PlantFiles: Silverlace Vine
Fallopia baldschuanica

We bought two of these vines and they are very fast growers. I have to cut them back in the spring to rid the poor fence of there heaviness. Very pretty when they are in blossom.
full of flowers. Just wish they were fragrant.

Considered invasive in Connecticut.

Sorce: UCONN Plant database.

Years ago, I bought two teeny toothpick sized
'plants' via mailorder, which later turned out to
be a not-so-good company in Dave's Garden Watchdog.

Alas, here we are now, the Silverlace Vine is all grown
up, covering a cattle panel I fashioned into an arch located
by our side gate on the south side of the yard. The
interesting thing is, it lives directly below a giant black
walnut tree, obviously not bothered by the toxins the
tree emits into the soil.

Yes, it is indeed a vigorous vine. I typically just tuck
the loose vines into the arch and go about my day.
But a few times during the summer, it never fails, I've
been working hard and as I walk through the arch, a
stretch of SLV grabs my hair and won't let go. Because
I walk fast most of the time, this results in a scalping.

This, in turn, results in a scalping for the vine, as I am
not happy at that point. Out comes the weedeater or
the scissors and I gleefully take my frustrations out on
the vine, rake up the cuttings and go about my day.

Oh, and the cuttings? You can literally stuff them under
a rock and they will grow.

Looks very beautiful when you plant a colored morning
glory in with it, not too many, just enough to add another
color other than white. One year I planted pink morning
glories and when the pink and white were in bloom, it
looked fabulous!

:-) KM

Deffinantly a fast grower! Thats probably why its also known as a "Mile-a-Minute" vine. Mine is on a trellis in partial sun, to add privacy from the neighbors. Good for covering up things in a hurry. I would, howerver, not reccomed this vine for small areas; it does get very big! Pritty, foamy cream flowers in summer. Needs adequite water in the summer, and a good, strong support.

I purchased 2 plants in spring of '04. They turned out to be nothing more than rooted stem cuttings..I was more than a little disappointed. Couldn't see how they would survive, much less grow "as advertised."

That summer, nothing was really ready for planting, they stayed in large pots until the arbor was built in late August. When I went to pick up the pots to move them to the arbor, I found the roots had grown through the pot and into the soil. UH oh!

I cut the roots, untwined the vines and sunk the plants into their permanent home where they shocked me by blooming their little heads off!

Ok...I had no idea of how to take care of them. In early spring '05, I cut them back to a few inches above the ground where they promptly grew new branches to about 8-10" before a last frost nipped them back to the main stem. I thought they were 'goners'.

Nope! Within a few weeks there were MORE shoots coming from the main stem than had been killed by the frost! And by early summer the arbor was completely covered with my Silverlace Vine!

And yes! These babies can be propagated by about any means you want to experiment with.

When I cut the vines bacn the first time, I decided to try rooting them in water. It worked, but very slowly. So I decided to "plunk" them in the ground and see what happened. THEY GREW!!!

Now I have Silverlace growing in lots of places in my yard, and I couldn't be happier! There aren't too many plants that are as tolerant in my sandy, dry soil as the Polygonum aubertii.

Oh yes...one other thing. Those vines I cut off in early spring made great wreaths! :-)

~julie~

Behold, the Russian Bullet!

A plant whose beauty in my eyes is derived only from its raw aggresion toward gravity. Growing 20-30 feet in one season, it is good to cut it to the ground every few years, and can cover whole structures given twining support. 1.5 feet per week is easily possible. I have seen it naturalizing on dead cottonwood trees in the narrow mountain valleys where box elder grow. (Northwest CO)

Makes a twiggy cover for birds, seedlings can be controlled easily. Sometimes the flowers are known to attract quite a few wasps- I am not the only one to have observed this. Drought tolerant when established. Leaves sometimes turn a reddish color along with gold/brown in fall. Simple air layering into a gallon pot has worked for me within one month.

I've read about underground runners, but haven't seen it personally.

This is a spectacular vine that blooms for weeks and provides shimmery white sprays of flowers. It grows very quickly but can sometimes be killed off during my harsh Wisconsin winters. Two years in a row now I've had a mourning dove nest beneath it on my arbor, so the birds must appreciate its beauty too!

Planted in the summer of 2003, it quickly covered half of an arbour and bloomed in early September. I was too late to prune it back this spring and now it is well on its way down the other side of the arbour! Much to my surprise (& delight), I noticed this week-end that it is about to bloom...I thought it was a late summer bloomer. It is an extremely vigorous grower to the point where I am having trouble keeping up with all the new growth. It receives about 6 hours of sun a day and watered when I remember; I am confident in recommending this for anyone looking for a quick, dense cover.

A very fast grower!! It quickly and easily covers an arch or arbor in one growing season, dies back in winter here, but easily comes back and grows rampantly to tip top again. The blooms are a cloud of white and oh sooo pretty.