It is a deciduous vine related to the grape family and native to temperate Asia and parts of No America. It takes sun or part sun and likes a moist but well drained soil. Mine grows along the clematis run. I also keep a variegated one in a large pot with a metal climbing frame. The vari one looses its marking in mid summer, but is so pretty till then.
The berries come on in late summer, continuing to first frost. They begin lime green, turn a whitish light green, mature to turquoise, then blue and ripen to violet, at which time the Mockingbirds devour them.
The one in the strollie pic and below has been in the ground here for 3 or 4 years and so far has not become an aggressive pest. I have never found one seedling of it in the beds. It climbs a 9 foot height and would probably go as tall as any support would rise. I cut it down to 3 feet in winter to keep it tidy and manageable. It climbs by tendrils, so I have wire caging on the wood fence to help it cover fast and evenly.
