Hardiness zones:
Sunset 10-24
USDA 7 - 11 (arid zones only)
Landscape Use: Small-scale ground cover, fence and wall cover (needs support) for mesic and oasis landscape design motifs, green walls, cooling shade walls, green roofs.
Form & Character: Formal, aggressive, delicate, bright clean, and mesic.
Growth Habit: Evergreen (in mild climates) herbaceous perennial, rapidly climbing, twining and spreading to 50'.
Foliage/texture: Bright green palmately compound leaves to 2", stem terminus climbs by twining; medium texture.
Flowers & fruits: Flowers in in umbellate clusters, inconspicuous; fruits are small greenish to black drupes, also in clusters.
Seasonal color: Striking purple to almost scarlet red new foliage in early spring.
Temperature: Tolerant to 0oF; above 110oF will suffer foliar burn.
Light: partial sun, eastern exposures best. Absolutely NO western sun or western exposures in the desert Southwest.
Soil: Prefers moist organic soils
Watering: Regular water especially during summer.
Pruning: Little except to control spread
Propagation: Asexual softwood cuttings
Disease and pests: None
Additional comments: There is confusion as to whether Hacienda creeper is a selection of P. quinquefolia or P. tricuspidata. What is apparent though is that Hacienda creeper's leaves are on balance smaller and more glabrous than those of 'normal' Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper). Moreover, vines as ornamental plants in desert Southwest landscapes are generally hard to come by, so Hacienda creeper is presently getting a lot of attention from landscape architects in particular for use as a fence or wall cover (especially in these heady days of specifying vines to cover cooling walls and provide shade to buildings and to create dry shade gardens). In Phoenix, Hacienda creeper is a plant that performs best in mesic landscapes with ample water and is generally a poor plant to mix in with other xeric plants because of textural and water use disparities. This issue is not as problematic in Tucson, or other upper elevation Arizona town and cities.
