PlantFiles: Chocolate Vine, Five-Leaf Akebia, Raisin Vine
Akebia quinata

This invasive vine could be the next Kudzu! Do NOT plant unless you want to terrorize the few remaining natives that are struggling to survive in Eastern forests and ecosystems. . It appears innocent for the first year or so, then as it becomes established it will take over and you will have to fight to keep it in check from taking over your flowerbeds, woodlands, etc. Any lanscaper recommending this plant does not know what they are doing!

Ordered 2 last spring ('09) from an internet vendor and planted them in a pot. So far, they're doing great, already bloomed once with dark purple flowers and the vines are looking pretty happy twining around a wild sunflower plant in the pot with them. I plan to move them close to my deck/arbor (southeast side) to shade the deck. Will update how they do on NE Kansas weather.

I purchased two of these several years ago to try and create some shade over my fish pond. I had no clue what they were, just liked the woody vines. One of them blooms white and the other blooms purple. For the first time the purple one is hanging full of fruit this year. It's quite an amazing site. I have not had any problem containing them to one area but need to find out exactly how to prune them because they are becoming quite top heavy.

It is not really invasive here in Central Texas because the summer heat and drought is just too much for it. I have to keep it in the shade and water it more than I like. I bet it is pretty drought tolerant is other less oppressive areas. Other than that, it has a vigorous growing period in the late spring and is attractive. I have two varieties and have had flowers but no fruit.

The foliage is so beautiful I don't even need blooms. Cut all but 2 or 3 stems for a tracery effect. Very pretty vine, not invasive at all for me.

I planted this at my parents' home in Annapolis, MD six years ago. It is prolific but not invasive. Love it.

INVASIVE DO NOT PLANT!

I inherited this plant when we bought this house 2 yrs ago. At first I was delighted by the beautiful, fragrant flowers. Then after the first year I noticed many little volunteers, which I quickly removed. It had gotten quite big, it's on a trellis about 6ft high by 7 ft wide, so I tried to prune it back. This year nothing grew back on the old wood but the top of it went wild, flowing over into the neighbor's yard! And I just noticed dozens of those seed pods! I don't know if I'm going to be able to get rid of this plant but I am going to have to try. It's too invasive for where it is planted. I would never put one back in my yard.

Finally I've identified a 'mystery vine' in my garden as Akebia quinata. It was cut back to virtually nothing along with the rest of the overgrown scrub on a bank behind my house and sprayed with herbicide last year. I noticed it flowering this spring from bare wood; we've now got leaves, and new vines have just started coming away in the last week. With the warm temperatures we've had it's suddenly started growing fairly quickly and I'm hoping by autumn it will have spread nicely. Love the pretty foliage and the smell and unusual colour of the flowers. Both flowers and foliage are mostly very small so far on my plant; this could be the cultivar? but I suspect they'll get bigger as the vine comes away again.

Kiweed - there is no Akebia triata but there is an Akebia trifoliata (three-leave Akebia) which must be what you've got.

Beware that it doesn't escape, especially in you live in a natural forested area. It can be invasive and very damaging to the natural habitat.

I have a wonderful chocolate vine in Memphis that is 6 or 7 years old. It is a fast growing and spreading vine, but the runners are mainly aboveground and can be cut away without much effort if it becomes too rampant. Otherwise, like wisteria, a lot is good. It seems like the plant was quite a few years old before it began producing the little grape-cluster-like dark fruits that are so beautiful. Although the seeds don't stay around too long, the vine is lushly attractive all year long. It is one of my favorite plants!

This was growing on a corner of a shed when we moved in. The previous owner had put up a wire trellis, and it pretty much is contained to that area. It is in bloom now...you have to look closely to see the blooms as they are so dark. I couldn't tell it was in bloom from looking across the yard. Beautiful plant.

Usually evergreen to 5 degrees F, give or take depending on individual. Prune in the spring after it blooms (as it blooms on 1+ year old wood.

Flowers are dominantly male, and a plant's first attempt may be all male (as pollen is cheaper to produce than fruit.) I liken the fragrance to a spiced version of honeysuckle.

Growth is greatest in spring and fall (in hot summer areas) but still grows rampantly all year. Likes full intense sun and blooms better with it.

Zone 7. We have 2 or more of them covering a rebar teepee, blooming both purple and white. They have a very unusual purple fruit and if allowed to ripen and cast seeds, they sprout all over the place. It is supposed to be edible, but that must be before the seeds ripen, because by the time it splits open there is no more pulp. I plan to pick them earlier this year and taste them. That would solve the seed problem. Anyone have a recipe for them?

This is beautiful in early spring in 7b. It does not grow as fast as wisteria but in just a few years (maybe 4) it has grown up both sides of our trellis and about halfway over the top (12 x 14 trellis), therefore I am a little unsure of the 4-6 foot height listed for it. I need to trim it now since it has grown "up" and has a "hat" appearance at the corners. I only planted two, one on each end, and they have met and intertwined very well. It does give off a sweet smell when in bloom. I love seeing this as one of my first bloomers each year and it looks great with the daffodils blooming underneath it!

So far I love mine! I've only had it one growing season. Mid-fall it got powdery mildew, so I sprayed with an antifungal and that took care of it. It only seems to like climbing natural string. It took training to get it to wind around the post, but it climbs around the string (and itself) all by itself.

I planted this vine two years ago, but have not been aware of any flowers -- that could be our zone 5 climate, or maybe I just looked for them too late in the spring. I have it growing along with a clematis vine, whose flowers are lovely next to the chocolate vine's unusual foliage. It has grown amazingly fast. Because of concerns that this vine may eventually overpower the less-vigorous clematis, I may need to move the clematis to another location.

I'm in Alabama in zone 7 and have had one of these for about 3 years. It will definately take over if not contained. I'm posting to respond to some of the folks that haven't had blooms. I thought mine wasn't blooming, but realized this year I've been looking for blooms too late in the season. I happened to notice blooms on mine the first of March before our weather had even warmed up. It also bloomed lower on the vine on old growth instead of on the ends like I would have expected.

I planted an Akebia 2 years ago and have had fairly good luck with it in my climate, surprisingly. You would think Montana weather to be much too inclement to this vine, but as I say, it has done quite well so far. Here, it is deciduous but comes back bigger and better every year. I have not had it bloom for me yet, and I'm not sure it will in my zone, but we shall just see about that! I am hoping it will eventually bloom, and if it does, I will probably get another and then hand pollinate them to see if I can actually get the fruit to appear too. I really like any plants that belong to the Lardizabalacae family. I hope I spelled that right! LOL!!! I am thinking of purchasing a Stauntonia and a Holboellia also, to be grown in my solarium. I pretty sure those would NOT grow outside in this climate! But to anyone else in Montana, or my zone, I would recommend trying an Akebia vine. It's quite beautiful and well behaved here so far and really worth the extra effort.

This vine seems very tropical in appearance for something that's so hardy--even in zone 4. I put it in last summer and it survived winter beautifully. However, I have had no blooms at all. I hear that it appreciates having a partner plant, but then I'd worry about it becoming rampant. It makes beautiful leaves and should do a nice job hiding an ugly chain link fence. I have had no trouble getting it to twine onto that fence, and find that it is fairly easy to keep it from choking out flowers in front of it. I wonder if it will bloom next year now that it has a nice woody base and long runners?

Grows very well here in upstate SC. Once established needs some control. My vine was an escape and now, after about 10 years covers a large area of fence. Have never had fruit.

Just purchased this plant to place on arbor ... planting it to provide some shade for the patio underneath.

Two of the three plants I bought are suffering some kind of mildew and can't even be bothered to twine properly. The specimen I have that is thriving has more dappled shade and has lived up to the promise of vigorous climbing. Perhaps the sunny wall repuation is overplayed?

Adapts well to growing in a container and has beautiful foliage. Mine hadn't bloomed for me and I'd had it for four years but now I think my mistake is cutting it back each fall. This summer should prove or disprove that for me. It takes the heat of the south in full sun very well.

I don't have this yet, I'm getting seeds and cuttings. I've heard that this is very invasive. The fruit tastes like tapioca. However, this plant is a treat for cold climates which don't usually get to have such interesting plants.