Where to find bittersweet vines

When used in home landscaping, you can grow the bittersweet vine along a fence or other structures of your home. The American bittersweet is a perennial vine that can grow anywhere between 15 to 20 feet tall. In the spring, you can find them blooming petite yellowish-green flowers. Eventually, those flowers will bloom into yellow-orange capsules. Once the late fall and winter begin, the capsules will open up and display the bright red berries inside. The berries will stay on the plant and brighten throughout the winter.

These berries are beneficial for birds and other wildlife. However, they are poisonous to humans if consumed. Their leaves are involute, which means they are rolled in like a scroll. Their tips are also long, and the body is ovate, finely serrated, and hairless. The oriental bittersweet plant is very similar and highly invasive vine. To tell the difference between the two plants, always look at their physical appearance.

Whereas, on the American bittersweet, you can find them on terminal panicles on the stems. The fall fruit capsule colors differ between the two species as well.

When looking at the Oriental bittersweet plant, you will find that the fall fruit capsules are yellow compared to the American bittersweet capsules, which are more orange. Leaf shape will also help you distinguish the difference between the American and Oriental bittersweet plants. For Oriental bittersweet plants, their leaf shape will fold in half lengthwise with the upper side facing inward. As for the American bittersweet, their leaves will curl inward. Please, please, please stop letting your bluebirds eat those bittersweet berries!

This is only helping to spread this invasive and destructive plant. If you care at all about your trees, you will eventually regret letting the birds eat the seeds, because the vines will strangle and shade out your trees. Please stop. I live in CT, and when I first moved onto our 3.

I have been here for 35 years now, and in that time I have nearly eliminated the bittersweet from my property. It is very hard to keep it free from bittersweet, though. As soon as a small vine appears anywhere, it needs to be pulled, if possible. If it is deeply rooted in a wall, it needs to be continuously pruned off until it dies. I have never used any type of herbicide on it. I am very wary of herbicides.

But it is possible to get rid of bittersweet by continuously pulling, mowing, or pruning it. Just be persistent. As a girl 70 yrs ago, I had a native spotted along side an old shed. It never spread or grew bigger. The berries are smaller. Currently, the Asian type is growing in my holly tree and seedlings in my herbs. I always know when I pull them because the roots are orange.

This plant can also cause a severe rash very similar to poison ivy rash. Not everyone is sensitive to it, but I am, and work as a gardener so am exposed to it often. If I forget to wash thoroughly after exposure, as I did this week, I get a rash that can last a week or more currently have it all over my face. Bittersweet is a terribly invasive plant that is tearing down the tops of our wonder White Oaks and Maples. It is especially dangerous in Connecticut because of its pattern of growing a dense canopy that shuts out light and moisture to the host plant.

Homeowners, unaware that the extremely tall tree in their yard or surrounding their horse pastures is dying from the top down, can not react quickly enough before tragedy strikes. Why is this? Because articles sing the praises of Bittersweet, the promise of berries, the colors of autumn and more decorating ideas.

Strong winds and tornadoes new to us in Connecticut have toppled these compromised trees causing death, destruction of property, and loss of wildlife habitat. It runs rampant in these areas along our highways, exits, and entrances. This vine can establish itself in many different ways. It grows a strong subterranean root. It seeks moisture and sunlight where it can grow sometimes into a tree. When it locates one of our treasured stonewalls, its growth will eventually topple the stones.

It will smother flowering shrubs. When planning some autumn interest or bird and butterfly sustaining habitat, please steer clear of this parasitical plant. There are plenty of indigenous North American species of trees and shrubs to cultivate. This invasive plant will overtake your trees in a matter of years. Fast growing, it strangles anything it can reach!

Do not be taken in by its great fall orange and yellow berries. You will soon regret it! I used to cut some bittersweet vines in the fall to use for indoor decoration. I live in Central Massachusetts. I just wanted a small piece to bring to my daughter in California as her mother in law always loved it and used it decoratively. In fact, she called her homestead in NJ Bittersweet Hill. Please do not take this plant to California or anywhere else. California has clear laws about importing plants and road blocks at their borders to police it.

This plant is very invasive and very bad for the woodland and fields. Bittersweet is taking over the town of Canton CT. It is now on my property, and I am constantly pulling young shoots up while trimming bushes etc, because the birds eat the berries, then fly into an ornamental bush for cover, and you know what happens next. And to think I once had a hard time finding the stuff for fall decorations!!

Trusto not plant it. It is terrible and nearly impossible to eradicate. The chipmunks and other animals eat the berries and poo out the seeds which helps spread the vines. Use them indoors, get the faux bittersweet for outdoors. I ordered the American version of Bittersweet. It too became somewhat invasive and the roots made there way under my concrete patio and cracked it.

Had I to do over, I would never plant it — regardless of it being the American version…. Does anyone have any comments on burning the larger trunks for firewood? It seems pretty hard and I have started my all out war on it. Yes, everything about it is bad. Floral arrangements and wreaths can be made with benign plants. If you hang this on your door the seeds will drop and germinate nearby. When you toss the old wreath on your back yard leaf pile it will likely become established nearby.

It is next to impossible to eradicate and spreads like the flu. I saw a reference to the use of a toxin. I would call the Audubon rather than the manufacturer. Also, be sure to pull up the seedlings that sprout from May to September in eastern MA. They are still easy to pull the entire root. At least I can quell the tide of encroaching growth. Not only do they travel far but they bifurcate all along the way creating an underground network in all directions.

But, any setback one can deal to the plants is a help. I discourage the use of toxins but perhaps in the case of bittersweet it is necessary. Birds eat the berries and spread the invasive plant further through their droppings.

The seeds remain in the bird's stomach for several weeks, which leads to the spreading of oriental bittersweet far away from its original location.

Oriental bittersweet also spreads by underground roots. If oriental bittersweet is not controlled, it will result in a monoculture, smothering everything else around it. Small vines can be pulled by hand. Make sure to remove the entire root because bittersweet can regrow from root segments.

Dispose of the vines in the garbage, or leave them on a manmade surface such as driveway, tarp or deck in full sun for a day or two to kill the roots. If the vine is larger, and already entangled with the tree, cut the stem at the base and immediately brush the cut with glyphosate concentrate.

Note that to be effective, this must be done during the growing season. Then carefully pull the vines out of the tree. If the vines are wrapped around the tree trunk or branches, removal is often not possible without causing damage to the tree. In that case, cut the vines out of the tree in pieces.

In areas that are too high to reach, just leave the vines; they will die and shrivel over time. After you have treated the cut surface with glyphosate, inspect the stump from time to time to make sure that it does not regrow new shoots, and reapply the herbicide as needed.

Not all bittersweet is evil. There is also American bittersweet Celastrus scandens , which is a highly desirable native plant. American bittersweet occurs naturally in the central and eastern United States except in Florida.

Consider yourself lucky when a native bittersweet plant pops up in your garden. Unlike oriental bittersweet, American bittersweet has smooth stems and oblong leaves. Another way to distinguish between American and oriental bittersweet is by the location of the berries: the berries of American bittersweet appear at the tips of the vines only, while those of oriental bittersweet grow along the vine.

Unfortunately, American bittersweet is becoming increasingly rare. Further endangering it is the fact that oriental bittersweet sometimes hybridizes with the native species.

Oriental Bittersweet.