A Common Plant Here

Virginia Creeper is a very common plant here in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I enjoy seeing it, with its five leaflets radiating out in its palmate fashion.

Five Leaflets

Those five leaflets create one leaf.  They are so precise with their sawtoothed edges, like a seamstress has taken her pinking shears to each one.

A Climber

The vine loves to climb trees, like a child in an apple orchard.  This beautiful creeper, above, is clinging to a Persimmon tree.  A tree with a gorgeous checker board pattern, that it earns as it ages.

A Garland

I’ve been watching this garland of Virginia Creeper, draped over a downed tree since spring.  I’ve imagined that it would be so lovely in the fall, in scarlet.  As you can see, I’m still waiting.  Sometimes things don’t go as I had imagined.  Will those leaves turn a brilliant shade of red, or just wimp out on me?  Stay tuned.  I’m still watching and hoping!