Is this Winter Creeper?

10 years ago

Hello, all!

The wife and I purchased a house in September and the back yard is mostly weeds. We have a maple tree that had large vines growing all up the side of it, and now that most of the weeds in the yard are dead I've noticed the vine is taking over the back yard. When I say taking over, I mean it - I've ripped 34 gallons of it out by the roots now and there's still plenty left to go.

Unfortunately I didn't decide to try to identify this plant until after I hacked a lot of it up, and I took the photos in the dark tonight. The vine was green until I cut it, then it's becoming red as it dies. The leaves appear to be in opposite pairs on the vine with very faint serrations on their edges.

From what I can tell, I suspect it's some form of Winter Creeper but I'm not really sure. A landscaping guy told me the best way to get rid of it is to spray Roundup over the entire yard, till it under, and plant new grass this fall.

Thanks!

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Comments (3)

linaria_gw
10 years ago
The foliage looks like Euonymus to me, could be E fortunei.

Dont know about your other questions,

Bye, lin
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
get a better source of information .. your guy is an idiot ... most likely a guy who owns a lawnmower.. but really knows nothing about the product he was discussing.. nor how to get rid of this plant...

the night pic isnt great.. but i was thinking the same...

it might take you a year or two to get rid of it.. thats what it took me to get rid of poison ivy .... of which.. that is why next time.. YOU ID IT FIRST ... dont you think ...

ripping out an invasive type vine.. really doenst work well.. any piece left.. will regrow ...

your best bet.. is to buy 100% round up.. or generic ... smallest amount you can buy.. which is actually around 41% dilution ... and put it in the very expensive applicator at the link ... one snip.. one drip ... return unused product to labeled container .... go back about once a month.. and reapply to any new shoots .. and just keep at it ...

then you rip out dead stuff ... if you are lucky.. it will all be dead by fall ... if not.. start over next spring ..

you bought a jungle.. this year is removal ... dont go all martha stewart.. and think you will have some magazine garden this year .. with the scope of problem it seems you have.. be patient ... and do it right ... and a napalm aerial attack is not the way to go ... and neither is pulverizing a vine into a million pieces that can reroot ...

if you have a space where this isnt involved.. that is where you build a nursery bed.. to collect plants.. that you will eventually move around the garden.. as space opens up ....

focus your priorities .. and this year.. is removal .. the future is for planting ... isnt a new home wonderful ... lol ...

ken

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bkendall
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the responses, guys. Sorry for the nighttime photos - I've taken ones today that should be better.

The more I look around, the more certain I am that this is some sort of Euonymus fortunei.

Ripping the massive amount out of the ground that I did was fine because most of my ground cover last fall was ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea, I believe) and I sprayed the yard like crazy before winter, leaving it more dirt that anything right now. I knew that my yard was in bad shape and it would take several seasons to get it under control.

The hope was to try to get some grass growing this spring, then treat for weeds as necessary this fall and seed again. With the recommendation to just destroy everything and start over, I was beginning to have second thoughts, but you've helped me decide that nuking from orbit isn't the best option yet.

Thanks!