Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Porcelain Berry – August weed of the month
It’s really quite pretty, as many weeds are.
August Weed of the Month from the MN Dept. of Agriculture. Another vine, this one is named Porcelain Berry.
A member of the grape family, porcelain berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata) is a fast-growing, deciduous, woody vine growing upwards of 25 feet long. In Minnesota, it is listed as a Restricted Noxious Weed meaning it cannot be sold, propagated, transported, or planted legally in the state.
Native to Asia, porcelain berry was introduced to the U.S. as a landscape plant in the 1870s.
It is widespread throughout the East Coast, is a particular problem in the southeastern United States, and is spreading westward. Porcelain berry has been discovered in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota where it’s been found naturalizing in the county I live in.
Just as Oriental bittersweet was lovely for a time, it escaped cultivation and has spread to our natural areas, crowding out native plants.
One site calls Porcelain Berry “unwanted and unloved” as its fruit lacks nutritional value for migrating birds. I will mention the fruit is aptly named, it’s quite pretty, starting out white they gradually turn shade of pink, lavender, turquoise and blue/black as they age.
The Wisconsin DNR reports the vine spreads rampantly by seed and the roots can resprout.
While doing research on this vine, I discovered a few sites selling it and promoting how to grow it. Porcelain berry is headed west. Right now it appears that Minnesota is the line.