Follow Me Down the Yellow Vine Trail...

Typically, autumn is all about the stunning array of color abound in our landscapes, chalked up primarily to the deciduous shrubs and trees that dot or woodlands. Vines tend to always get a bit obscured by these rose-colored (or red, orange, or purple-colored, so to speak) glasses that we wear this time of year, despite offering as many ornamental and ecological benefits as their more grounded kin. This week, let’s chat native vines that sparkle in the landscape with bold yellows during spring, summer, and fall.

While Wisteria frutescens ‘Amethyst Falls’ is typically celebrated for its fast growth habit and floriferous display of purple, pea-shaped blooms clustered together into grape-like formations, its golden fall color shouldn’t be ignored. The delightfully warm, sunny fall foliage tends to linger on the twining, twirling branches and stems for a week or so longer than many of its shrubby friends. Even still, once this native, low-maintenance vine has defoliated, its hypnotizing, climbing form and structure creates a magnificent effect in the winter garden, especially if allowed to clamber around on sunny pergolas that crave late-season interest. It’s here along the domestile or foundation planting with an overhead trellis where Wisteria frutescens ‘Amethyst Falls’ can create a lovely dappled shade lighting effect at the height of summer. Interestingly, our native Wisteria frutescens is easy to distinguish from other climbing vines, especially at the height of winter, due to its characteristic counter-clockwise twining formation.

Known also for its unique winter interest, Gelsemium sempervirens ‘Margarita’ is a native evergreen vine that offers bronzed, dark green-to-maroon foliage come the cool, dark nights. The trumpet-shaped, fragrant, yellow blooms that arrive in early spring are known to make a second, less impressive appearance in the autumn - but an appearance nonetheless! Contrasted against the dark, sultry, lanceolate foliage, the yellow fall blooms give the wandering eye a place to rest amidst a quickly-defoliating, monochromatic landscape. Long gone are the days where our cooler Mid-Atlantic climates may not have been able to support the aptly named Carolina jessamine, which has a native distribution from Mexico northward into the Southern U.S. - our warming hardiness zones have ensured this climbing vine’s success, even if only as a semi-evergreen specimen in cooler zones.

It’d be silly to recommend cold-hardy, yellow-trumpet-shaped flowering native vines without mentioning what I fear to be an underutilized and undersought garden companion, Lonicera sempervirens ‘John Clayton’, which is often out-sold by its (admittedly more fluorescent) brother, ‘Major Wheeler’ honeysuckle vine. Properly known as Lonicera sempervirens f. sulphurea ‘John Clayton’, this nativar was discovered over 30 years ago in the adjacent woodlands of a Virginian church, prized for its compact, climbing form, yellow flowers, and overt fruit production. In fact, the red fruits make quite a show in autumn, standing proudly against the soft-green foliage that remains victorious against the first frosts of the season.

‘John Clayton’ honeysuckle vine produces notably more fruit than the red-flowering golden child, and it is for these fruits that this vine should be more often given the attention it deserves. Not only are these shiny, scarlet red fruits beautiful in the fall and early winter landscape, but they are a nutritious favorite among migrating and overwintering birds.

Luckily, stick season isn’t the only time to expect wildlife visitors to ‘John Clayton’ honeysuckle vine. This vine experiences what can only be described as a ridiculously long bloom time, with the lemon-yellow, trumpet-shaped blooms first beginning to appear at the end of April in abundance. Hummingbirds, bees, wasps, and butterflies are known harvesters of the sweet, honeysuckle nectar, which may give some of us youthful nostalgia as we remember sipping drops of nature’s syrup from the nectaries of sacrificed honeysuckle flowers. Throughout the summer season and well into autumn, often alongside the bright red fruits, the yellow flowers rebloom in sporadic clusters which offer a surprise resource of late season nectar for remaining pollinators - and for homeowners and gardeners alike! It’s important to remember that the fruits are non-edible and may contain toxic properties for humans, but the flowers of our native Lonicera sempervirens can be enjoyed similarly as the classic white and yellow blooms that belong to the invasive Japanese honeysuckle - a lovely addition to homemade syrups or summertime cordials!

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