so you can see the shed, otherwise it would eat it up and cover it completely! 

Here’s proof. haha!

Of the shed’s newly built front porch installed last summer, I have an adirondack chair transformed into a planter. A fern fills it up completely, but would also look gorgeous with flowers too! But I vowed to not plant anything too fussy this year and kept true to my plans. It’s been a relatively easy summer thanks to that decision.

I’m a huge fan of hanging fern baskets as opposed to flowers lately. Read why HERE.

Other new garden features from this summer

 

Beside the shed is the newer bench flower bed that I shared HERE.

I love this space! The blueberry plants are in full production mode, with me picking every day if not twice a day. They gave a spectacular yield this year!

Some other summer highlights is the Upcycled vegetable garden I shared more of HERE

And the DIY stepping stones I made from upcycled party trays you can see HERE

Then further back around the corner is the herb garden planted in coffee cans along the garden fence.

Wow, it’s really been quite a transformative summer in the yard this year. Somehow I just had more stamina to gitter done. I’m so grateful to have this wonderful space to play and create in and change as I see fit!

Why I garden and how to keep it affordable

 

Gardening to me has been such a wonderful extension of creativity, and really is such a great stress reliever!

And it doesn’t have to be super expensive either. Most of the plants you see in my yard are freebies from generous neighbours. And when I desire more, I divide my own and spread them around until I land different varieties I can add. 

I still have plans to improve the other side of the yard with the inflatable hot tub and deck too. But I’ll save that for next year! I think now that summer is nearing its end, I’ll let the plants gracefully fulfill their duty, then let the yard go to sleep so I can once again turn my focus on indoor projects once the weather turns.

But I will say, there is nothing quite like spending hours upon hours creating in the garden only to watch it flourish! Wouldn’t you agree?

Read Part 1: See both arbors being setup in spring HERE

Other unique outdoor projects to check out:

 

Build a simple pallet garden walkway

Stunning upcycled veggie garden on top of an impossible septic pad

How to build a simple no-cut outdoor deck or platform

See many other unique outdoor projects HERE