Polygonum aubertii Seeds | Silver Lace Vine
LATIN NAME: Polygonum aubertii
COMMON NAME: Silver Lace Vine, Silver Fleece Vine
Plant Profile
Silver lace vine is a Chinese climber that can cover a shed in a season and then keep going, smothering whatever stands still. It comes from the mountains of western China, in Gansu, Sichuan and Shaanxi, where it scrambles over scrub and rocks at the edge of woodland, and it has been grown in European gardens since the late nineteenth century. The stems are slender, twining and reddish when young, and they lengthen by several metres a year, wrapping around anything within reach. The leaves are arrow-shaped, bright green and small compared with the mass of growth the plant makes. In late summer it disappears under a froth of tiny cream-white flowers in loose panicles, followed by small, three-winged seeds that turn pink. It is one of the fastest and most useful screening plants available, and one of the most difficult to keep in bounds.
Science & Biotechnology
Polygonum aubertii, now usually placed in Fallopia, is a twining member of the dock family and one of the fastest-growing woody climbers in temperate gardens, capable of adding five metres of stem in a single season. That growth is powered by a large root system and by a leaf canopy that intercepts almost all the light beneath it, which is why the plant is such an effective screen and such a threat to whatever it covers. The flowers are small and numerous and produce abundant nectar, and on a warm evening in August the plant hums with bees and hoverflies. The seed is a small nut with three papery wings, and it is spread by wind and by water along ditches. The taxonomy of the group is unsettled: silver lace vine is often treated as a form of the Russian vine, Fallopia baldschuanica, and the two are separated mainly by leaf size and vigour rather than by any clear botanical character.
Uses & Benefits
The plant is grown for quick cover: a chain-link fence, a shed, a dead tree, a bank that needs holding within a year. It is also a useful nectar source in late summer, when little else is in flower, and it is one of the few climbers that will grow in poor, dry soil against a wall. It can be cut to the ground each winter and will still reach the roof by August, which makes it useful where a permanent structure is not wanted. Against that, it seeds freely, layers where stems touch the ground, and can pull gutters off a building with its weight. It is listed as invasive in parts of Europe and North America, and it should not be planted near open ground where it can escape. In a garden the practical rule is to give it a hard boundary and cut it back twice a year.
Growing from Seed
Sow seed in spring at 18 to 20 degrees on the surface of a moist compost, covering it lightly; germination is fast and usually high. Cuttings are easier: take 15 cm lengths of semi-ripe stem in summer and root them in a pot of grit and compost, and they will be ready to plant in a season. Plant in any soil, in sun or partial shade, and water only until established. Provide a strong support, since the weight of a mature plant is considerable. Cut the stems back hard in late winter to a permanent framework, and again in midsummer if the plant is invading gutters or neighbouring plants. Do not let it seed near a wild area, and pull up seedlings as soon as they appear.
Our Take
A Chinese climber that will cover anything within a season, flower itself white in August, and then try to take the building. Fast, useful, relentless.
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