Other Names:  Sandpaper Vine, Purple Wreath, Blue Bird Vine

Description:

A twining vine with rough green leaves that are stiff and papery; stunning clusters of purple flowers, on long racemes in spring, and then again in late summer to fall; without support will form a rounded shrub; perfect on fences, walls, or on trellises

Ornamental Features

Queen's Wreath features showy panicles of purple star-shaped flowers with lavender overtones hanging below the branches from early to mid spring. It has dark green evergreen foliage. The oval leaves remain dark green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Queen's Wreath is a multi-stemmed evergreen woody vine with a twining and trailing habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This woody vine will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Insects

Queen's Wreath is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Planting & Growing

Queen's Wreath will grow to be about 20 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. As a climbing vine, it tends to be leggy near the base and should be underplanted with low-growing facer plants. It should be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This woody vine does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. To help this plant achive its best flowering performance, periodically apply a flower-boosting fertilizer from early spring through into the active growing season. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This species is not originally from North America.