Cat Claw Vines in Your AZ Lawn

Are you looking for a fast-growing vine for your property here in Arizona? The Cat Claw vine (dolichandra unguis-cati) is a great option because it is both fast-growing and heat tolerant. For this reason, it is very popular here in the valley. 

They cling to walls and structures very easily with their sticky, claws like leaves and foliage. The leaves are very small with 2 green leaflets with hook-like claws. They also flower in the spring with small yellow 5-petal, funnel-shaped blooms. 

These vines can grow very high on structures and even up tall trees, we have seen them grow up to 20-30 feet if not maintained. You can usually see decent results after the first or second year and can be overgrown after 5 years if not maintained.

These landscape plants are also very drought tolerant and love our summer heat. They are frost tolerant as low as 20 degrees at night. 

Because these vines are so aggressive, it is important to keep them maintained so they don’t take over your other plants or do damage to your home’s eaves. We recommend keeping them trimmed back at least annually, close to the structure they are covering, and are prevented from growing where not needed. 

They are also difficult to remove if they get overgrown, and even if you remove them altogether, they somehow seem to just keep coming back. These vines do not suffer from any disease or fungus and are safe for pets, however, it is considered an invasive plant in many parts of the world.

If you would like to see some current pictures of our lawn maintenance work please click azlawns.com/pics.

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