Hedge bindweed

Calystegia sepium

At a glance
Type	Vine
Life cycle	Perennial
Family	Morning glory family (Convolvulaceae)
Origin	Native and introduced forms
Most common in	Northeast, Midwest

About

Hedge bindweed is a big twining vine with white to pink trumpet flowers that climbs over shrubs, fences and perennials. It spreads by fleshy rhizomes and is hard to get rid of once it is woven through a bed.

Also called hedge false bindweed, large bindweed, great bindweed, bellbind, wild morning glory

How to identify it

Look for

Leaves are triangular to heart-shaped, 2 to 5 inches long, with squared-off lobes at the base. Flowers are white or pink funnels 1.5 to 3 inches long, each with two large green leafy bracts wrapped around the base. Stems twine up anything nearby.

Look-alikes

Field bindweed is smaller in every way: arrowhead leaves up to about 2 inches, flowers about 1 inch, and no large bracts hiding the base of the flower.

Where it grows

Fence rows, hedges, ornamental beds, gardens, field edges and damp waste areas in sun.

When

Shoots appear in spring and it flowers from late spring until frost.

How it spreads

Spreads by fleshy white rhizomes that regrow from any piece left in the soil, and by seeds (2 to 4 per pod) carried by water and birds.

Most common in

Northeast	Very common here
Southeast	Common here
South Central	Common here
Midwest	Very common here
Great Plains	Common here
Mountain West	Occasional here
Southwest	Occasional here
Pacific Northwest	Common here
California	Occasional here
Alaska	Occasional here
Hawaii	Not found here

What to do, gentlest first

Start at the top. Weed killers are a last step; always read and follow the label.

Watch fence lines and hedges Prevent
Keep an eye on fences and hedges bordering the garden, and pull new shoots while they are small. Don't bring in soil or divisions with white rhizome pieces in them.
Pull and dig rhizomes By hand
Unwind vines and dig out as much rhizome as you can; most roots are in the top 2 feet. Keep pulling regrowth all season to wear the rhizomes down.
Any rhizome piece left behind can sprout.
Smother bare areas Barrier
In empty beds, cover the patch with black plastic or heavy landscape fabric with overlapped edges to block light for a season or more.
Spot-treat untangled vines Conventional spray
Pull vines off good plants, lay them on plastic or train them onto a stake, then treat the leaves with glyphosate or triclopyr; in lawns, 2,4-D or triclopyr products can be used.
Read and follow the label; many lawn and brush herbicides also kill garden plants. These are not selective and will harm any plant they touch.

Uses, wildlife and pets

For wildlife

The flowers draw pollinators, and the vine is a larval host and cover for wildlife.

Pets

Not listed by the ASPCA.

Sources

Photo: Photo: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo resized for the web.

Planting dates and advice are general guidance; check with your local Cooperative Extension office for your area.