LOUISVILLE, Ky. — During the winter, most plants will go dormant leaving the landscape various shades of brown, trees bare, and otherwise lacking green. But there are some exceptions, especially some species of invasive vines like include English ivy, wintercreeper and periwinkle.
In fact, these vines actually thrive in the wintertime despite cold temperatures and less sunlight, causing future problems come springtime. It's a battle the Olmstead Parks Conservancy has been battling for years.
"Part of the reason why those vines are a problem in the park, when everything else is dormant in the winter those vines can still photosynthesize and grow really, really thick, in layers that are inches thick," Liz Winlock, project manager at Olmstead Parks Conservancy, said.
Vines such as English ivy are also coated in a layer of wax that protect them and makes them unappealing to wildlife, so they're rarely eaten by animals like deer.
"In the spring the wildflowers and other plants have troubles sprouting through that thick layer," Winlock said. "We have 11 different species of vines that we treat throughout the year, and some of them are things that people might think are really pretty vines and plant in their landscaping."
Many people are unaware that these vines are invasive, so they're either unknowingly planted or allowed to stick around because they add a bit of color to otherwise dull winter scenery.
Some of these vines can be detrimental to buildings by sprouting roots into the mortar, or least on top and leave behind a substance to help it climb.
What winter plants should you grow?
Winlock encourages homeowners to remove these invasive vines from their property and replace them with native flowers, vines, and grasses that are low maintenance and can still add color to spring landscaping.
"The one good thing about that is because they grow in the winter and not much else does, you can kill them in the winter without killing many other things," she said.
Depending on what type of landscaping you're after, there are many native alternatives that Olmstead Park recommends.
For groundcover:
- Ginger (Asarum canadense) as a good groundcover for shade
- Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
- Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) for groundcover in sunny spots
- Trillium (various species) in shady locations.
Grass and hedge options include:
- Carex (Carex frankii, C. pensylvanica, or C. grayi)
- Pink Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) for sunny spots
- River Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) for shady spots
Finally, native vines that can add some variety:
- Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata),
- Native honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
- Maypop (Passiflora incarnata)
Winlock says there's no way every single invasive plant species can be removed from their parks, but they maintain what they can to encourage biodiversity for various native plants, insects and birds.
"We prioritize treatment for the areas we know tend to have other native plants. So if there's an area that has lots of spring wildflowers that's the first place we're going to try and kick the evergreen vines back," she said.
As for the best time to plant these native alternatives, Winlock said it doesn't particularly matter and you can wait until the spring. First, however, is removing the invasive vines which will stand out easily this time of year.
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